Bank Holiday Monday. After three days of peaceful cruising today is something else.
A charming setting with abundant blossom. This is a long and deep lock
with attitude. Much of the lock gear is inoperable and it took us 45
minutes to fill it. Usually, if conditions are still, I sit in the
channel and wait for Margaret to prepare the lock. Here I moored up and
had a cup of coffee. If there had been any bacon on board I may have made a second breakfast.
When the lock was ready, the boat was not. The lock had taken so much water that Gecko was now aground.
At one time an alternative pair of shallow locks had been built to accelerate passage but these are now defunct.
At Parbold the world seemed to wake up and we found ourselves in the middle of a parade of nine boats all headed our way. This made passage through the swing bridges interesting as the first boat crew would operate the bridge for all of us and then rejoin the flotilla at the back.
Along the Kennet & Avon Canal there are a string of pillboxes built in WWII for defense from invasion. I did not realise that invading forces were anticipated so far north as to require such preparation along the L&L.
This two-storey pillbox reminded me of another war-related construction. Whilst seeking out prefabs in Hertfordshire in the 1980s I discovered some two-storey ones which was a surprise to me.
As we progressed boats joined our flotilla: some out for the day, others headed for Liverpool to attend the IWA rally.
When we reached the junction with the Rufford Arm we decided to call it a day and moor up .
This is the route for those wishing to navigate the Lancaster Canal. The canal joins the River Douglas before its confluence with the Ribble which has to be crossed to enter the Millenium Link on the north side of the river. As soon as you turn into the Rufford Arm you start your descent to the Douglas valley.
Hopefully with more success than this cruiser.
This junction shows evidence of being a busy commercial site in the past. This derelict dry dock was large enough to accommodate two Liverpool Long Boats simultaneously.
Maneuvering such craft in through the entrance at the far end of this picture must have been quite tricky. Once inside the dock, the first boat in could not leave until the second boat moved.
We picked a spot to moor and started washing the salt off Gecko whilst the Bank Holiday gongoozlers strolled past with ice creams.
Later in the day we were accosted by Don, a kiwi we know who moors his
boat in Aylesbury. He and Val cruise the summer over here then return to
New Zealand for the summer over there. In all the activity of
extracting ourselves from the flotilla and mooring we had not noticed
that their boat Whio was moored 25 yards behind us (the blue boat in this picture) And so we spent a pleasant evening with Don & Val before they set off for Lancaster Canal and Liverpool.
Another bright and dry morning. Away at 6.30 heading for Wigan. Not to climb the daunting flight of locks towards Leeds but to turn left towards Liverpool. This is new territory for us.
The first lock we encounter after our left turn has a fairly new road bridge over it. There is no footbridge on the lock so to get from one side to the other Margaret has to climb up to the road, cross this bridge and descend the other side. I can't imagine it would have added much to the cost of the road bridge to add a footbridge to the lock, but who cares about canal users?
As we descend the three locks in Wigan we pass Kennet, an original Liverpool Short Boat which worked the canal in its commercial days. It now belongs to the L&L Canal Society and is used as a floating classroom. As 2016 is the 200th anniversary of the canal opening it will be busy this year. The locks between Wigan and Leeds are 60ft long and Kennet was built to operate this route.
Immortalised by George Orwell, the legendary Wigan Pier occupies a tight turn for us and we head westward out of the town, descending more rural locks.
Here and there the May blossom is pink
In this fine weather and lack of boat traffic we are making good progress so decide to moor up early enough to explore our locale.
As we approach Crooke we pass this extraordinary construction. It appears to be a communal area for three houses providing a sheltered quayside retreat. Notice there are doors in the back wall - beach huts?
Cruising through the village, we find a lovely peaceful spot just out of sight round this bend and tie up before noon.
There is no traffic in this area o f the village and the whole atmosphere is somnolent which, after our early start, is tempting.
Our exploratory walk reveals that, away from the main road, it is indeed a charming village with a small marina and a substantial pub - The Crooke Hall Inn. We decide to treat ourselves to Sunday dinner here later.
