Friday 13th May (Aaaargh!)
The first thing I did this morning when I got up was stub my toe on the bedroom door. This was closely followed by cracking my head on the cupboard over the bed. I put the blind up in the kitchen and saw a lone magpie. I checked the fire – it had gone out over night. Then George nearly buggered off the gangplank on his way back in to the boat after his morning ablutions! Well, it is Friday 13th after all.
The rest of the day has gone well (so far), after stopping for water at Burscough and having decided to give the Rufford Arm a miss, we have travelled 5 miles back to Appley Bridge. Ken and I walked in to the village to check out the bus and train times to Wigan. We have decided to go in by public transport tomorrow and do our bits of shopping (fishing tackle shop and Wilko’s for the boys and possibly M&S and Bon Marche again for the girls!) so we don’t have to moor up there again at the weekend.
Not that anything untoward happened when we were there last time but we were thinking the moorings may be a bit full of boats waiting for the flight to reopen following the damage last weekend. It wasn’t a paddle but a cill that was broken, an altogether bigger job to fix, hence the flight is still shut.
We found out the train times and the bus times, found out where the bus stop was, went to the shop and got eggs and also went to The Water’s Edge pub. Unsurprisingly it is by the canal and is a bit of a tardis, being much bigger inside than you expect when you approach it. It was full of ‘silver ramblers’ and people off the trip boat having lunch.
When we got back I decided to see if FD wanted a walk. Barbara came with me with Kizzy and a bag of ‘encouragement’ treats. George was quite enthusiastic, especially about the treats and we had a nice little toddle round the disused locks and back. Quite enough for a dog of advancing years.
It has been raining nearly all the time since we got back but at least it’s not windy like it has been for the last few days. Sunday we have a trip to a canalside B and Q planned (I said B AND Q not BBQ) we know how to live! Then we will venture down the Leigh Branch as our journey continues towards Manchester.
