It was a peaceful night on a quiet stretch of the Leeds & Liverpool Canal above Wigan. We were having breakfast when two large wide beam boats slowly passed. It was actually a relief to know we wouldn’t meet them cruising later in the day.
The following boat had a very blunt looking bow; almost looked like a large bath tub and I was slightly amused to see a split cycle air conditioning unit on the bow.
It was a relatively slow trip to Adlington. We’re not in a hurry and wanted to enjoy the scenery.
At one point we noticed a large brick chimney that was emitting smoke. It’s rather rare to see a working brick chimney these days and we both wondered why?
Arriving at Adlington we discovered the bottom of the canal on the “off side” 48 hour moorings is too close to the top of the canal. Consequentially we moved across the the towpath side. That’s when we realised the moored boat in front was flying the Australian flag with red stars.
Waiouru at the rear.
OK, I’m joking. It was nb Molly Rose (John and Diane). No sign of Diane but we did manage to stop John vacuuming for a few minutes.
They are heading in the opposite direction and were waiting for David & Angie (nb Lady Esther). Angie is the clever lady who manages to crochet high visibility orange mooring pin covers from plastic Sainsburys shopping bags. She kindly gave us a couple a year ago and we are still using them!
Our own visitors arrived around 11.40am. Peter & Margaret (nb Kelly Louise) live nearby and had invited us to lunch. It was last summer that we cruised the Four Counties Ring together and back in 2011 they very kindly allowed us to live aboard Kelly-Louise whilst we were having boat builder problems. Whilst chatting inside with Peter & Margret there was the sound of a boat horn. Peering out the side hatch we saw nb Lady Esther passing with David & Angie at the stern. Just our luck; after weeks of being on our own we suddenly start to meet everyone.
Peter and Margaret took us to a lovely country club. On entering the car park we immediately noticed the four Range Rovers, Merc, Audi and Porche. Suddenly Jan and I were concerned about the dress code. I’ve already been barred from Raffles Hotel in Singapore because of inappropriate clothing (no tie and shoes without laces). Was this going to be a similar story.
Jan makes a detailed examination of the menu!
We had a most enjoyable lunch. Afterwards Peter & Margaret took us to their home where Peter gave me a thorough tour of their latest addition to the family.
The fit-out of their motorhome is very nice. The interior space has been well utilised. I’m envious! After a detailed examination of the technical aspects we had another long chat before being taken back to Waiouru.
There was just enough time for me to reconfigure the bow cameras and take down the clothes line before finishing for the day. Peter & Margaret have given us some suggestions on what we might see and do whilst in the local area which means some additional planning is required. But then this is the whole purpose of seeing England by canal.
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