We had heard our neighbour sounding unhappy in the night. Turned out he had £2000 worth of fishing kit stolen from the roof just before he went to bed and an attempt to break in at the front, in the middle of the night! We were roped up next to him ( as they were to us back in Lancaster) and luckily there was nothing of value on our roof. Storage space is always an issue on a narrow boat and their boat is smaller than Bartimaeus. Still, by morning, despite their lack of sleep and fishing gear they were both chirpy and we had the pleasure of their company, as well as Lorna and Paul, through the locks. Some operated by staff and some by us.

We saw a cormorant close up and a ladybird on one of the cogs on the winding mechanism. It didn’t seem to mind being spun round while I was winding. It was Paul and Lorna’s last lock and Lorna took a few photos of the ladybird and lock before heading off for a bus to Preston. They decided it was best to leave before the crossing to be sure of catching their train and had plenty of time in good weather to enjoy Preston’s highlights. Thanks to Paul for helping Dawn in the locks when her back hurt, and Lorna for the photography and videos we have to remember the day. And all of them for good company. We hope to have Lorna and Paul aboard again.

Then we had to head for the actual Ribble crossing. You have to head out at full throttle to avoid being swept backwards. I let Shane do that. It was bright but quite windy, and it felt fresh and fun, and I was generally more relaxed. I even felt okay taking over for a couple of miles on the river Douglas.

On the link there are posts acting as mile markers. They are called perches and I managed to get a photo I had missed on the way out.

We made good time and were able to fit in lunch quickly on the way, chats with the guy from Liverpool( look forward to seeing there sometime), who lent us his life jacket, if we needed it (we didn’t) and with Dawn and Bill again, and a trip to a cafe in the afternoon for coffee and cake in Tarleton.