In this Issue….

Are we really half way through the year already? Where have all those weeks and months gone? It has been a very eventful time since your last Cruiser; in 2009, we had problems with the Icelandic banks, this year it is one of their volcanoes that has caused delays! Other significant happenings include me managing to zap myself on an electric fence; the new Canalwatch scheme getting underway; most of us having completed two of out our three ends; some of us walking across Morecambe Bay and a couple of our members appearing in AmDram performances and of course, there is the World Cup!

On the down side, sadly I have to report we have lost two more L.C.B.C. members: long standing member Charles Seago, of Ann Sheree and newer member Mark Wells, both lost their lives this year and once again our sympathies go out to their remaining families.

Moving on, we have been collecting Tesco & Sainsburys vouchers and now have enough for a Space Hopper! Every little helps! Just got to figure out how I redeem them now! Can’t be that hard.

The weather has been wet, warm, windy, wet again, windy again and currently warm again. I suppose it is fairly normal except we had April’s showers in May! More global warming or just a glitch?

In the following bumper edition - almost as long as War & Peace - you can find write ups of our latest activities at Tewitfield, Bilsborrow, Morecambe Bay and Glasson. Hopefully you won’t get too bored!

And last but not least, I have been told by a resident from Bolton-le-Sands that the mad goose that greets boaters as they pass by has been killed and has sadly honked its last honk. If anyone knows any more details I would be interested.

So, grab a drink, switch off your phone and enjoy your Summer Cruiser

A few words from your new Commodore - roy wilkes

See Commodore page

from your VICE-Commodore

See Vice-Commodore page

Chair and Public Relations Officer’s Letter

All of you have who have managed to do two of your Three Ends already; congratulations!.

.Easter was a very good Rally, it’s the first one Maurice and I have missed in about 19 years. All the usual mad things went on, new members joined in and everyone had a fabulous time.

May Day Weekend was at Bilsborrow with Bowls, a Ramble and Rounders, great fun. The evening was in the Pavilion where our Commodore’s Lady June, officially crowned Ellie Hey – Miss LCBC and Charley Rollston - LCBC Princess. Gifts were presented to the retiring and plaques were presented to the new Miss LCBC and LCBC Princess. Stuart was with us to do the Disco and Karaoke, between him and Chris everyone had a great time. Sunday there was a good entertainer at the Village Hall and prizes for the winners of the games.

A very good Rally thanks to Roy and all those who organised the activities: Paula, Peter & Anne Yates, Alex & Colette Clark, Peter Lang, Lesley, Stu & Chris and Brian & Jackie.

Spring Bank Holiday Weekend was our Main Rally down the Locks at Glasson Dock, with mixed weather again. The new marquee proved to be excellent, Thank you Ken & Sue for lending us the smaller marquee as an annexe; it was definitely needed and well used on Friday evening, during both days as well as Sunday evening. The weather wasn’t good again and a lot of what was in the programme didn’t happen but nobody can plan the weather. Not even me!

Thank you to all the committee and non-committee members who helped, what would we do without you?

Thank you Roy and June for the last 3 Rallies, you’ve done very well, the weather has been a bit mixed but ok, keep up the good work, everybody’s enjoying themselves.

Sandra Henstock

NB “Blue Lagoon”

Top Notch Top End!

Once again we have had a fantastic, successful, glorious Top End at Tewitfield. Roy’s first outing on the water this year had ups and downs as all our do’s do but there were far more up’s than downs! The weather leading up to the Easter Weekend was horrible with wind and rain all the way to Thursday. We had planned to leave at some point during the afternoon and in the end we left about 2pm. I had a roof full of firewood that had been up there for about five weeks and with the wood, the dinghy, the pig and other assorted oddments it was an interesting view from the stern! After a very windy and not very impressive reverse and turn in the marina, off we went.

It was a beautiful and windy day but once out on the cut it was a joy to be sailing again. With no Cobweb Cruise to identify those little niggly problems that creep up on you over the winter, a couple of us had early season problems. Reflections had a flat starter battery and I realised later that night that my own battery problems were still in evidence.

The sail to Galgate was superb. Just outside Garstang Marina I had a marvellous sighting of a kingfisher who flitted in front of me for several hundred yards before disappearing back to the start of his territory. The big house just before bridge 79 still had its offensive signs up requesting privacy. How very dare they! We had originally intended to stop at bridge 90 but it was easier to stop at the cricket pitch.

Several others who had managed to get away early stopped nearer the locks and both camps had a pleasant evening. I joined Fay and Ian for a stomp around the fields with the dogs while the kids all enjoyed themselves along with Josh who had visited from the lot at the locks much to the delight of Molly and the girls off My Fair Lady. Connect 4 was the evening’s entertainment for the adults and I remain champion!!! It was a beautiful starry night so Moosehunter, who arrived after dark to join the party at the locks, must have had an outstanding celestial view!

The shower block and loo etc at Galgate had finally been repaired although apparently the showers can now only be used by Galgate Marina key holders only! We have waited all that time for the repairs to the wash wall, only to find that if we wanted one, we still couldn’t have a wash ourselves! What’s that all about?!!

The morning arrived and it was gorgeous but cold. The boats from the lock end sailed on past with the huge and shiny Happi Dayz bringing up the rear. I waited a little longer before setting off and My Fair Lady, being a cruiser that cannot physically sail as slow as me opted for breakfast and a cycle ride before leaving Galgate.

Sailing through Deep Cut was marvellous, BW’s contractors have really done a fantastic job on the towpath. There seems to have been a really good thinning out of the trees on the slopes and in fact the whole length of the towpath we sailed past was in really good condition for a change. No tall reeds or sticky out trees, it looked as if you could moor up anywhere although I should imagine that under the water may not yet be as clear as above the water! At least it’s a start!

Personally I don’t like stopping in Lancaster other than to empty the loo!!! However the majority of you enjoy shopping in the city and those of us from Galgate met up with those already in Lancaster but we sailed straight through and on toward Hest Bank for Roy’s Noggin & Natter in the pub. We stopped just after the last bridge before the visitor moorings. With the hedges trimmed back, the view across the bay was wonderful and one by one, the boat club boats either moored up for the evening or sailed past us on their way to Carnforth. My Fair Lady tied up behind us and the girls joined Molly for a DVD on the boat while I wandered up and down the towpath seeing who was about for the new Commodore’s first casual event of the year.

It was a little disappointing to see so many boats carry on through Hest Bank to Carnforth and possibly Tewitfield itself but there were enough of us moored up to have a pleasant evening in the extortionate Hest Bank Arms later on!! June got a bit of a shock when she walked up to the Council run sanitary station only to find that because of the Bank Holiday, it was shut! Luckily Sekond Thyme @ was moored a lot closer than we were and there were no sudden extra puddles on the towpath when I walked that way later on dishing out Cruisers and collecting even more wood to adorn the roof of my boat!

