Encounters

Before coming up the Wigan flight we'd posted on the BCF FaceBook page to see if anyone else was doing the same and wanted to share the locks. The only one to respond was Robert on NB Blue Iris, who said he was coming down, so maybe we'd have a fly-past. We didn't see him on Thursday, but moving on today from our Haigh Hall mooring we met him. So we both went into reverse and pulled up for a chat. Nice to meet you, Robert!

We didn't stay long as we were due to pick up a package from Adlington Post Office. Unfortunately, by the time we got there, they'd closed for the day. So that'll be Monday, then. What to do in the meantime?

We called in on the White Bear Marina office and they, although no longer running a chandlery, had a supply of anti-vandal/water-conservation keys. We'd lost one of ours coming up the flight, which had left us very nervous – you have to have one to open the paddles, and it was definitely the sort of day on which you could drop the remaining one in a lock. We bought two!

We decided to go ahead with our plan to move on to Chorley for the night, and the marina manager offered some advice about where to moor. It's very shallow, which makes it hard to get close into the side, but eventually we found a spot where we managed it.

The run from Adlington to Chorley was excruciatingly slow with serious stretches of moored boats. Most of the interest was provided by squadron after squadron of towpath cyclists, who apparently were out for a charity bike ride. My default behaviour is to wave at cyclists, but they were coming so thick and fast that my arm got very confused – couldn't work out whether it should just stay permanently raised. This wasn't helped by the ones who plain ignored us, which left the arm uncertain whether to stay, drop, or flap around somewhere in-between. Anyway, we're reluctant to go back to Adlington on Monday for our package, and do it all again. It occurred to us that this might be an occasion for a bus pass. This spot has no TV signal apart from a single shopping channel coming in loud and (too) clear, and something called POP. But the mobile broadband is working fine, so we can research local buses. Haven't been on a bus since last September – what excitement!