When driving on roads we have learned that it is pointless asking directions from service station staff as they are all clueless. Being unsure of our actual location, we asked in a local shop which village we were in and the shopkeeper did not know! He printed off a till receipt with the address of the shop for us but this, I think, was the registered office address.
The meal and service at The Crooke Hall Inn was excellent. I was immediately impressed by the bar staff who recognised the intention of another customer to jump the queue and deftly ignored him until his allotted turn. Margaret had the roast sirloin whilst I had liver and bacon. Both meals were generous and perfectly prepared, as was the selection of vegetables. The rich gravy on my dish had whole mustard seed in addition to the traditional onion. Very tasty.
Out in the pub garden the Liverpool Long Boat Ambush was moored. This operated between Liverpool and Wigan but is too long to take the route to Leeds. It is now owned by Derek who plies his trade of fuel supplier along this section of the canal. The sister boat, Victoria, is permanently moored on his wharf at Bursgough.
A bright sunny Saturday morning, so up at 6 and away by 7am. A good two hours cruising before we see another boat moving and then not another for a further hour.
We have not traveled this way for some years so are interested to resume acquaintance with such buildings as the old Linotype works at Sale
The first time we passed this building in 2006 it had been burnt out. No evidence of the damage is apparent now.
This gate for Infant Girls intrigues me as it is clearly from a different era than the current school buildings.
We are now skirting the west of Manchester and landmarks are frequent.
Soon after stopping at Stretford to empty the toilet and top up the tanks we pass the junction where we could turn right for the city centre and Old Trafford.
Around 11am we pass the Kelloggs factory but it is too late for breakfast so we don't stop.
Don't fancy shopping at the Trafford Centre, either so push on.
At Barton we cross the Manchester Ship Canal on an aqueduct similar to the road bridge next to us. These pivot in the centre to allow ships to navigate the Ship Canal.
From our elevated position we can see one of these ships moored a short distance away.
We are not totally devoid of nature here as evidence of Spring is all around us.
Whilst the swans, which mate for life, are tending to their brood.....
.....the Canada Geese have twenty goslings to contend with. If there is one immigrant I would be happy to deport it is the Canada Goose, but the little ones do look sweet.
I do not know the story behind this lighthouse.
As we approach Worsley we are flanked by new houses - and large ones, too. These were not here on our last passage.
It is comforting to see that not everything has changed here in the town where Canalmania was born.
When we arrive at Plank Lane to moor for the night we find the newly-created but unused basin is being surrounded by house building also.
We are now on the Leigh Branch of the Leeds & Liverpool Canal and tomorrow we will have locks to contend with.
In the last 21 months we have cruised Gecko for one week only. Since last July she has reposed in Uplands Marina at Anderton which is just across the River Weaver from the Tata plant. This used to be Brunner Mond but despite the change in name, ownership and nationality, it still produces salt. And since July last year it has been depositing a proportion of its salt production onto Gecko. Today we have come to the rescue and are moving her further north to Lancashire. I feel we are also rescuing ourselves: despite the wonders of Preston, we would rather be out on the canals.
We topped up the water tank last week after flushing out the potable antifreeze. Fuel is sufficient for about 200 hours so once we have extracted her from the marina we can get on our way - just turn left onto the T&M and go.
First we have three tunnels starting with a short one and each subsequent getting longer. By the time we have cleared these we are in Preston Brook on the Bridgewater Canal with a lock-free run ahead.
After the wet but warm winter, the weather is beautiful: sun shining and barely a breeze.
It really feels like summer with May blossom so abundant.
And Flag Irises creating a golden border to the channel.
Occasionally we are treated to a bank of Rhodies
Not everything, however, is rosy in the garden as we find several clumps of Japanese Knotweed when we moor up near Lymm.
But a glorious summer evening keeps our spirits on a high as we settle down for the first night on Gecko for a very long time.