The ongoing problems with my batteries meant that I had to run the engine to allow the kids to watch a DVD on board while there was a light rain shower before walking up to the pub where we found several of those who had stopped already, tucking into their evening meals. June was representing Roy whose back was giving him a lot of pain. In the end there were about thirty of us gathered in the bottom room of the pub and many had something to eat while perhaps not too many drinks were bought! We had a pleasant evening, I handed out more Cruisers, passed ‘the Book’ round and thought what a jolly friendly bunch of boaters we are! I felt privileged to be a member not only of the Boat Club itself, but also of the Committee that works so hard to keep you all entertained throughout the year.

I can only recount events to 9pm as unfortunately children were not welcome after that time and Molly and I had to leave and we met even more members on their way in as we were on our way out. It was a lovely walk back along the towpath but disappointing to get to the boat only to find that the batteries were flat once again!

Saturday arrived and the weather was fabulous. The wind had dropped away, the rain had gone and it was good to be sailing and set off Northward hoping to be caught up at the swing bridge. Just before the first bridge I spotted a huge log that I simply couldn’t leave behind! It was crying out to be lifted onto my roof! Luckily, Steve and Peter helped lift the heavy tree trunk up onto the only vacant space on the roof just as one of our newest members on NB Moonshine, sailed past, loaded up with eager crew and other essentials.

My plan just about worked as I had made a decision to try the single handed-chain method of closing the swing bridge when Arthur & Lesley came around the corner, closely followed by Roy & June and then Fay, Ian, the girls and the dogs.

I carried on slowly as usual and was pleased to see that the mad Canada goose was back on the scene at Bolton le Sands. It must be knocking on a bit now but it is such a funny sight that I was sad last year when I didn’t see it!

As usual, I was the dawdler on the canal and anything that caught me up was soon in front of me and disappearing into the distance. I was in no rush!

By the time I sailed into the basin at Carnforth I thought I would struggle to tie up, but apart from the boat club, it was actually pretty quiet for a change. The loo block was apparently out of order so Tesco’s got a visit to stock up on essentials before setting off. As I was passing some of our cruisers in the basin, Carol from MV Melody Scott, spotted a large floating log that would burn well on the bonfire later. I gave it a little nudge with my pole but it didn’t go far so I swung the back round and gave it a blast to push it to the bank. This worked and it was amusing to see the men standing around while Carol was on her knees trying to extricate the log! Anyway, both Carol and the log were on dry land as I sailed off for the final stretch of canal to Capernwray.

I arrived to the sound of chainsaws and turned into the arm to see the pontoons full, with three non-boat club narrowboats tied up, one unfortunately in the entrance where the cruisers normally congregate. There were four narrows in the basin already but the sight of WingDing just behind them threw me a little so I very carefully turned around with help from Dave and went to see what was going on. The boats that had arrived earlier had been incredibly busy as there were two gazebos up, piles of neatly stacked firewood all over the place, chairs out and a fire already burning. It was by now an absolutely gorgeous afternoon and many of us were sporting shorts in the April sunshine.

My roof full of firewood needed shifting across the other narrows to dry land and the easiest way seemed to be with the aid of the dinghy! Josh very kindly gave me a hand to transfer some of the timber, so did Dave, Tom and one of our newest members Mike on MV Impulse. It took a while, but we got it all shifted and I’m sure Hagrid’s Cabin came up a couple of inches out of the water!! The remainder of the afternoon was taken up with several games of Jenga. Josh, Marg, Sue and Sheila were all trying to stop the tower from toppling and I believe they got to something like twenty-two levels before a couple of young lads came along and as they were walking past, deliberately brushed against the little table and down came the tower. There were shouts of disappointment from the LCBC while laughter and jeers came out of the mouths of the two little yobs in training. (Init tho’!) More boats arrived, some came in to the arm, NB Hollie kindly moved into the basin so MB My Fair Lady could get in and some, apparently having been told that the arm was full, sailed on! Well whoever told the cruisers that, was wrong. Even after Mark Rollston on NB Imagine and his impressive manoeuvres had tied up, there was room for another four or five boats, maybe more. The kids enjoyed an egg hunt for polystyrene eggs this year, organised once again by the marvellous Paula. There were secret sighs of relief from the adults and shrugs of disappointment by some of the lads - the eggs couldn’t be smashed on boats or bodies!! A picture of a giant Easter bunny was pinned to a tree and the younger members had a go at trying to pin its bow-tie back on: blindfolded of course! Once the junior members had been dealt with it was time for a secret rehearsal by the ‘ladies’! This was in preparation for the hilarious presentation that you can read about in the Bilsborrow review, (or you can view on Facebook!). Suitably embarrassed and in full view of the caravan park and towpath, we practiced our ‘turn’ and suggested a few tweaks before returning to the camouflage of the trees to let our faces return to their normal colour!

With a beautiful evening in the offing, the BBQ’s came out; the target of burning all the wood that had been collected began in earnest and the sproggles nicked some wood to get their own fire going. Shrouded in smoke, the arm took on a spooky quality more suited to Halloween than Easter. Having been such a beautiful day, we knew it would be a chilly night so the ‘woodman’ Paul and his apprentice or perhaps I should say, his accomplice, Don, supervised the fuelling of three or four fires to keep us all warm. There were a few close shaves and shouts when lumps of wood went sailing through the air in the dark while people were about to stand up or walk past. Perhaps we should set up a red flag area next time such as they have in army artillery ranges! A couple of the latest playthings; Chinese lanterns, were sent up through the trees and disappeared way up high, hopefully to return to earth harmlessly once they burnt themselves out. (Very pretty , but not to be set off near the sea as they can be mistaken for flares.) Stuart was doing a disco somewhere else so when Lucy was ready for bed, I took her back to Moosehunter and settled down to wait on board ‘til Stu returned in the early hours. Outside I could hear the last few revellers gradually saying good night to each other and envied them the warmth of the final embers of the bonfire as my body temperature gradually lowered. About an hour and a half later Stu’ returned: by this time I was using Smudge as a hot water bottle as it was freezing. I returned to my own boat and was grateful to climb into my bed and warm up!

Sunday morning, more sunshine and amazingly we could see that we had succeeded in burning nearly all the wood that had been gathered. The clean-up party had already dismantled the gazebos and bagged up the recycling and rubbish. The kids amused themselves on the rope swings etc. and the last few logs were bagged up and put on English Rose. The usual collection of plates and glasses that had been separated from their owners was placed on the picnic table awaiting collection.

There was no time this morning for a walk to the Capernwray Dive Centre as the Official Cruise was set for 11am so those who had not been to the top set off early and Lesley and Arthur kindly took the recycling to the Longlands Hotel as they were stopping at the services anyway. Before I left, the dinghy was lifted out of the water and moved up to the end of the jetty so I could collect it on my way out. Before I had even manoeuvred out of the basin and alongside the jetty, my plan had failed! A narrowboat had sneaked in from being breasted up to directly alongside and so blocked the possibility of collecting the dinghy. No problem I could pick it up on the way back from the top.

It was windy out of the arm and made for some interesting sailing with so many of us on the move. I seemed to pass all the cruisers that had stopped at the top on the way up, and all the narrows that had left later than me on the way back - always on a bend! Why is that?

