Bye bye Burscough

Because we adhere strictly to the rules about not overstaying in one spot for too long (translation = I have a dentist appointment in Lowton next week!) we left Burscough today. Somewhat surprisingly there was still some ice on the surface but that was nothing compared to what we encountered later.

On our way to the winding hole

We passed through two road bridges to make our turn then came back again through Burscough. We've really enjoyed our stay there and will certainly be back in the New Year to do another couple of weeks. To be honest, I can't understand why C&RT haven't issued temporary winter mooring licenses here as they have in previous years but there are actually some spaces in the long term moorings shown above so perhaps I've answered my own question.

Here is Elaine closing the road barriers at the Farmer's Arms bridge which closes to boat traffic tomorrow then to road traffic at the end of the month to enable a new control panel to be fitted, apparently. Hopefully we will see fully automatic road barriers next time we come through!

As we approached Burscough for the second time a young lad pulled a huge pike out of the reeds right in front of us. If you zoom in you might just be able to make it out in his landing net.

As we approached Parbold we encountered a line of match anglers that stretched for about a mile either side of the village, slowing us down somewhat. However, "slowing down" turned into a dead stop when we beached Lottie on an enormous clump of Pennywort that had become detached from the bank and was blocking the entire canal. Much hacking with the boat hook ensued, on the boat and off it. Much forward and reversing was employed too and we eventually freed ourselves after about half an hour. To be fair the anglers nearby were very understanding about the fact that we had ruined their swims!

We decided against stopping at Appley Bridge in case this guy turned his Christmas lights on and blistered our paintwork!

So, here we are for the night. Middle of nowhere, just how we like it!

We do have some company, however.

Hopefully, they will be quieter than the pair of tawny owls that woke us up early this morning! When you hear that first "twit twoo" you think "awww...". After half an hour of the bloody racket though you yearn for the report of a shotgun, a strangled squawk and a soft thud!