With both sides of the argument employing the same tactics of presenting opinion as fact and supporting this with spurious statistics, The Truth is difficult to locate. I do not claim to be impartial - in 1975 I read the Treaty of Rome and voted against remaining in what was then the Common Market because it is clear that the ultimate aim is a political union which I do not support. I think this must be the only point on which I have agreed with Jeremy Corbyn. So I offer the following biased points for your consideration.
It is obvious that we cannot trust any statement made by
a politician
someone employed by or benefiting from the EU
Parliament designated a ten week campaign period and allocated £7m to an approved campaign group on each side in the interest of equality. A week before this period commenced the government spent £9m on a leaflet supporting the campaign to remain in the EU. The government should be giving us the clear facts for both sides of the argument so we can cut through the campaign spin.
Let's take a brief look at the main points made by the government leaflet
An important decision for the UK - True
A stronger economy in the EU - Opinion not supported by trade statistics
Improving our lives - Very subjective and individual opinion
Uncertainty if we leave - True
Controlling our borders - Will not be made more difficult by leaving EU
Benefits of EU membership - Do we want to be a super-power?
Once in a generation decision - Probably true
In all it doesn't add up to a bag of beans so why was the government so keen to compromise its integrity by publishing such a partisan document?
Can we afford to leave?
We currently pay £350m per week into the EU but we receive benefits of £190m per week including Farm Payments and regional support. So our net contribution to the EU is £160m per week. Any claims that we could not afford to support agriculture or the steel industry or the NHS were we to leave the EU does not, therefore stand up. This net contribution equates to about £3/week for every adult in the country. The government's offer to support the steel industry may be scrutinized by the EU, and could be stopped as unfair competition. If we leave it would be solely our decision. (EDF the French power company is 85% owned by the French government: is that fair competition?) No-one will trade with us
Consider these figures which I gleaned from the ONS:
Our largest export market is USA.
Export to USA increased 55% from June 2014 to June 2015,
We have no special trade agreement with USA at present. Neither does the EU.
In the same period exports to China (No 3 export customer) rose 37%.
About 44% of our exports currently go to the EU which means that 56% go to other countries.
Exports to EU fell 4.2% in this period whilst imports from EU rose 10%
Non-EU exports rose 12% and imports from these countries rose 2.8%.
If we look at the trends it is clear that the EU is becoming less important to UK whilst UK is becoming more important to the EU. Is this influencing anyone's stance on our possible exit?
Forecast growth from now to 2020 made by OECD shows the EU as a group declining in GDP whilst USA, Russia, Brazil and many other non-EU are expected to grow. Should we tie ourselves to the slowest growing economies in the world or the most dynamic?
What about Obama?
If the Special Relationship puts us at the back of the queue then it's about time we relinquished it.
Let's consider the attitude of USA to EU. The population of most countries in EU can visit USA on their Visa Waiver Program (sic) . However citizens of Poland, Croatia, Bulgaria and Romania require a visa. The EU gave USA two years to rectify this which they have not done and so EU is now considering a retaliatory regulation requiring USA citizens to provide additional documentation. And Mr. Obama wants us to believe that a trade agreement with EU as a whole is imminent? Pull the other one chappie. Of course he may be banking on the EU ability to fudge issues when they become problematic. I worked in international trade all my life and one thing learned very early on is tat there is one law for USA and another for the rest of the world. They do not conform to international standards in documentation and they apply US laws to activities in other countries.
Difficulty and uncertainty of leaving
In the 1970s following our joining the Common Market there was considerable uncertainty about the future and considerably more work. Before then we imported sugar cane,meat and cheese amongst other things from our former colonies under preferential trade terms. Harmonisation of import duties took about ten years. During that time the business I was in had to accommodate not only ad valorem duties which increased each year but also a levy based on the net weight of product which changed unpredictably every quarter. Try managing a business in that climate: I think we are capable of managing anything the EU exit would involve.
There have been scare stories about what would happen when we leave. Under Article 50 of the EU any country leaving the EU has a grace period of 2 years during which nothing changes.