As I turned into the arm to collect the dinghy, I think I missed the continuous moorer tied up at the entrance by a few inches before sailing into the basin for the second time and completing another turn before Chris helped me get the dinghy safely back onto my roof. Off I went again, bunting fluttering in the wind.

Possibly because of the lack of loo emptying facilities at Carnforth, (but more likely because moorings at the Lansil stretch quite a way and mean a bit of a walk if you are late to arrive!), there were hardly any boats at all in Carnforth.

I too continued without stopping and settled down for a leisurely and solitary sail to the evening’s rendezvous. Our Commodore caught me up just before the swing bridge and so did My Fair Lady, so Fay had the honour of opening the obstruction enabling us all to sail through without stopping.

By the time I reached Hest Bank, Fay and Ian had tied up and were just about to walk the dogs. As I was chatting, I noticed an unfortunate wood pigeon that thought it was a duck! It was sitting in the water occasionally flapping its wings in an attempt to escape. Being single-handed, with boats moored alongside and windy conditions too, it was not safe to stop so I pleaded with Ian to try and rescue the doomed bird. I passed several of our members who had stopped for a picturesque lunch overlooking Morecambe Bay, and sailed off into the distance expecting to hear the worst later on. A smile on my face now, I sailed the last few miles to the Lune Aqueduct and could see a line of moored boats already stretching towards the far side of the crossing.

NB Hollie was now behind me so when I changed my mind about passing the narrows just after the winding hole, it made for some interesting moves by both of us! Anyway, we eventually managed to tie up safely just behind Carly Warly and Carbis.

Soon after, we were treated to the sight of Lady Marie towing Moosehunter across the aqueduct. It is usually Stuart who rescues other hapless sailors, so it was only fair that when Moosehunter blew its exhaust that Stuart received help for a change. Apparently the problem started at Hest Bank when Moosehunter disappeared in a cloud of black smoke and noise! It looked as though it would be a little more expensive to fix than Stu’s normal problem of running out of diesel! (Sorry Stu, couldn’t resist that one!)

It made sense for Lady Marie to tie alongside me and Moosehunter to tie along side Hollie, line astern. This accomplished, everyone chillaxed until it was time for the last evening’s entertainment of the Bank Holiday weekend in one of my favourite venues, the Lansil Club.

The turnout was great with many turning up to join us for the evening by car. It was very warm inside so I opened the side doors. I undid the bolts, let go and they fell to floor with a resounding clatter much to the amusement of those that turned round to see what the noise was! It was very funny!

Pamela was our artiste for the evening and she wandered around the tables draping herself over the men who lapped it up! With a mixture of singing, a bit of karaoke and lots of dancing it was a great night. I can vaguely remember starting a conga chain towards the end of the evening and going out of the building, round to the other doors and then in behind the second bar before grabbing the bar tender and making him lead the chain for a while! I was not the only one embarrassing themselves that night as Peter Yates, once he gets going, is a bit of a party animal and was seen dancing on the tables toward the end of the night! Arthur was also celebrating his birthday and enjoyed Pamela’s attentions to the full! We left having booked our breakfasts for the morning and staggered back to the boats for the remainder of the night.

It was the end of the first event of Roy’s year and the weather that had been predicted had finally arrived: rain, wind and low temperatures. This meant that several boats that left early had a rough journey home whereas those of us who stopped for breakfast, therefore not setting off until nearer lunchtime had a much drier journey home. Breakfast itself was very good and better organised than two years ago although there were still issues with insufficient cutlery. We were planning to ensure that Ronnie was again served last just to see the look on his face, but he didn’t come in to eat! There was a debate about the relative speeds of cruisers and narrowboats which did get slightly heated. Basically, narrowboaters are obviously the slower vehicle but the majority do let the faster cruisers overtake when it is safe to do so. Cruisers cannot physically go as slowly as narrowboats for too long as they vibrate at very low revs and also overheat as there is insufficient water travelling through the cooling system. Both sides agreed to differ and said their goodbyes before things went too far!

The journey back from Lancaster was actually not too bad now as the rain had stopped and although it was still a little windy, there wasn’t a huge amount of traffic moving in the opposite direction. So, despite a shaky start at Hest Bank we ended up with a marvellous weekend and a glimpse of things to come for the rest of the year. Well done everyone!

No Time to Spare at Bilsborrow

Roy’s second event was going to be this year’s main rally but after the club bought a mini marquee it was changed back to a normal one. When I say normal, I don’t actually mean normal because I have never had so much exercise over a bank holiday weekend! I had to go back to work for a rest!

Following a fantastic sunny April, the forecast of course changed for the worse and we were told to expect high winds and lots of rain. Because of this I decided to set off on Friday morning to join those already moored up outside Owd ’Nells.

Water filled, loo emptied, cats on board, ropes untied, off I went. Or so I thought! Have you spotted what I had forgotten yet? No? I’ll give you a clue - what should you always disconnect along with mooring ropes? Yes, the electric hook-up! Just as I realised that the sudden movement at the corner of my left eye was actually my electricity cable ripping out of the shore box, I heard a shout of ‘Excuse me! You’ve forgotten to unplug!’ One of my neighbours had realised what I had not done and was a fraction too late to stop me making a plonker of myself! I sailed back in and retrieved the cable from the water, switched off the power at the meter as there were now three live wires exposed to the elements and tried once again to get away.

No problems this time, apart from the wind, and off I went. When I met NB Platypus just as I turned out of the marina, I started to think that my luck was going to be dreadful for the weekend. I said Hi to Geoff, Trish, Derrick, Ann and Doreen who kindly helped me tie up just clear of the winding hole before getting on my bike and cycling back to collect the car before going off to work.

I arrived at the boat and trotted up the towpath to see who was about. The fire was on the go outside English Rose and a neatly stacked pile of logs meant that the woodman had been foraging for fuel once again. The forecasters had got it wrong again as the stars were out and the wind had disappeared. In fact it was such a calm evening that the Chinese lanterns that were sent up into the night’s sky once again went straight up for a long way before slowly drifting away.

We all had a pleasant evening despite Paul the woodman becoming Paul the plastic burner and trying to poison everyone with toxic fumes!

We all survived Paul’s noxious gasses from the fire!! - and were joined by Andy and his beautiful steel guitar from the narrowboat, Rasputin. The evening drew to a natural close around midnight and the houses on the other side breathed a sigh of relief as we all retired to our various vessels to see what the weekend would bring.

The morning arrived with sunshine and a request to produce a treasure hunt for Sunday. With our very own Crown Green Bowls tournament at 11.30 I had to get my finger out so off I went with book and camera in hand. Having spoken to two of the regular treasure hunters who suggested that around twenty questions was a good number to aim for, I decided to set an alphabetical picture quiz on and around the towpath While trundling along the waterside, I came across some of the L.C.B.C. sproglets who had removed the dinghy (and lifejackets of course!) from my roof and managed to get it down into Brock Bottoms at the aqueduct. Under strict instructions to bring the dinghy back as soon as they had had enough, I proceeded a little further and found the ‘x’ and ‘q’ I needed for the treasure hunt.

