Page published 17 May 2023
Day 3 - Monday 14 July 2003
To learn a little more about this cruise read the Background page, or you could just go to the Day One report and start at the beginning.
Departure from Garstang
With Trevor Burridge aboard there were now three of us in the aft cabin. Martin and I had been using the bunk beds there opposite which was a single dinette and Trevor had slept there. It seems he had a little trouble that first night with one of the base cushions escaping from under him, but I don't remember anything of that upset. It maybe worth explaining Earnest's internal layout. It is unusual for boat that had been commissioned by its original owner for their own use.
Taken at 12:40 we see Trevor Burridge on the helm beside Martin Clark
Most privately commissioned boats of Earnest's length would have a forward saloon, followed by dining facilities then the galley, bathoom and finally an aft cabin with a fixed double bed. The precise design would vary depending on the owner's preferences. Often there would be a solid fuel stove in the saloon and some would have fixed benches, usable as berths. The dining section might have a central table flanked by a pair of benches or be arranged as a dinette with a walkway to one side and an L-shaped bench around an off-set table. The dining arrangements would then drive the layout for the galley. With a walkway to one side of the boat there would normally be a U-shaped galley. With a central table the galley would be arranged to either side of the boat.
Earnest is different. It is fairly standard in the first two spaces but varies significantly as you move aft of them. The saloon has a central table on Desmo legs flanked by benches. The galley, to port, is U-shaped and has a hatch with steps up to starboard. This is followed by a fixed double bed with standing space space at the foot of the bed that provides access to both a wardrobe and a second hatch to port. Beyond that is the bathroom and the after cabin. Here the walkway moves to the centre of the boat with the bunks to port and single dinette to starboard. Given the Arlidge's use of the boat, which often has many "working" crew on board, it's a layout that makes sense but wouldn't suit the needs of the typical retired couple that commission so many narrowboats.
Three minutes after the earlier picture I took one of a rare short- length Springer wide-beam that was moored against the towpath.
My photos are getting a little out of step with the events I'm recording but, as can be seen, it was another bright and warm morning. According to Neil's report I had cooked a fry-up breakfast once we were on the move and that was some time after 08:30. Breakfast duties may account for why I didn't get my camera out to what ought to have been approaching lunch time. Generally, with no locks to negotiate this was a very relaxed time for the crew if not for Neil who, while on the move, was applying undercoat on tiller and rudder bearing.
I also read that we filled up with diesel at the marina by Moon's Bridge (36) and from the times that my first two photographs it would appear my first two photos of the day were taken just north of Wilson's Bridge (25). The heavily treed nature of the area and Google's satellite images seem to support this idea. Google's images even suggest there is a boat that could be the Springer I photographed still moored in the area.
Preston
Bridge 11A is well beyond the Ribble Link junction and is the last but one before the end of navigation is reached. If Neil's timing is correct we were three minutes from the end of the cut as we passed under the bridge
We passed the Ribble Link junction at 13:45 and carried on down to Preston. I gather that on the way up the Lancaster this mile and a half stretch was not explored by Neil and the crew then aboard. As a result we were unaware of what would find at the end. It was certainly worth checking out as Neil had been advised not to moor in the Link's holding basin overnight.
Neil reports that at 14:20 we arrived at the end, "having drifted into the rushy and silted up end of the cut-off route into Preston". I don't remember that but did take a photograph later. We could have moored at Ashton Basin a few yards form the end, but that was operated by Arleen Hire Cruisers and we would have been charged for the privilege. Mooring at the silted up stub beyond also did not look attractive so we decided to wind in the basin entrance and go back to the Sanitary Station Visitor Moorings further out of town, reaching them at 15:00.
Neil doesn't mention it, but after the earlier undercoat, applied on the move, by 15:31 he was hard at work adding a finishing top coat.
As we moored Earnest's motor refused to stop when the kill switch was pulled. Neil had experienced the problem before. The stop solenoid links had vibrated themselves loose again. That was not the big worry, however. When Neil did the manual stop, down in the engine compartment he noticed that one of the two rear, non-business end, engine mounts was knackered. There was not much could be done about it at this point but Steve at Beta was contacted and a new set ordered. A few phone calls later and Neil had arranged that members of the next crew would bring the parts with them.
The Sanitary Station moorings looked fine and we filled with water there. A local boater had his boat on the end of the moorings, doing some work close to home and said that these moorings were OK, with a free shower. The only downside is that after working hours the gates to the complex of buildings are locked and that meant no way out to local shops or a pub.
I don't remember but Neil reckons virtually everybody took advantage of the free BW shower and that "a provisioning party found the nearby Booth's supermarket". I think that may have changed hands as I can't find it on current maps. I'm not certain whether I was a member of that party as no one else appears in the following set of photographs that I took on what appears to be a lone walk down to the end of the cut.
Immediately after photographing Neil at work on the till, I set of towards the end of the cut, crossing the canal to reach the towpath at Bridge 12.
A great example of the effects of a contour canal is seen in some of the gardens backing onto the canal.
As you get closer to the end of the cut the land drops to close to the canal's level.
Looking back at the bridge over the entrance to the Ashton Basin.
At 16:00 I reach the end of the cut where we had decided it would be unwise to moor.
On the return trip I take a photo of the view into Ashton Basin from the bridge.
The last of my photos taken on my walk to the end of the canal was taken at 16:12, so I was probably back at the boat by 17:00. One puzzle is that around 18:00 I recall that the whole crew took a walk in the other direction to take a look at the Ribble Link Basin where we had been advised not to moor. I took two photos, the first at 18:16. The puzzle is how we did that! The towpath is on the opposite side of the canal from the sanitary station and I can't imagine we started the engine to get the boat to that side.
There were four plastic boats in the basin when nb Earnest's crew arrived to see what they were to encounter the next morning.
The staircase locks to be negotiated on leaving the Ribble Link Basin.
I suppose it shouldn't be a surprise that there were only plastic cruisers in the Ribble Link Basin. It looked as if all four had crews aboard and were planning to spend the night there and, like us, were enjoying the wonderfully warm evening. Being cruisers makes it likely they were all local boats and not like us, a craft returning to the main canal network.
Perhaps I was told at the time, but more recently I have wondered what was the perceived problem with mooring in the basin. I assume that the fear was of unwelcome gangs of partying youth, perhaps involving drug taking. But if that is a regular problem then I would have thought that local boaters would have been aware of the issue and would have avoided the area. I wonder if some boaters had had a one-off bad experience and assumed it was always like that. It only takes a single report for an area to get an undeserved bad reputation.
The decision to stay locked in at the sanitary station must have been taken almost at the point when we arrived as the provisioning party had decided on a BBQ for the evening meal and shopped accordingly. Given the weather, it sounds like a very sensible decision. Even without a walk to a local pub, I'm sure a reasonable quantity of beer would have been consumed as Neil reports "A very pleasant evening was had by all", concluding "nice quiet secure moorings and a beautiful evening weatherwise".
The story continues with a report of our journey down Savick Brook on Tuesday 15 July, marked as the Ribble Link Navigation" in my 2003 Nicholson Guide.