Reduction of roaming charges in Europe
This has been all over the papers and radio news today hailed as a great benefit of EU. membership.
This applies to the EEA (European Economic Area) also, except Switzerland, so is not exclusive to EU members.
Make up your own mind about EU membership but do not take anything at face value: check the credentials of anyone giving advice and bear in mind that the internet is probably the least reliable source of independent information. The truth is out there somewhere but it may take some finding.
Four years ago we visited the Blackburn Canal Festival and wrote a short piece on this blog.
We have just received an invitation from the this year's organisers to return to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the Leeds - Liverpool Canal. Any event with so much enthusiasm deserves to flourish and we will be revising our cruising plans to see if we can get to Blackburn for July 23-24.
Ask any driver you meet in UK and it is unlikely you will find many who know Braunston in Northants: ask any canal boater and it is unlikely you will find any who do not know Braunston.
It occupies the centre of a large letter X formed by the intersection of the Oxford and the Grand Union Canals. It is a great place for meeting other boaters as your paths cross. Last weekend we selected Braunston as the location for a non-canal meeting.
We drove down from Preston in Murvi and slept the night at The Boathouse pub. As it was closed for refurbishment and not due to reopen as a carvery until the Sunday we were not obliged to dine there. This was fine with us as we were lunching at the far superior establishment up the hill in the village - The Old Plough. From our experience it is not possible to get anything less than excellent food and service here. The test I use for a first encounter with a restaurant is to order ham and eggs. If the ham is plastic and the egg yolks the colour of primroses then you can expect freezer to microwave food. The menu at The Plough is standard pub grub but the standard they set for quality of these dishes is excellent. Before we ate we had to fill the water tank on Murvi and decided to do this at the BW water point next to Midland Chandlers on the A45. Here were two surprises for us. First we popped into the chandlery to browse and bumped into Darren who had been managing Severn Valley Boat Centre when Gecko was built.
After gossiping with him for a while we returned to Murvi to get on with the job in hand only to find the Stewarts & Lloyds tug Atlantic moored there, engine running. When we called through the open door for Derek a reply came from behind us. He was following us from the chandlery.
So more gossiping ensued.
After lunch we took a brief look at the old windmill before walking down to the marina across the phytle. On our way we met the Cleggs returning from provisioning Balador for a journey to Anderton. Judy was the compiler of The Launderette List which was published by Aylesbury Canal Society until they took Balador to France when IWA assumed that role.
Gossip, gossip
So Braunston is apparently a good place to meet people whether traveling by road or canal.
I am returning to the subject of Paris for which I make no apologies so if you have lost interest feel free to make a cup of tea and change channels.
View from roof of La Samaritaine
Whilst tourist scale the Eiffel Tower for a bird's eye view of the city I have always preferred the more human scale available from the top of Au Printemps or Buttes Chaumont. My favourite, however, was to climb the spiral staircase which emerged from the fifth floor of the main building like a conning tower (mind your head!) onto the roof terrace of La Samaritaine department store. I have watched the sun go down from this vantage point many times whilst sipping a double express and admiring the delicate construction of Le Pont des Arts.
Opened in 1870, the Samaritaine store was famous for its eclectic and comprehensive stock and for the rudeness of its staff. It had the reputation for being able to supply anything from an elephant to an aeroplane. I never tested the former: nor can I corroborate the latter as I found the staff no more rude than any Parisian is to an Englishman. In fact one visit I made in 19991 ran quite contrary to that assertion:
At the time I was working in Paris, moving mainframe computers around the world. One of the transport companies I employed played a local radio station - Cherie FM- on their telephone system whilst callers waited for an internal connection. A company I used in the UK who operated a similar system abandoned it when they realised that a competitor was advertising on the radio station they were playing to callers. Towards the end of 1991 I kept hearing part of a song which I rather liked but was unable to identify either the title or artist. So one Saturday I took myself off to La Samaritaine and tackled the maze or stairs and aisles eventually emerging into the music department in the basement.