I returned to the boat and then on to the Pavilion for the Crown Green Bowls tournament that Anne and Peter Yates had organised. After much pulling out of hair and some choice language the contest was on and the mix of experienced and novice players seemed to work well despite odd moments where the players disappeared for a few minutes to nab newly vacated moorings or other such tasks. While everyone was in the sunshine indulging their competitive sides, I was putting the finishing touches to the treasure hunt. I had said I would have a go if there was a player short and I was called upon to make up the numbers on the last match. I joined Molly, Gail and Mike and we slowly got the hang of, - or not - of which way round to hold the woods and where to aim for to get anywhere near the jack.

Josh, Sue Hudson and Ronnie were on the green at the same time as us and we occasionally got in each others’ way with much friendly abuse flying about. Luckily before the boxing gloves came out, a huge rain cloud decided to drop its contents on us and sent boaters scrambling for the bar or their boats. The event was a huge success.

I popped in to see some friends on Meander’er to make use of their printer to run off a copy of the treasure hunt before trotting home to get tea ready.

A few minutes after dishing up, with the rain and wind still buffeting the boat, I heard my name shouted out with a slight note of panic, it was Brian and Jackie on NB Hollie coming alongside at forty-five degrees! I rushed outside to help them tie up and we soon had them alongside safe, sound and soaked. Well, more precisely, Brian was safe and sound and Jackie and I were soaked and ready for a Miss Wet T shirt competition!

I collected my bits and pieces and headed down to the Pavilion for the evening’s entertainment. Peter Lang had kindly bought in a couple of videos one of which was about the transport of salt on the river Weaver from Northwich and the other, perhaps of more interest to us mere pleasure-boat sailors, was of a 2004 voyage by four Freeman cruisers from Glasson to Fleetwood and back in some very rough weather. The most amazing thing about this trip was that Peter was literally sailing single handed with one hand on the wheel while videoing the event with a hand held camera in the other!!! Who says men can’t multi-task!! Impressive stuff indeed and there was many a sharp intake of breath at the sight of these brave little boats bobbing about like corks! Disappearing in the troughs and pitching with their props out of the raging sea one minute followed by aiming their prow skywards the next! The worst bit was that they all had to sail back again! There were a few comments about seeing the cruisers breasted up at the dock and again in the sea lock and everyone seemed genuinely interested in the feat of these four little boats and their intrepid (or insane) captains and crew.

By the time everyone had arrived the LCBC book had a full page of details with a total of thirty-one boats and several others that had arrived by car. The new LCBC princess and Miss LCBC were crowned and this year it is Ellie and Charlie who have taken on the role as Jo and Chris stepped down. Good luck to them both.

It was pleasant to have Stuart and Chris working together on one of Stu’s rare Saturdays off. The karaoke went down well as usual with our little songsters while the grown-ups tried a few new songs which were well-received by the audience.

We had a small interval when the police arrived to give a talk on the new Canalwatch scheme that runs from Barton to Potter’s Brook. The two young policemen declined several offers to ‘get their kit off’, ‘snog the birthday girl’ or appear in our next calendar and gave an very brief description of the scheme before beating a hasty exit followed by Sandra who returned armed with a sheet for us to provide names, boat names and phone numbers for the police to bulk text us in the event of criminal activity along the canal. Poor guys!

The evening continued with the draw providing more than its usual share of laughter when Tracey won first prize and sent little Chris up to choose a prize and then wished she hadn’t when he came back with a bag of toiletries! Poor Chris, he was only thinking about his mum!!

One of the amazing things about kids is how the little ones manage to sleep through anything. Two of the Millbands’ girls must be out of practice for boat club late nights and they dozed off about half way through the night! The other older kids once again congregated in the toilet corridor, I have no idea what the fascination is but they enjoy it and it keeps them quiet!

The karaoke drew to an end and dancing took over for the remainder of the night. We boogied and bopped but it was the rock songs that had us going for the longest time. Meat loaf, Kings of Leon, Status Quo, the old and the new, music to headbang to! Love it! After our energy levels dropped around midnight. We walked back with Gail and Mike, unlike two years ago, I had my own trousers on and the puddles were a lot smaller although I did try and scale the muddy shortcut while the others took the safe route through the gate.

A bright but chilly Sunday morning arrived and after an early morning wander along the towpath with my early morning pint of coffee I watched John Thorn sail away on his boat - with my picture for the ‘z’ clue of the treasure hunt in his window! Luckily there were two other ‘z’s on other boats that were still there so all was not lost!

I set up the start of the hunt outside the Commodore’s boat and soon had several teams wandering up and down the towpath while I sat in my shorts freezing my bits off in the brisk wind that blew along the canal. I had set a forty-five minute time limit on the hunt before points were lost. I thought that would be plenty of time as it only took ten minutes to amble from one bridge to the other so I was surprised when the first team did not make it back in time, nor the second, nor the third! In fact not one of the eight teams that took part made it back in less than forty-nine minutes. At least everyone said they enjoyed it and there were just a couple of pics that proved difficult to identify. The ‘q’ was on a motorhome on the other side of the canal and the ‘b’ was from the Roebuck pub. The ‘f’ was another that nobody found, it was from a sticker on Meridian for the Guild of knot tiers!

As the last of the hunters handed in their sheets, the girls v boys rounders match was underway and the ladies were waiting for me to take my turn with the bat! I was of course absolutely rubbish and most times failed to hit the ball at all. I wasn’t any better at bowling either! There was much banter, abuse and definitely a few players out who continued playing along with a few decisions that should maybe have gone the other way too. In fact there was so much cheating by the blokes in the second innings that Tarka’s Cath, walked off in disgust! There were some marvellous hits, a couple of striking catches and amazingly no broken bones when those who possibly

should have known better threw themselves in all directions trying to catch, hit or throw the ball while having a marvellous time. There was a classic moment when umpire Roy had to show Sheila Kenny a yellow card for abusing the referee, obviously in jest, they both enjoyed giving each other some attitude in front of a bemused audience Many commented on the fact that the ‘old’ Paul Mason would never have been able to run around as he did if the match had been staged last year! The now non-smoking Paul & Marg and Jackie & Brian are still doing brilliantly having given up the fags. Well done!

The match was declared a draw as I don’t think anyone had a real clue or cared what the score was, possibly with the exception of Ronnie of course! Jackie from NB Hollie who was the girls’ secret weapon was most definitely the player of the match for the ladies while Tom from Carbis took the title for the men. It was an excellent hour or so and I think everyone enjoyed themselves and hopefully it is an event we can repeat! With one of the most energetic weekends we have had for many years, we still hadn’t run out of energy and at about 2pm about thirty of us, plus dogs, gathered for a ramble organised by Alex and Collette. We headed out past Barton Grange along the towpath, walked along the A6 before turning off-road through the very apt Landrover sales room at Brock. Crossing the railway line we regrouped and headed along the public footpath, over the stile, across a field of long grass, over another stile and onto the back roads of Bilsborrow. We passed the church with a marvellous show of tulips before getting back to the A6 and while the kids went off to the shop, we all returned to the canal for a well earned drink or three!

