GROOMED TO PERFECTION

WEDNESDAY 11TH TO THURSDAY 12TH MAY 2011

Duggie was in need of a haircut and some while back Jacquie contacted a dog groomer in Burscough and made arrangements for her to collect Duggie on Wednesday morning. Marge arrived exactly on time and Duggie happily jumped into her car and we waved goodbye, hoping for the best. In the meantime we brought SKYY up and moored her right alongside the car park and then went and did a big shop in Tesco’s and by the time we had done, a call from Marge said he was ready to return and what a lovely cut she had given him and the other good news was that he wasn’t nearly as much trouble as we had lead her to believe.

First thing in the morning before all of the above I walked Dug back down to the Rufford Branch and what a picturesque junction this is. An old dry dock surrounded by cottages is tucked in between the tow path bridge and the top lock and little swing bridge, one of the cottages is for sale, tempting, but not yet!
Brian and Ann arrived late in the afternoon after a tiring three hour journey, but a glass or two and then supper and they were relaxed. An early night was called for as we had fourteen miles and numerous swing bridges to negotiate before we would arrive at Bridge Ten tomorrow, this was where the guys from BW said that we should overnight before meeting up with them on Friday morning at Bridge Nine at nine o’clock.

Thursdays forecast was heavy rain showers, but although the weather was cloudy and windy the rain didn’t arrive. The journey to Bridge Ten was not particularly exciting, apart from some ivy covered road bridges, but the swing bridges keep you on your toes. They range from fully manual, to fully automatic and every conceivable variation in between. Some are purely for pedestrians, others for farm traffic, but some actually allow us the power to hold up real traffic, smashing!

Bridge Ten was one of those only occasionally used by farm traffic and is almost equidistant between the M57 and M58 motorways, but far enough away to ensure a peaceful night’s mooring. The only thing spoiling the tranquillity of this spot was the smell of bad eggs, our remaining three batteries obviously complaining and within a couple of hours the ‘Low Battery’ warning light was flashing on the inverter, it looks like we will definitely have to replace them as soon as possible.