Here I sang to an assistant the snatch I could remember of the song . He was able to identify the tune as Un Homme Hereux by William Sheller. Having reinforced the assistant's belief that all the English are mad I purchased the cassette and departed happy. Regular readers will no doubt have heard this story before as I recounted it on BBC Three Counties Radio on My De sert Island Disc a few years ago.
Inside the main building of La Samaritaine
You may be wondering why I have so far referred to La Samaritaine in the past tense. This is because in 2005, my having neglected the store for a few years , it was purchased by the luxury goods group LVMH. They fairly rapidly closed it down "on safety grounds" but truthfully it was to punish me for not visiting. Since then LVMH have been fighting for permission to redevelop the site. Various iterations of their plans have fallen foul of the Paris public or the city council. A final approval has been obtained which retains the main Art Nouveau building (but as a hotel) and replaces the adjacent buildings with apartments and shops. This will include 95 social housing units and a creche and daycare centre. I can't imagine the demand for the social housing units on the banks of the Seine! La Samaritaine was founded as a result of two factors. During the 19th century the French government passed a law which permitted anyone to sell items which they had not manufactured themselves. Coupled with the industrial revolution this presented the ideal commercial environment for such a venture. The business started in the back room of Cafe de la Samaritaine on the site were the glorious Magasin No1 was built in 1910.
Often referred to as the Jourdain Building after its architect, the four-story metal structure is laid out on a central hall
surrounded by superimposed open galleries, then accessed by a cast iron
grand staircase and topped by a glass roof adorned with a carved and
painted frieze.
Francis Jourdain, the son of the architect, designed the stunning Art Nouveau facade overlooking the Rue de la Monnaie.
The painter Eugène Grasser designed the iconic Samaritaine logo.
Art Nouveau facade of Magasin no1
The master blacksmith Edouard Schenck and the master ceramists
François Gillet and Alexandre Bigot were commissioned for the
decoration.
The facade, originally painted bright blue, has turned a darker shade of green over the decades.
It is adorned with an elaborate decor consisting of metal volutes,
mullion windows and arches, polished and enameled lava panels adorned
with floral mosaics and inscriptions.
Magasin no2 showing Art Deco and Art Noureau styles
Magasin no 2 was enlarged in the 1920s and decorated in the Art Deco style. The solid and square stone facade is framed with woodwork painted in a bronze colour and is adorned with balconies and canopies.
Entirely free of any mosaic, I think it is a splendid illustration Art Deco.
Detail of the Art Deco facade
Two more buildings were acquired with the profits from supplying army uniforms for the Franco-Prussian war and Magasin no 3 & 4 were both enlarged and modernised during the 20th century.
So why name a cafe and subsequently a department store after a Samaritan woman? In the 17th century a pump was installed under the Pont des Arts to supply water to the Louvre . It was decorated with a statue of the Samaritan woman who gave water to Jesus on his way to the cross.
LVMH impression of rue de Rivoli redevolpment
And now the Paris prefecteure has approved the redevelopment of Magasin 1 and 2 and the demolition of the later buildings which front rue de Rivoli. This building, with its wavy glass facade, has been dubbed the shower curtain by its detractors.
Detail from the Art Nouveau facde
For this, and many other photographs, I thank TravelFranceOnline
A charming setting with abundant blossom. This is a long and deep lock
with attitude. Much of the lock gear is inoperable and it took us 45
minutes to fill it. Usually, if conditions are still, I sit in the
channel and wait for Margaret to prepare the lock. Here I moored up and
had a cup of coffee. If there had been any bacon on board I may have made a second breakfast.
This two-storey pillbox reminded me of another war-related construction. Whilst seeking out prefabs in Hertfordshire in the 1980s I discovered some two-storey ones which was a surprise to me. 
The canal joins the River Douglas before its confluence with the Ribble which has to be crossed to enter the Millenium Link on the north side of the river. As soon as you turn into the Rufford Arm you start your descent to the Douglas valley.