Apparently still raring to go, Brian decided to paddle the dinghy to the sanitary station and empty his loo. He made it there safe and sound and then realised he had forgotten his BW key! I was armed with my ever present camera waiting for the action shot of Brian falling in that never happened and I had my key with me. Josh was all for lobbing the bunch of keys across the canal but even though he is a marvellous bowler for cricket purposes, I did not fancy the odds of success! Luckily a little inflatable dinghy came to Brian’s rescue and collected the keys from me and took them across he canal safely. With his task completed, I was still waiting for my action shot but it just wasn’t to be as Brian made it safely back into the dinghy with no mishaps and paddled back against the wind to the safety of Hollie.

I took the already full recycling bag over to the village hall and emptied the bottles ready for the collection of more of the same as we slowly popped corks, flipped ring-pulls and unscrewed bottle tops in our attempt to take home less than we arrived with!

For our evening’s entertainment we had a lady in a sparkly top hat who sang for us. As well as the artiste, there was a Dog Quiz compiled by Anne Cutler, which Ronnie’s team won, (was there some Googling going on perhaps?); presentations to the winners of the bowls competitions, (especially well done to Darren Minchella in the Junior competition); a prize for the winners of the Treasure Hunt, Alex and Colette, and the highlight of the weekend for many was Paula’s choreographed performances by Spotty Totty and Duck Pond.

The ‘Spotty Totty Girls’ emerged sporting polka dot skirts and pom poms and pranced about with varying degrees of confidence, with Jane doing a solo and Lesley Miller climbing onto the knees of myself and Paula before having her skirt ripped off in the finale!

After the laughter had died down, it was soon the turn of the ‘Duck Pond Boys’! Dressed in multi-coloured tights, tutus and some marvellous wigs, they performed their own special version of the Sugar Plum Fairy to the delight of the crowd, now with tears of laughter in their eyes! The crowd loved seeing Tom getting rolled about on an exercise ball so much, Paula let them do it again!!! Well done to all the mad participants for not being afraid to make fools of themselves and a big thank you to Paula for all her hard work getting it all together.

Following all our exertions over the weekend, I was aching already and for the first time in ages couldn’t bring myself to dance. Luckily there were many who did manage to get up and boogie on down for the remainder of the evening.

At the close of the evening, we collected the recycling as usual and only had to take the cans back to the boats thanks to the bottle-banks outside the hall. The tables and chairs were tidied up and off we went back to the boats. There was not exactly a repeat of last year’s events with Peter, Les and Dave, but once again, not all of us made it back unscathed!

I heard the next day that Sheila managed to topple into the ditch alongside the towpath a couple of boats away from Killedan. The funniest part was hearing that Ronnie was more concerned about getting his disintegrating box of beer cans safely back to the boat than he was about rescuing his better half! Paul Mason for once was the good guy and returned to extricate poor Sheila from the ditch!

I don’t know if it was one of our members that sailed past at what seemed like full speed early on Monday morning, but it was not very considerate and no doubt woke many more than myself to the sound of planks being dislodged and ropes twanging. Apart from the unearthly early start, it was a beautiful day but a bit windy. The usual exodus of boats had taken place by about 10am with just a few of us hanging on until the afternoon. There was some beautiful synchronised turning in the winding hole by Carbis and Carly Warly as well as some windy reversing with the aid of the ever present use of the girly button.

I joined Fay and Ian on a walk to Barton Grange as I had never been there before. Apart from tripping over and nearly spraining my ankle it was a lovely walk and I couldn’t believe how busy it was at the garden centre. Armed with treats for the Tunbridge girls we returned to the boats and Molly and I joined Doreen, Lucy and Ellie for lunch in Owd Nell’s. We managed to get a table quite soon and had a pleasant meal. Just as we were waiting for our huge ice cream dessert, Stu, Chris, Jane, Josh, Paul, Marg, Gail and Mike all arrived looking to eat and we joined them once our ice cream arrived.

I left Molly with the others and returned to take the boat back the marina before cycling back to collect Molly and the car.

I had just gone under the A6 when I realised I had made a mistake, the bike was in the back of the car and not on the roof of the boat!!! Luckily after texting My Fair Lady and Westering about my stupidity, Ian informed me they would be leaving BHM at around the same time as I expected to get back. Problem solved. I was surprised when I got a call from Doreen just as I was sailing through Bluebell Wood to say she was at the marina! I explained that I hadn’t meant her to pick me up as I was still an hour away! Whoops!

I had a peaceful sail back with surprisingly few other boats and sailed into the marina thinking about what I was going to do about my electricity supply - if you remember, I had left the marina without unplugging my electricity cable! I didn’t have many moments to think about it as the Tunbridges arrived and took me back for my car, bike and daughter.

With the remaining boats staying at Bilsborrow for a few more days, we said goodbye and drove back to the marina where I was very lucky to be able to undo the electricity connection and amazingly when I reconnected everything it all worked!!! By this time I was ready to return to work for a rest after such an energetic weekend.

It was one of, if not the best boat club do I have had the pleasure of attending! Thank you Roy!

Morecambe and Why’s!

Last year nine of us crossed the sands of Morecambe Bay in order to raise funds for the Fleetwood Lifeboat. It was hard work but we all made it in varying degrees of physical agony by the end. This year we did it again and there were ten of us!

The forecast for rain thankfully had not materialised although it was still windy. Unfortunately we were three down as Ian had hurt his back after falling off his bike and the girls wouldn’t go without dad. Although the numbers were similar to last year, there were only four of us doing it again while Brian & Jackie, Molly, Andy, Kath & Tom were all doing it for the first time.

We had arranged to meet at the marina before sorting out transport, car shuffles etc. Brian and Jackie travelled up with Peter & Anne while the rest of us left early to get the Randall’s seven seater to Kent’s Bank for the end of the walk.

Despite a wrong turn by myself, we made it to Arnside and Andy and I dropped everyone else off before flying off to deposit one car at Kent’s Bank. We nearly missed that turn too but luckily both realised at the same time and actually managed to get a good parking spot near the station.

Surprisingly when we arrived back at Arnside, there was still space in the car park. With less than an hour to go to the start we were surprised at the lack of people milling about compared to last year. We lightened our loads somewhat by eating some of our packed lunches and of course, going to the loo as options are non-existent once the walk is underway!

Fran and Don had driven up to see us on our way and once we had donned our new blue bandanas, collected Anne, Brian and Jackie we set off on our own for the first mile to avoid the crowds while the terrain was stony and uneven. I had intended to pack ibuprofen and paracetamol after the agonies of last year, but in my rush to get away I forgot. This was to prove very unfortunate as my right hip was starting to twinge painfully before we even left the start! I was a bit dubious about taking part but the thought of letting everyone down spurred me on!! Thankfully Jackie and Brian are incredibly well organised and had brought ibuprofen with them. I took a couple and waited anxiously for them to start working.

