After a great time at Garstang we decided on an early start and try to make it to the city of Lancaster and pick up a mooring there for the night. Pulling ropes through rings at 07.10 after a bit of a cruise we came across this guy. Obviously from down under ,but I haven’t a clue what he is doing here on the Lancaster canal.
It’s silly season on the Lancaster canal just as it is on all canals over the country . This poor guy came around the corner then saw us and just panicked . His poor wife struggled with the pole and couldn’t push the boat off the bank . Eventually they did it and looked vey red faced as we passed . We said not to worry as it happens to the best of us .
With all the safe moorings at the Water Witch pub full in Lancaster we carried on towards our next destination which was Hest Bank , hopefully there will be room to stop when we head back down this way in Lancaster. Just North of Lancaster we came to The Lune Aqueduct.
The Lune Aqueduct is one of the 'Seven Wonders of the Waterways', a masterpiece of civil engineering. 664 feet long, it carries Lancaster Canal 53 feet above the River Lune. It was designed by John Rennie and constructed by Alexander Stevens in 1797. The aqueduct consists of five 70 foot semi-circular arches.
Looking back up The River Lune and it’s amazing that you never hear much about this Aqueduct as it is a real delight and a great experience to cross . Maybe because The Lancaster is still seen by many as a difficult place to get to it gets little attention. But as we have shown it’s not that difficult at all to get to and everyone should give it a go.
After a good 7 hour cruise we reached Hest Bank and picked up this mooring just before the village.
It was then just a short walk down to Morecombe Bay where we had to cross the Railway . It’s funny that every time we come to a level crossing there is always a train coming.
Morecambe Bay is a large estuary in northwest England, just to the south of the Lake District National Park. It is the largest expanse of intertidal mudflats and sand in the United Kingdom, covering a total area of 310 km² . We were very surprised at just how big the Bay is .The bay is notorious for its quicksand and fast moving tides. It is said that the tide can come in "as fast as a horse can run". On the night of 5 February 2004, 23 Chinese immigrant cockle pickers drowned after being cut off by the tide here at Hest Bank . Needless to say we kept well away from the sands.
The views towards the Lake district are just brilliant.
After seeing The Bay with the tide out we went down later in the day and watched it come in for the last hour or so. With the town of Morecombe in the distance The Bay looks completely different. What an eye opener this day has been ,it’s made us so glad that we made the effort to get up here to The Lancaster Canal
Happy Days
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