Sunday 23rd August
Rain was forecast again for today (cannot expect two good days on the trot!) so we set off for church armed with umbrellas. The closest morning service was in the village of Warton about 35-40 min walk away, so I certainly had my exercise!
It was worth the walk as everyone was very welcoming. It was a very large church with a good congregation..although it was artificially enlarged as there was a baptism during the service.
We were reasonably lucky and the rain did not start in earnest until we were nearly back at Petroc. Talking to Jean later back in Elterwater she said it had poured down all day there, so we gave thanks again for such a good day yesterday. We had booked for Sunday Lunch in the Langlands Hotel at the head of the canal. Somewhat more expensive than the pub at Windermere but still reasonable and excellent food.
Monday 24th August
Time to move on. We have had a delightful 5 days here, but after a while the feet get itchy. We paid a visit first to the Greenlands Farm Village which is just opposite the hotel. It only opened in March this year and has been very well done. There are various departments including a brilliant Farm Food shop so we fell victim to one or two things. Well worth a visit and we didn't feel there vegetables were any more expensive than the supermarket and everything looked very fresh.
We moved up to the head of the canal to turn and to water etc. We planned to give Petroc a good wash as there have been so few boats around we thought we would have the place to ourselves.........think again.....no sooner had we turned the hose on than another boat arrived who wanted to water. He was in no rush at all he told us but we would have felt guilty cleaning the boat whilst he waited. So we departed after filling the tanks. Petroc still needs a good clean!!
The plan was to stop at Carnforth. When Geoff came here on the bust last week there were very few boats here but of course when we arrived today there was no room to moor. We tried at the very end of the mooring but were far too far off the bank, and then two BW men said we could moor by the water bus stop as it would not be in today. We managed to do this but it was not a very satisfactory space. However a boat left after 1/2 an hour so we moved forward. Unfortunately it is rather close to the pub and the garage, still we managed to get secure just before the rain came.....again!
We now have to plan the rest of the week. We were intending to go down the Glasson Branch and be there for the weekend but have been told there is a gathering of lots of boats having a Jamboree and that they have already started going down so we seem to have mistimed it. We may just moor at the top of the locks and walk down. Rather disappointing. We shall see.