While we were waiting for the main group to arrive we tried to figure out our finish point. I was miles out as I thought we actually walked around the headland on the other side of the river. As it turned out, the direct route is virtually straight across, probably a mile at the most! The walk though was to be about eight miles as Cedric Robinson takes us out into the bay before crossing the river and then turning back to Kent’s Bank. By now we had been joined by the rest of the walkers and we were pleasantly surprised to see just as many as last year come out of the woods to assemble at the first halt. It was decision time for many, shoes on, shoes off? This year, after standing on the fish last year, I didn’t want a repeat so my sandals stayed on. We met up with Alex’s son, Nicky, his family and of course the dog. More bandanas were dished out and very fetching we looked too!

Once we set off, it was quite amazing to see how different the sand was to last year. No big puddles for the kids to jump in, no rutted sand to hurt bare feet and lots more very shallow water that made for some cracking photos. (see the font cover!) This year, there seemed to be a lot more dogs and children doing their bit for the RNLI, one unfortunate dad must have regretted bringing his little one as within a mile, the youngster was perched on dad’s shoulders! Although this poor guy was going to ache by the end, thankfully my hip was now much better and I was now optimistic about making it across.

We seemed to reach the river a lot sooner than last year and once again waited for the stragglers to catch up before lining up along the edge of the water. Trousers were rolled up, phones and cameras put away somewhere high up in backpacks and little dogs and children were readied to be carried or piggybacked across when the whistle blew.

Off we went, squeals, screams, laughter and shouts rang out across the bay as five hundred walkers of all ages waded knee-deep across the fast flowing, flatfish-filled flow of water. Just as we were congratulating everyone on getting across without slipping over or standing on anything that moved, we heard a big cheer. Looking round we saw that a young lad was holding aloft a flatfish that he had caught on the way across! Despite my pleas to let it go, I believe it was taken home for tea.

We were now within a few hundred yards of the walkers that I think came from Hest Bank and the tractor was ready to collect any walkers who could go no further. Our party regrouped once again and off we went with everyone still in good spirits. It was probably about a mile after our wade that Kath noticed her river shoes had worn away on the top and her toe was bleeding. The simple option for the moment was to remove the shoes and go barefoot until both feet and footwear had dried out. It was not long before my sandals also started wearing my flesh away but as we were now on the home leg across the rough sea grass and gully part of the walk, removing them was no longer an option.

Once again it was amazing to see how the terrain had changed from July last year. Then, there was just one big ravine that we crossed in pairs, now, there were forty or more smaller gullies that had to be negotiated. Many of us by now were feeling a few aches in our joints and whilst the youngsters were leaping across the smelly mud, the thought of jarring joints at this late stage was not an option so we looked for the easy option of finding the narrowest crossing point and stepping across carefully and sedately. Well that was the plan! Occasionally there were slips and falls but in true good Samaritan style, many helped anyone who was struggling to get across the myriad of channels that had been created over the last ten months.

We had been told that six sheep had been lost already this year in the sands and it must have been one of those unfortunate creatures that I came across gently decomposing in its final resting place. Lovely!

Soon after passing this testament to the dangers that lurk in Morecambe Bay, we were all across safely but in varying degrees of pain. Josh, Tom and Molly had been brilliant, no complaints, whingeing or whining! We bought certificates, said goodbye to Peter, Anne, Brian and Jackie before trudging the last couple of hundred yards uphill to the car.

It was almost a religious moment as Andy sat Kath in the boot of the car and washed her bloody feet while Chris rinsed Josh’s as he had walked barefoot again. Andy drove us back to Arnside where I collected my car and we set off for the marina, all very tired but very pleased with ourselves. I had to remove my sandals before long because I was struggling to use my feet on the pedals because of my blisters, we took one more wrong turn before getting to the motorway and home for a shower. Apparently we actually got back to Garstang before the train had even left Kent’s Bank. Glad we did the car shuffle thing! Sue and Dave had arranged a buffet and BBQ on their new metal tube so we spent a pleasant evening recounting our experiences and marvelling at the speed of progress on the fit out of their new boat.

It is a marvellous day out, raises money for a worthy cause and gets you one of my fabulous bandanas! Hopefully we will have even more of you taking part next year when we do it all again!

We raised £697 this year for the local branch of the RNLI. Well done everyone.

Glasson Glitches!

Garstang Marina was already looking quite empty when I left the marina on Thursday afternoon. Many members had already been at Glasson since the previous weekend if not longer. The weather had been absolutely glorious and if we could have shifted the bank holiday back by seven days we would have had the most fantastic do!

Unfortunately as we all know, we are not Time Lords and as Dr Who was otherwise occupied, the bank holiday stubbornly remained at the end of May and the weather returned to the usual wind and a little rain for our main rally once again.

Having filled up with diesel, water and food; emptied the loo and remembered to unplug my electricity hook-up, I eventually set off early afternoon to meet up with Brian & Jackie on Hollie at Galgate. It was a pleasant sail and fairly uneventful, the biggest surprise was to sail under the last bridge to see not a single boat moored up at the cricket pitch!

I turned around and managed to beat the wind and get tied up just before Hollie. Brian set up the essential windbreak and we had a little drinkie to celebrate it being Thursday!

I followed in the wake of Hollie leaving them at the sanitary station to pop to the shops after their shower while I set the lock for the pair of us. While I was waiting I chatted to the vegetation contractors who told me stories of paddles being left open and empty pounds only a few days earlier. With not much rain having fallen lately, this did not bode well for the levels in the leaky Glasson Arm of our canal!

With just three of us to sail the two boats down the Arm it fell to Jackie to do most of the donkey work in setting the locks while Brian and I closed up each time. This worked well and we were making good progress in the sunshine and light winds when Fran and Doreen appeared to give us a lift. Soon after, the gang of navvies was joined by Tom and Carly and our journey was greatly speeded up with all the help now available. Thanks to everyone.

Once through the last lock, I set off first and instead of the weed round the prop from last year, I immediately picked up a ten foot length of timber on my bow that gave me a bow wave like a nuclear submarine! It took me a while to get it off and luckily it came alongside and I managed to get it out to stop it attacking someone else!!

No weed to look out for, there was a chance to watch out for the Great Crested Grebes that live along the arm and although no chicks this year, there was a pair floating fast asleep that I spotted in amongst the lilies.

The basin was already full, mainly with LCBC boats and there was no Canute to take up mooring space so we were only two deep instead of the four from last year. I let Hollie past, had a quick twirl in the basin and opted for the vacant long term mooring back at the bridge. Byron, Fran and Doreen shoe-horned me in with inches to spare.

Safely tied up I took the bike off the roof and set off up the locks to find out from Ronnie - who was helping Megan Agen down the locks - if I needed to go back to Bridgehouse for more stuff from the lock up. The games needed collecting so Doreen very kindly ran me back to collect my car and we raided the store before returning to the Dock for the marquee erection!

