There we were at about 8:30 poised to be at Tarleton Lock at the appointed time of 9:57 when a CRT man turned up and told us to be there by 10:45.  We could have had another hour in bed.

We were one of the first pair of boats through the lock having followed “Good Life” from the overnight mooring.

 

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The journey down the Douglas around Asland Lamp and along the Ribble was fairly straightforward and uneventful.  We kept up a good speed between 3.5 and 5.3 miles an hour running the engine at around 2200 rpm – somewhat higher than Oliver’s normally sedate rev count. Some of the markers shown on the chart appeared to be missing in practice but that didn’t cause any problems.  It was a bit windy at times but stayed dry apart from a small shower early on.  The landscape seemed remarkably flat and the width of the river made it almost seem as if we were at sea.  Toby had a good time adjusting the tiller to take account of the varying tidal flows and the wind.  We sometimes seemed to be crabbing along at quite an angle.

Peter took photos while Toby helmed and Romy took on the task of feeding the crew.

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Another narrow boat from Preston turned into Savick Brook just as we were arriving so there were two boats on the landing when we arrived.  We tied up alongside the first one and were then joined by two other  boats from Tarleton one of them mooring outside us.

We were lucky when we came to leave as we were second away and after the first CRT manned lock all the others had been set for us as far as the staircase.

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Peter had helmed magnificently all the way up Savick Brook.  In spite of his obvious skills however Romy insisted that Toby took over for the tricky manoeuvre reversing into the staircase.  He pulled  his tummy in, pulled the tiller this way and that and there we were!  It has to be said he managed this and the very tight exit from the top lock with great aplomb.

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Just after starting our journey along the Lancaster Canal we went past a rather tight looking space at the recommended mooring place. As there were no other decent options nearby we decided to reverse back and give it a go.  Toby was convinced we could get in and we did but only with touching fenders at bow and stern.

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