New Waters

A view of Burnley from the 'mile long' (well nearly a mile long) embankement that goes through the town centre

Tuesday was really sunny so Jon was inspired to set off sailing again so went went for new territory from Burnley towards Blackburn.

On the Burnley embankment

I had spotted a likely spot in my handy Nicholsons, short of Blackburn and enough in the countryside not to hear the M65 (the M65 follows the canal for a lot of the time around here). It was also lock free but with 4 of the dreaded swing bridges again on the way.

Gannow tunnel

The day went well, we went through Gannow. This is more or less in the centre of Burnley, it is quite short and has a handle on the side for all the kids to hold on to and lean over for a look through (I did this as a kid).

Gannow-short enough to see the end

Mum told me of when she was younger (about 10 or 11) when she and her brother used to earn pennies by leading the canal horses over the tunnel up the aptly called Boathorse Lane. She also once went on the boat with the men and watched them ‘leg it’ through the tunnel. This was a tale I hadn’t heard from mum before and it was lovely to hear of the canal history from someone who experienced it first hand.

Jon managed the swing bridges OK but they were odd in that you needed a lock windlass to open them. We moored near a bridge and a turning hole (but not blocking it) in the small town of Church, and whilst Mum and I rested Jon went to look for a ‘good’ pub as advertised in Nicholsons (good food in a large family pub). He returned later to say it didn’t do food in the evening anymore so we ate up some leftovers and then went for a walk round the town and then for a drink in the said pub.
What followed was a very surreal experience. Jon bought three drinks (a pint and half and a wine). He sat looking puzzled and said that he had given the barmaid £10 and she had given him 50p in change. After thinking about it he realised something was not right. Beer prices up north are notoriously cheap and anyway they were advertising pints for £1.75. He went back to the lady and queried the price. ‘A pint and a half and a wine would be £5.15 right’
Lady- ‘right’
Jon ‘I gave you £10 and you gave me 50p change’
Lady- right
Jon- no surely not.
After repeating the above conversation the lady added, ‘but there were the other drinks’
Jon ‘what other drinks we’ve only had the three.
Lady- ‘ the other drinks, yes. The tall lady with the blonde hair, she had the other drinks’
Since there were only us three and two customers at the bar this was a bit of a shock. ?was she seeing ghosts.
After a lot of argument and some support form the other customers Jon eventually got a bit more change. We carried on supping feeling a bit mystified when suddenly at 10pm the landlady switched the lights off in the room we were in. The bar lights were still OK for the (still only 2) customers at the bar, so we took the hint and went home to the boat. It was a bit of a laugh but we learnt not to trust Nicholsons when it comes to pub recommendations. They unfortunately change too quickly nowadays.
Wewoke up next morning to a howling gale and heavt rain. Jon had come up with a plan for us to pull the boat backwards for about 50 feet, puch out the front and let the wind turn us around in the winding hole (let it live up to it’s name). We tried this and it actually worked great, the wind did it’s job and at the right time I put Tormentil in gear and off we went back home. Since it was so windy and wet I let Jon do the driving but I had forgotten the swing bridges. Luckily I managed them OK but did get fairly wet walking in between them. Poor Jon spent the whole day out the back driving. We had some very good waterproof geat but he still got wet arms (sleeves not tight enough) and feet (shoes not good enough).

Jon looking wet

But we got home OK and a nice warm shower set him fine. It was a shame about the weather since the week so far had been so warm.

Short break to Foulridge

lovely field full of buttercups

We finally managed to get a week on Tormentil and had two short trips. We were joined by Paul (PJ) who we wanted to learn the ropes before borrowing Tormentil for a holiday with some other of our friends. Although we are happy for friends to share our enjoyment of Tormentil I think it will be a bit like letting your child go off to school for the first time. I will worry all week about how she will be though I am confident that PJ and friends will be fine with her.
We decided to make for East Marton and the lovely (we thought) anchor pub that we have visited by car and bike but always wanted to go by boat. The trip took us back through the Foulridge ‘mile long’ tunnel, which was just as exciting as the first time (see blog of ). We then had to go up the Barrowford seven locks. We went through with another boat luckily. Jon and PJ did the hard work for PJ to learn how locks work and I had to drive. I must say even though it’s been a few months I was perfect and Tormentil and the other boat went into the locks perfectly together without any scraping or banging each other or the lock sides, and no getting grounded in the pounds between.
We eventually got to close to East Marton and I suggested we moor up where we could since reading Bendigedig recently Else had said there were problems with lack of moorings.

Fantastic view from the moorings.

It had been a lovely day so we were very hot, tired and thirsty so decided to walk up to the Anchor for a drink. It was a longer walk than I had thought but as Else had said there were no moorings any nearer except where the banks were very high and full of nettles and small bushes, so we stayed put. We had a couple of lovely refreshing drinks and checked that we were OK for dinner without booking (it was a Saturday). The trip back to the boat to change for dinner (we were pretty hot and scruffy) seemed shorter and then we returned to the Anchor. We had been here before when it was full of locals and had some great home made food (their pie and peas was wonderful), however unbeknown to us it had changed hands. The food luckily was fine but the service left a lot to be desired. Mum and I had Mussels as starter which was supposed to come with bread but didn’t. When the waitress (the manageress if fact) came to clear the plates I just mentioned that a bit of bread would have been nice, her reply was a bit gruff and seemed to be ‘Oh well I don’t know how you can eat these things I can’t stand them’. A bit of a surprise I must admit. The main course took ages but was again OK. As she came to clear up again we said that the food was fine and we were too full for puddings. Her reply ‘well you’d be lucky to get any now anyway and the chef is very busy’. Not the best way to sell your business I would say. They weren’t that busy but to be fair (though I don’t know why) she was short staffed and was having to run the bar as well but still no excuse.
The ambiance has also changed and things like her ?husband was there but I never saw him help with anything-just chatting to the customers and also one (male) customer had a small child(still in nappies) with him and he was sat at the bar with her and at one point had her sitting on the bar. I think he was a relative of the owners since they never said anything to him. At nine he made to go outside muttering something about the 9 o clock watershead. I may be old fashioned but I don’t think babies should be sitting on bar stools in pubs until 9 at night. I don’t think we shall return for a while.
However, our moorings were great, quite a community of boats moored on the opposite shore and a few had joined us on the towpath side. We all managed to get safely aboard (several drinks too many). Next morning PJ discovered that we were moore on top of a small aqueduct with a small river running under the canal. On investigation we found the bottom of the aqueduct and it was a small engineering delight. In the past they seemed to take pleasure in building something lovely where only a simple structure was really needed. A good photographic opportunity.

A tiny river under the canal with a beautiful curved bridge above it.

A view from the other side.

We spent the Sunday returning to Reedley with PJ doing all the driving this time to get more experience. He managed well with only a few bumps and scrapes (same as most beginners I would say) and did manage a perfectly controlled docking when we got back home- the best I’ve seen so far (sorry Jon) although PJ did say he was only following Jon’s instructions.

PJ doing the driving with Jon supervising

It was such a lovely evening that we had a great al fresco meal with lots of celebratory wine.
We had a relaxed Monday and saw PJ off and took Mum home.