The club’s new purchase had only been put up once before and it was a good job too as with so many chiefs present for the second erection, it needed someone who knew roughly what they were doing to take charge! With lots of scratching of heads and conflicting advice being bandied about we managed to get everything in the right place and our enormous tent rose into the afternoon sun. Fortunately Ken had brought along a half-size version to supplement our own and now we knew what we were doing we soon had this one up too. No sooner had we finished attaching the final bungee strap and tent peg, than the first boaters arrived with their chairs to bag their places for the evening!

It was a lovely evening with Roy opening the Rally in his own style with much heckling from those around. Many of the weekend’s events were changed around and were of course subject to weather conditions. There was a lovely surprise for June with a birthday cake complete with an appropriate candle display! The combined candle power still had no effect on the overall temperature of the tent and it was a little chilly especially if you were sat near the door but as usual, everyone had a great time until the temperature got the better of us at around 11.30pm. The rain arrived overnight, just a steady drizzle accompanied by the inevitable wind and Ronnie’s ramble was scheduled for 11am. I quickly popped back to Garstang to collect a few parcels that had arrived so I could complete my boat fancy dress. Unfortunately when I returned and started the engine to charge up, it died a horrible death after about a half hour. I recognised the problem as water and/or crap in the fuel and looked everywhere for my spare fuel filter. Don’t laugh but I had tidied up and couldn’t find it! I took a few bits up to the marquee for the boot sale and asked around to see if anyone had a spare one. Paula mentioned Dave was out and could probably collect one so I rang him and he very kindly agreed to come to my rescue and pick one up.

The troops gathered for the soggy ramble and with Ronnie in the lead they set off for Cockersands Abbey. Fay took the camera and caught up with group leaving me to wait for my saviour. The boot sale had a steady flow of boaters and general public through the door and there was a book price war between Anne and Sue, prices on all stalls kept on dropping until there was nothing was left to take home. Fran did a great job on the tombola and the tea and cakes were flying out of the door at a rate of knots. The weather put an end to most of the outdoor activities although Paula managed to get the kids games underway. The rain continued for most of the day and the marquee stood up to the worst Glasson could throw at it. A few extra ratchet straps had been worth while attaching in the morning and the only problem was the rain dripping between the two marquees. This can be solved with a ‘valley gutter’ apparently. Pegs just aren’t up to the job!

Dave and the fuel filter arrived and it was a simple job to change the offending part. The next problem was that my batteries were low and there was not enough grunt in them to allow the system to self-bleed and start up. I needed another saviour - I ended up with three! Ian lent me his extension lead, Ken drove his van up the towpath and dropped off his generator, but in the end the final piece of the jigsaw was Dave Leadbetter’s spare battery. With the engine now alive again, I breathed a huge sigh of relief that at least one thing had gone right at last

To celebrate my engine’s rebirth, I left Molly behind to do her hair etc. while under strict instructions to listen out for the engine showing any signs of a repeat performance. Sue, Dave and I joined Gail and Mike on Lady Jeana for a jaunt to Thurnham Mill. Having tied up and found a good table we were informed there was no food! At first we thought it was because of our attire, mainly my attire as I had my now diesel smelling pirate shorts on! It actually turned out that there was a huge wedding on with a marquee and a couple of hundred guests and there was no extra capacity for five more meals. We decided to walk to the Stork and try our luck there. It was very busy, very expensive and very nice although the portions were on the small size and Dave, having opted for ‘half’ a chicken was seriously not happy about his meal and proceeded to boycott the delicious puddings despite having his favourite lemon possett wafted in front of him to tempt him.

We returned to the Mill and another large Ouzo before rocking and rolling the boat back to the dock. A brief halt at my boat, which was thankfully still running, to issue Molly with orders for the night before hopping back onto the cruiser for a lift to the Vic as it was now 8pm! Having dropped me off it was back to their mooring for everyone to get ready for the pub.

The pub was already busy when I stepped over its threshold to find the drinks were expensive and there were not enough seats for everyone. Sue and Dave arrived soon after, dressed in the fancy dress outfits they would have worn last year if the internal politics hadn’t prevented them from making it to the Village Hall. They received a huge cheer and the party really got underway. The entertainer was very good but I am not sure why a bucket was passed round for donations. It caught most of us on the hop and we added to the coinage although the regulars of the pub managed to avoid it!

Sunday was bike ride day, my engine started ok but I had a feeling that it was about to misbehave after about a half hour so I switched off and thought I would worry about it later! I was about to join the bike ride group when I realised I had a front puncture! Yet another problem! Bad luck not quite over, I couldn’t believe it when a bird managed to land a poo on the inside of my glasses while I was wearing them without getting any on the outside or in my eye! Such precision defecation! Sheila kindly cleaned them up for me while Tom, Geoff, Dave and Ronnie fixed my puncture!

We managed to get away just after 11am with professionals, first timers, children and ex-smokers taking to the cycle path in line-astern formation for the twenty mile round trip to the Crook o’ Lune picnic area and Woody’s café. It was incredibly windy and although this was a bonus on the way there, obviously it was going to be a nightmare on the way back when we were also knackered. Little Chris and Lucy had planned to cycle with Phil to the café and then get a lift back with Tracy but in the end they stopped just after the track ended, went on a detour and back to the dock before Phil set off to catch us up! Considering this time last year, Phil, like myself struggled the last few miles, he did a fantastic job of catching us up while we were drinking our coffee and wolfing down Mars bars at Woody’s!

My puncture stayed up, Geoff had no repeat of last year’s flat tyre and the windy journey back to the dock was hard and almost too much for Marg. Tom and Dave managed to get her back by pulling and pushing her the last few miles. Although we were fragmented into several groups by the time we arrived back in the dock, we did all make it safe and sound.

The tea tent and cake stall were on the go again and the whacked cyclists gathered for sustenance and to get our breath back. I couldn’t hang about long as I had to go and attach my inflatable animals to the boat for the Noah’s Ark boat fancy dress! There were only three of us that dressed the boats, myself, Tarka, who had also had inflatable animals while PC sported a fabulous frieze of an ark with animals looking out of the port holes. Needless to say, Don and Fran took the trophy for all their hard work. Well done. We need more boats dressed up next year guys, poor Fran needs a break! The wind put the kybosh on any dreams of a boathandling competition - either model or the real thing!

The Scruffs competition also fell by the wayside along with any hope of any adult competitions other than the tug o’war. I have no idea where I was while this was going on and I am gutted I missed it but was pleased to hear that with Sheila as the anchorwoman, the girls stomped all over the boys! I can just imagine the post-mortem blame-game that must have gone on with Ronnie and the rest! So, I believe that is 2 - 0 to the girls; rounders being the first victory of course! I wonder whether you guys can catch up at the Kenlis Olympic Games.

Despite the chilly temperature and the wind, Josh, Chris and Lucy wanted a go on a waterslide the club had brought along. We filled it with water and added fairy liquid and more water to the top and proceeded to watch Josh and little Chris get soaking wet while the girls chickened out! Somehow it was left to me to collect and put away the activity while the kids moved on to something else! I headed to the marquee armed with all my inflatable animals and just like Andy had already, hung them around the frame. Several of the kids took a fancy to one or the other of the animals and Roy wanted one of the giraffes! (No more calendar shots Roy, please!!!)

