Back to MM Again.

 Wednesday 23rd and Thursday 24th August 2023 near Crooke

On Wednesday, we took four trains and a taxi back to MM at Scarisbrick Marina. We arrived in time to have a quick cuppa in their excellent café before setting off. There are no photographs as the weather was not good, so we only went a mile before mooring up. Also, after a long day's travelling, we both decided that doing swing bridges could wait until tomorrow!

Next morning, Thursday, we set off towards Burscough, where the canal had started to leak nearly five weeks ago. The C&RT erected two coffer dams and drained the canal so that they could repair it. Although the canal had now re-opened, they were still working on dredging it, and the towpath was still closed. You can see R, in conversation with one of the workers! MM is moored opposite.

 While the repairs were in progress, anyone on a narrowboat east of the leak couldn't get to Liverpool and anyone in Liverpool couldn't get west past the leak to get back to Wigan and beyond. Some people ended up spending five weeks in Liverpool!

Although the canal was technically opened, we had to wait because there was a problem with the dredger. This square barge has four legs that are lowered hydraulically to lift it up and stabilise it. One of the hydraulic hoses had broken, so the workers couldn't raise two of the legs and therefore they couldn't move it. It sat in the middle of the canal at a wonky angle with two legs up and two legs down.

Eventually they said that we could try to squeeze through the gap on the left of the barge, although they were worried because the canal was quite shallow there. They were right! MM scraped along the bottom all the way, but made it through.

Swing bridges are definitely not M's favourite things on the canal and today she had to open five of them. At least most of them were electric and so just needed to be opened by turning a key and pressing the appropriate buttons. To M's relief, this time she didn't have any impatient motorists gesticulating at her!

At Burscough town, we stopped to fill up with water at what used to be a wharf and sanitary station but now is only a water point.

This rather strange looking tower at Parbold apparently used to be a windmill, but it now has castellations at the top, which seems odd for a windmill.

Only two locks today but each of them used to be duplicated because there was once so much traffic on this canal going to and from Liverpool. Now the duplicate locks are sadly derelict and overgrown.

This area is known as the Liverpool Plain as it very flat but, as a result, you get lovely views into the distance. It is mostly agricultural country, hardly surprising given the quality of the peat-like soil hereabouts.

This lock is overlooked by the M6, which seemed thankfully quiet today. Happily, another narrowboat joined us to go through the lock, which makes life so much easier in a wide lock.

Just before Crooke, we found a pleasant spot and moored up for the night. M did a load of washing and R treated the base of the engine room, which had developed some rust spots.

Two Days: 14 miles, 2 locks, 5 swing bridges and 7.3 hours.

Trip: 162 Miles, 74 locks and 88.0 hours.