Rufford: journeys end.

Thursday: 1 clean boat
Friday: 5.5 miles, 7 locks and 3 swing-bridges

The rain held off on Thursday and the boat was washed and polished.

On Friday the sun shone and we set off in good time. It was lovely day but Scooby injured himself getting tangled in his lead in the morning and was too sad to come out on the back and join us. It was a real shame that he couldn't enjoy our last cruising day. Now we will be packing and he hates that! We went past fields of vegetables and entertained ourselves trying to work out what was what. We found the (possibly) only rubbish point on this end of the Leeds & Liverpool canal and deposited the 3 bags we had accumulated. After just a couple of miles we turned north into the Rufford Arm and the first lock. The locks were hard work  but in the sun and with hills in the distance, we didn't much mind.

We found our marina and got settled in. Scooby remained traumatised but otherwise all was well. It's a nice place with good facilities and café that does excellent cakes! Shame we have to go home really.

St Mary's Marine, Rufford. 

Harold in his winter berth. 

This summer we have travelled 623 miles and been through 441 locks in four months.
Next year, all being well, we will set off mid-May to Liverpool for the tall ships and after that across the Ribble link to Lancaster. Something to look forward to as we toil our way through the winter 😉.