There was a small problem at the start of the evening because chairs had been moved about within the marquee. This was perhaps the only drawback of taking our own chairs from the boats as if they had been the plastic ones, I am pretty sure it wouldn’t have happened! Anyway, the problem unresolved we lost a few boaters before the evening got going with Chris and Mike as our DJ’s for the night.

Thankfully the wind died away in time for the illuminated cruise and about eight boats left their moorings to give us the best display at Glasson for many years. The cruise was accompanied by several Chinese Lanterns being released from the quayside. A quick call to the coast guard let them know we were not in any distress and it was round the dock a few times before tying up and returning to our marvellous marquee for the prize-giving ceremonies. These obviously didn’t take as long as usual but there were a couple of notable winners: English Rose won the best engine room and PC the fire safety categories. I say notable because they were the only entrants in each category!! Perhaps the happiest winner was Andy Randal for the illuminated cruise. Arthur had made the judgement on all round illumination and Tarka had a display an both sides, front and back while the runner up, Megan Agen had nothing lighting up the stern of the boat.

The disco and Karaoke continued with much dancing and laughter. Many of the more sensible amongst us had wisely bought blankets to help keep the cold at bay. There was even a hot-water bottle! Once the Karaoke had finished, Marg could remove her earplugs and the dancing really got going. Many others, kept warm by dancing their socks off. The music got better and better and with some classic rock songs, Gail and I headbanged the night away surrounded by slightly more conservative dancers until the early hours. A brilliant night indeed.

An 8 o’clock start was the order of the day for Monday morning and it was a glorious day for a tent derection party! The usual cleaner-uppers were joined for a change by Ken and Sue who took charge of the dismantling. We took Ken’s gazebo down first and all went well. We were three-quarters of

Those with the longest distance to travel home and those unable to help left to make their way up the locks in pairs while we hung out the canopy and sides to dry out. I returned to the boat to start my dodgy engine and was on the phone when I thought I heard it misfiring again. I switched off the phone and the engine and swore under my breath hoping I was wrong.

To divert my anger and frustration I took the cans to the recycling point before returning to check my water separator again. I passed Mike and Barbara on Impulse who were also having problems! Their engine wouldn’t start! Mike thought it was a flat battery so I popped back to grab my power pack and we got it going. Back to Hagrid’s Cabin, I couldn’t see a problem! I tried the fuel line itself as I thought it may be a tank blockage and was stunned to see fuel coming out but not a nice clear flow but diesel full of black bits!! OMG. Now I knew what was wrong I decided to limp back to Garstang and sort it out then. I thought I would probably have to kill the engine every twenty minutes or so to let the filter clear itself.

Plan C. Ian offered me a car shuffle so I thought I might as well do that and hope I made it back to the marina that night. Less and less boats were left to go up the locks so options ever dwindling. My Fair Lady left to go up with Impulse while a big blue non-LCBC narrow sailed passed with loads of cre Ten minutes later, I get a text from Fay saying the blue boat would wait for me if I left now! Still no cat! Decision made, off I went with Paula and Tom cycling along with me.

It was a beautiful day and when I switched the engine off to clear the filter for the first time it was marvellous! I drifted along in silence and imagined myself and the boat being pulled along in the olden days of horse-drawn barges. Must have been brilliant!

This was not quite the end of the weekend’s drama as Impulse developed an overheating problem at the second lock and we thought the blue boat would have to nurse two boats back to Garstang! Luckily Mike got it going and limped off to catch up with My Fair Lady at the next lock. Dave and Carly popped up to join Tom and Paula to help while Sheila seemed to be like a boomerang on a bike appearing from both directions!

My plan of switching off in the locks seemed to work and I expected to have to do this all the way home but I decided to take a chance and travel at tick over to see if that let enough fuel through to get back. At last some good luck and although I was travelling even slower than I do normally, I arrived back at about 6.30pm, tied up, plugged in.

For me a pretty crap weekend, for everyone else, I think a damned good one in spite of the weather!

Memories of Charles Seago - R.I.P.

The demise of Charles ( Charlie ) Seago, is a great loss of a good friend to many, and an active member of the LCBC.

On so many occasions his wife Ann would step in and play the electronic organ for our get togethers...........it was Charlie’s job to carry same from their boat "Anne Sheree" to the event. I recall a do at "The Hand and Dagger", it was raining cats and dogs, Charlie carried the organ and yours truly carried the stand !   You guessed it, we both skidded down a muddy and wet embankment on our backsides!  Organ and stand held high we looked like two mud wrestlers! We could only laugh and we had many a laugh since.

Charles was a true gentleman, liked a joke and was always there to offer help to his boat club colleagues!

God bless you Charlie..........keep an eye open for Malcolm Jones up there, he will have a mooring ready for you!

David and Pat Randall.

Editor’s Bit

This edition is the biggest one ever I think and if you get bored reading the accounts of our activities written from my own personal point of view, then I have a suggestion for you! Put your account in an email and see it in print in the next edition! It would be a very pleasant change for me and for all of you too! Go on, you know you want to!

I have spent hours and hours putting this together and despite late nights, short hours at work and sunny evenings, it was still a rush at the last minute to get the final pieces together.

I have just thought of something I missed out from the Glasson bike ride so I shall drop it in here. While I was cycling along behind Ian, I happened to notice that his cycling shorts had seen better days and looked as if they were wearing thin. I asked Ian if he cycled ‘Commando’ to confirm my suspicions and yes, he certainly did! It was one of those things like someone with their skirt tucked into the their knickers or a bogie on display! Once you knew, you couldn’t stop looking! In the end I stopped trying to keep up with him and Ian and his gluteus maximus disappeared off into the distance!

I must also apologise to Stuart for including the picture of a stricken Moosehunter, I couldn’t resist Stu, sorry! You know I have to embarrass everyone when the opportunity arises! (Sir Ken excluded for the moment!)

Well you are nearly at the end and I look forward to hearing your comments as usual!

Lesley

I thought I would close this mammoth edition with a few reminders about canal etiquette for those new to boating!

I have heard stories of people playing chicken at bridges because neither will give way because they both think it is ‘their’ bridge! Well, if there is any doubt about who should give way, it would normally be the boat on the towpath side that waits. Don’t assume the other boat knows this if it is you that has the right of way. If you are letting the other boat through, try and make really big hand signals to make it really clear the other boat should come through.

Don’t forget it is a 4mph speed limit on the open canal and when you pass boats or fishermen you should slow right down at least a couple of boat lengths in advance and preferably slow to tick over or as slow as it is safe to do so if it is windy.

Please try and think of other boaters when mooring up, choose your spot carefully allowing room for boats to pass, don’t moor in winding holes, near bridge holes or on sharp bends. Try not to take up more than your boat’s length at popular mooring spots. Double up if you can and be prepared to move a few feet to let other boats in.

Unless you are in the middle of nowhere don’t run your engine or generator between 8pm and 8am!

Just treat people the way you want to be treated! Simple!