Adlington - Leeds and Liverpool Canal

We picked up a passenger at Haigh Hall!

We moved up to Adlington where we arranged to meet David's sister and her son for lunch.

Then it was just a quiet afternoon, resting after yesterday's toils.

Anenomies are one of my favourite flowers, I love the deep, vibrant colours.  This lilac one is a favourite of mine.

I used a piece of backing paper which I was experimenting with.  I have no idea what I did but it had a sort of translucent look where the colours were.  Anyway, I matted it onto some lilac patterned paper and wrapped a lilac ribbon around it.  Then I added the flower, a bow and two lilac gems. 

Haigh Hall - Leeds and Liverpool Canal

There were 5 boats waiting to go up the locks when they opened at 8 o'clock.  We managed to be one of the first with a couple we had arranged to travel with via the Wigan Flight Crew Facebook page.  (Well worth looking into if you are traversing these locks, it can match you up with other boats and the volunteers know who is needing help.)

Well we set off and got to the middleish bit where the boats on the previous afternoon had to spend the night, to discover that there was no water in one of the pounds above and we had to wait about an hour for the water to be stabilised.

Meanwhile David discovered the insides of a duvet around the prop which took him and the man in the boat behind quite a while to removed. He had a Prop Mate which was a kind of long hook with a round handle.  It was definitely the right tool for this particular problem.

So by now we were having to empty the locks first.  We did meet Ariandare on the way down though, but that was only for 1 lock.

The volunteers were excellent, they all worked very hard and it made a difficult journey almost a breeze.  I still ached all over by the top.

There is a metal structure at the top lock to keep the doors from collapsing (or something) and in the joint this wagtail had made a nest.  She kept popping back with food for the brood inside.



We arrived at the top of the locks at a quarter past one and went on to Haigh Hall for the night.  My, the trees have grown.  You used to be able to see right across to Preston previously.

I cheated slightly with card, the house and sign are bought toppers!  I diecut the pink patterned paper and the green one (which is dry embossed) and fixeed them to a white panel, matted onto orange and green card and then onto a white card blank.

Bottom of Wigan Flight - Leeds and Liverpool Canal

We got to the bottom of Poolstock Locks at a quarter to seven to be met with this site.  Apparently someone unscrewed the collar of the lock gate and threw it away yesterday afternoon.  The CRT team arrived this morning, found the collar and were able to fix it. 

At noon we were able to set off, but not before there was this queue for the locks.

Once through the locks we turned right at the junction and moored up ready for the Wigan Flight tomorrow.

I used some pretty handmade paper for this card.  I used a wet paintbrush to make a general rectangle shape the size I wanted and wetted the paper.  It is then soft enough to tear apart.  When dry I stuck it down onto a white card blank and added the pink daisies, green leaves, a pink ribbon and the "thank you" banner.

Dover Lock - Leigh Branch, Leeds and Liverpool Canal

Some people are really unbelievable.  What a mess.

An uneventful day, we were hoping one of David's sisters would have met us at Dover Lock but she couldn't make it.

It is the first time we have been here when there have been no boats moored up.  We had the whole place to ourselves all day.

Maybe the closure of the pub has got something to do with it!


Where do I start?  I dry embossed a  white card panel and stuck it onto the bottom of a larger orange piece of card, brown/orange/yellow/white stripy card was added above and a strip of orange lacy card covers the join.  Orange and white butchers twin is wrapped around this and tied in a bow.

The sentiment is printed out and added to the top of the card with dimensional foam stickies and the whole panel is fixed onto a white card blank.

Trafford Centre - Bridgewater Canal

Some of the rubbish that floated past us today.  Not a pretty sight.

We had a lovely surprise today, Caroline phoned to say that they would come up from Birmingham to visit us for lunch.

So we walked to the Trafford Centre and met the family outside John Lewis and then went for lunch at Carluccio's.  It was lovely to see the gandsons again, they seem to grow up so much - even after only a couple of weeks of not seeing them.

After lunch they went off to visit their Best Man and his family who live in Sale.  Two birds with one stone as they say.

Here is a Congratulations Card which could be used for almost any contratulation.  The sentiment is matted onto a brown circle.  The stary paper has inked edges with brown ink and matted onto brown card.  This is fixed to the middle of a white card blank and the sentiment added towards the bottom.  Glass type stars were then added at randome over the front of the card and a holographic star in the centre of the star.

Trafford Centre - Bridgewater Canal

The long mile at Sale and the usual scullers.  This couple were novices and ended up in the bank when they panicked an saw us.

Apart from that an uneventual trip to the Trafford Centre.  I got the bus into Manchester for a bit of retail therapy and David had a rest.

Lots of signs on the Bridgewater telling the towpath users what they can and should not do.  As usual there is dock shit on the towpath, cyclists pushing their way through pedestrians and the odd motorised bicycle.  Didn't see any swimmers or horses though.

This type of card is called a "card in a box".  It actually folds flat to go into a regular envelope and when it is taken out it "pops" up.

This one has lots of golden (brass?) die-cut musical instruments.  The blue panels fixed to the sides were dry embossed with a musical score and dark blue ink rubbed over the embossed parts.

Ye Olde No 3 - Bridgewater Canal

The Bridgewater Canal looking charming in the spring sunlight.

After the usual early start we stopped in Lymm for shopping before 9 o'clock.  We then moved on to Ye Olde No 3 where we planned to stay but there was only room on the water point, so we got some water and then worked it out that if  shuffled up a bit we could moor on the edge of the water point.

Don't think we got in anyone's way.

This was a commission card, but the commissioner never came back to pick it up.  I got the images from the internet (Jacob was a massive Transformers fan) and matted it onto gold, red and green card and fixed it to a white card blank.  The name was done on the computer and the age number is a peel-off, both were matted and then added with dimensional sticky pads.

Moore - Bridgewater Canal

Bluebells!!  What can I say?  Wonderful.

A family reunion day today.  First of all one of David's nephews came to pick us up to take us to Runcorn to see David's eldest brother and his wife (who has just fallen down the stairs and broken a hip and a wrist).

She is doing remarkably well as she is almost 80 but determined not to let it hinder her in any way.

Later on another one of his nieces (there are 8 in this particular family) and her husband met us in the Red Lyon for supper and lots of laughs and reminiscences.  Later they came back to the boat for a nightcap before walking back home.

This lovely little chap with a butterfly about to land on it's nose is matted onto dark and then light brown card with the corners rounded off.  Brown gingham card was wrapped around a panel of pink card (again with the corners rounded) and fixed onto a white card blank.  To finish it off I added 3 pink pearl gems to the bottom right hand corner.

Moore - Bridgewater Canal

Forget-me-nots on the bank.  Lovely.

We were up at dawn's crack (yet again) and through all the tunnels by 8 o'clock and sharing Preston Brook tunnel with a duck who paddled on before us, quicking furiously.

There was a boat already moored up by Moore Post Office so we used the one spare ring put a pin in for the back rope.  Later this boat moved and we were able to move up and moor on the rings at Moore.

I took the opportunity to catch a bus into Warrington and then another from there into Liverpool.  I wanted to see the Chinese Terracotta Army but would have had to have waited until 3.30 pm before I could get in.  So, after a wander around the shops I caught the train back to Warrington and then the bus back to Moore.  It is such a handy service a bus goes past the mooring every 1/2 hour.

One of my Big Wishes card (I think I made about 4).  A jolly lady with her jolly ginger cat.  I cut them out and stuck them onto a blue background with dimensional stickers.  The edge of the card has been edged with dark blue ink, as has the blue dotty paper behind it.  The whole panel was then added to the white card blank.