Return across The Ribble...........

Arriving  at the Ribble Link basin the night before our allotted crossing I had plenty of time to check the boat.
Engine checks in particular.....oil level.....water levels, all seemed O.K.

'She canna take much more of this cap,n'  ..........pushing the engine to catch up with Jack Sparrow in the sailing-boat.   River Ribble.

During our stay in Garstang I had a check around the engine bay and noticed a coolant hose was very close to the sharp edge of the engine bearer. Feeling at the back of the hose I was alarmed to find a deep groove that this edge had rubbed into the wall of the corrugated rubber hose.

This was obviously a disaster waiting to happen.......bad enough on a canal.......a nightmare on the fast running tidal River Ribble where your only option is to throw the anchor out and hope it will hold whilst you sort things out. It would be a vast understatement to say that a scenario like that would be force 10 on the stress counter!!!!

I had a spare hose and decided to tackle this awkward job.
Awkward because like most jobs in a boat engine bay there is very little room to fit a screwdriver on the jubilee clips.  One end of the hose was impossible to even visually see, so the job was done completely by feel.  Venting the swim tank of air also proved a challenge as the vent bolt was difficult to move....and it took some twenty minutes to shift. 

So here we were ready and as prepared as could be to give battle with the Ribble Tide again.  High tide was at 2.30pm and at 1.30pm I was alarmed to see that Savick Brook had very little water as we progressed to the rotating tidal lock.  Scrape, scrape came the ominous sound of the hull against the bottom of the brook.

Stress levels were near the red zone, as with very little steerage 'San Serriffe' banged against the steel piling that stops boats grounding on the exposed banks.

'Do NOT ground here !!!!!!!!!'   I thought.
Throttle forward I managed to keep the boat moving and joined the rest of the 'flotilla' on the floating pontoons awaiting enough water to go over the lock.

Like a disorganized 'Grand national' start, we jostled for position............and we were off!!!!!!!!!!

A large powerful boat took lead position as he struck out into the Ribble and turned into the fast incoming tidal stream. I was puzzled why he just held position without moving forward.
Judging by the white water at his stern his throttle was at maximum and he had a bow-wave like a power boat racer  - but he was not making and inch of progress !!!

Second boat just went sideways in the stream until he managed to head the bow towards the estuary........this really was a white-knuckle ride !

Joining them I glanced at the rev-counter.....2200 revs and I was only holding station with the bank !! Slowly but slowly we all started to make some progress as the tide slackened and found that moving to the right of the river out of the main stream was a great help.

Returning to Tarleton .........River Ribble

More revs rose the engine temp up to 95c, but taking hot water from the Calorifier via the galley hot tap we managed to hold a steady 90C actually passing a few boats in the progress.  Naturally I began to worry that my work on the new hose would hold together and I must admit to a few bitten fingernails.

Passing the Asland lamp into the River Douglas despite the heavy rain, I actually began to relax.  A vibration and a roaring sounded was the cause of some serious panic as I imagined that the new hose had split or become dislodged. Looking upwards I realised it was a Typhoon fighter from nearby British Aerospace Warton at full throttle a few hundred feet above our heads...........lucky guy..... he just went vertical through the cloud layer into the sunshine.



Eventually Tarleton lock came into view with Harry the lock-keeper waving us through the open lock ( level water on both sides) and we were back onto the relevant safety of the canal.

Despite the heavy rain and nearly 5pm in the afternoon we had to go up the Rufford arm to the Leeds and Liverpool canal if we were to remain on schedule for meeting the Canal and River Trust team at Aintree on Friday for our journey to Liverpool . This involved negotiating the six locks and several swing bridges.

We were very lucky to share the locks with the four crew of '5G' who had also come across the Ribble. They did virtually all the locks for us and without their help we would have added perhaps another two hours to our journey............thanks 5G !!!!