Winds !

Still at Glasson basin and with the wind picking up we have a walk out to the river which the basin drops down in to.

It’s low tide as you can see with the river Lune flowing through the middle of the sands.

Just like when we were at Hest bank we went back at high tide and what a difference .

With some high winds forecast for the area we battened down the hatches and waited for the winds to arrive.

I must admit we were not prepared for how rough it was going to get in the basin and this is the view out of our side hatch as the winds started to increase .It went on all night and got even worse than the pictures show with waves reaching the gunnels and the spray going over the top of Inca.
We were pinned to the wall with no chance of moving. Needless to say we didn’t sleep that night and can honestly say it’s the worst night we have ever had . We just got battered non stop and even with every fender we had deployed it made no difference.
In the morning we made the decision to try and force Inca off the wall and giving it full throttle we went straight along the wall and managed to control it at the end and head off towards the bottom lock.

As we head up The Glasson branch and the 6 locks the winds start to drop and the sun comes out. What a change and what a relief .

Joining The Lancaster and we passed this chap chilling out on the bank.

On our way towards Preston for our journey back over The Ribble link I got a call from my number one little Sister Sharon to say that she was desperate to see me (not) and was on her way up with long suffering hubby Philip and daughter Gabbers who had just travelled all the way back from Australia especially to see us (not). . As always it was good to meet up and have a catch up . No doubt we will see you all again in a few years time ( cutting wit)….

If ever you come up on to The Lancaster Canal there is one thing that you will notice and that’s the amount of GRP/Plastic/Tupperware/Yogurt pots boats there are .We have never seen so many on any single canal that we have visited . It would be good if a few of them learnt how to slow down a bit , for some reason they seem to be in a hurry and like speeding all the time.

After a good few weeks up here it’s time to head back over The River Ribble and back onto the main canal network . There were 5 boats to drop down and we were the third to arrive in the top basin above the locks, but for some reason two boats decided to jump in front of us . I was going to say something ,but Carolyn said we are not in a hurry so don’t go causing any trouble like you usually do. We were later told the CRT lockie what had happened and he said that it’s a common occurrence here and he has seen boaters coming to blows about who heads down first , Just unbelievable….

After dropping down the 3 staircase locks which we had to do backwards there was just time for a Gary/Carolyn selfie as we reversed out of the bottom lock.

Just before the bottom lock there are three holding pontoons for the boats to wait before heading down to the Sea lock on Savick brook . It’s also used for holding boats if there is a problem on The River Ribble. As we waited to be dropped down Canal and River Trust Lockies turned up and told us that because of high winds we would have to stay on the holding pontoons for at least 2 days before the wind and tides are OK for us to proceed. Luckily we have everything we need on board as there is only a garage which sells basics and is about a half a mile away and Preston town centre a good mile and a half away . With plenty of Internet and good TV reception we will be fine before heading back over the Ribble.

                                                                                                                   Happy Days