It's only been and taken 6 months..........

As the title says.......
......We only really had one plan this year and that was to get as close to my Dad and his wife Diane as possible. Dad and Diane live in Lancashire not far from the Leeds and Liverpool and last year they took us to The Boatyard Inn at Riley Green and we did want to get there in Swamp Frogs. Sadly we didn't quite make that and after the hard work of the Wigan flight we decided to moor up at White Bear Marina in Adlington. As we were mooring up a woman who we had never met was frantically waving to us like we were her long lost cousins....."your here, your here" she cries.....now, Heather has been following our toilet wall blog since the start and could not believe that here we were mooring up next to her and Mike, her Husband! So all moored up and we sit and have a drink with Heather and her hubby Mike, lovely couple and can't wait to meet up again in the New Year when they have their new boat.
Next morning after resting up Dad and Diane arrive for the grand tour

.....we love showing off our boat and are so proud of her and the job that Milburns did for us......(changes thread briefly) What about this then for service....I phone Milburns to say I have a leaky window, Andy tells me what to do to sort it and then goes on to say that if it still leaks they would drive up to us to sort it! Great service from a great bunch of people (I know they have a build slot in Jan 2014, if you are looking to have a boat built, look them up, you will not be disappointed)......Anyways back to Dad and Diane.....We give them the tour and they, like all others before them love Swamp Frogs and are so pleased for us and that we are following our dream.
With Swamp Frogs safely in the Marina we pack a couple of bags and go and stay with Dad and Diane for a few days coming back the following day to take them on a cruise.

This is the funny bit......we leave around 10am and cruise to The Malthouse Farm have lunch and cruise back. The Malthouse is like 10mins drive from their house but we take nearly 6 hours to get there and back plus a 2 hour lunch in the sunshine giving us a full 8 hour day!!!.....hehe such is the pace of life on the canal!
They loved it, both Dad and Diane reluctantly agreed to take a turn on the tiller and both did very well. They both couldn't believe the pace, peace and tranquillity we experience on a daily basis......This, my friends, is what our life is......Yes it's taken us 6 months to do what most people would do in a day (138miles by road) but what a great time we've had......
Sadly we leave Dad and Diane and have to make our way back down south. We moor up at the top of the Wigan flight knowing the horror of 23 locks in the one day face us in the morning when we get a knock on the door......"hi, are you doing the flight tomorrow? if so can we pair up" a couple asked......"yes we are" I reply "and yes it would be great to pair up". The couple, Tony and Doreen owners of NB Sarah Olive turn up at 7am the next morning and we have a wonderful time doing the flight. Tony and Doreen, like us, believes that narrow-boating does not have to be a contact sport as many will tell you it is but if you take things slow, all will be fine. We do the flight with a minor hiccup of a dry pound and work being done in a lock half way down by CaRT workers with no banging or scraping of either boat.
Sadly we miss my Dad and Diane who were waiting for us 4-5 locks down but they thought after an hour we must have passed.....sorry dad, Diane....such is the life on the canal, things can and do move slowly.

Tony and Doreen have become the latest in a long line of new friends and they too are making their way south and we have had many pleasant evenings together on the way, They have also taught us how to play canasta.....a great card game to play.

We've been in touch with Cheryl at Stockton Top Marina, home to Kate Boats and we will moor there for the winter, Milburns (we hope) will do a few little jobs at the same time while we jet off to Cyprus for 3 months!

We are currently moored at Church Lawton ready to do the Harecastle Tunnel tomorrow!


Since our last blog we have done 74 miles, 54 locks and Preston Brook Tunnel (1239 yards long)

This gives a grand total of 403 miles 100 yards, 262 locks and 9 tunnels (tunnels over a 1000 yards only).