18th and 19th July. It all heats up in Blackburn.

On Monday we had a relatively short day, going just a few miles to get to a pleasant and safe mooring before Blackburn. Robin did some DIY on the boat and some paddle-boarding in the evening. There was a huge flock of geese living on the opposite bank. They flapped in and out of the water when disturbed and sailed along the canal in a great long line. There was a full moon and a nice breeze.

On Tuesday it started, as promised, hot and sunny and the heat built further throughout the day. Robin walked Scooby early and set off into Blackburn. As before, there was a lot of litter in the canal. Icebergs included a floating small chest freezer and an armchair. After six miles we encountered the six Blackburn locks and went down them in the scorching sunshine.
Hoping for ice cream and salty snacks, we stopped at Cherry Tree to visit the shops promised in our book. They turned out to be Eileen's corner shop where the ice creams were uneatable (someone left the freezer open the lady told Jo - after she'd bought one!).  She also sold her the shop's entire stock of crisps (4 packets), last 2 pinter of milk and only packet of cashew nuts.
Apart from a rope caught round the propeller (our own centre rope - oops!) and being run aground by the trip boat, the remaining seven miles all went smoothly. At 4pm, somewhat wilted, we moored at the top of the next set of locks, waiting on the water point for a spot to become free. We might try the pub for tea - cooking might just heat the boat up to boiling point. We have certainly had extremes on the Leeds and Liverpool!

Blue skies above Chorley locks and Harold waiting on the water point.

The boats on the other side went on after a while and we moved across.