A Bitter Pill.

We stopped where we had moored up opposite one of the Mersey Motor Boat Club at Lydiate. There is just enough length of concrete edge with a clear view for the solar panels. As it was Sunday I went in to the village, just a short walk over Bridge 17 to find a newsagent, a Londis and a take away and a pub that looks quite a nice gastro pub if you fancy a meal, the Weld Blundell. I have no idea where the name came from. We then sat and listened to The Archers whilst the rain passed over, which it did.

We hadn't gone far when we saw a group of kayaks being launched. A narrow boat then came past the group. As he passed us he told us to mind out as they were an uncontrolled rabble and dangerous. We must have been lucky as they were just excited boys and girls of the scouts, who chatted to us and were marshaled by plenty of leaders. We just passed nice and slowly on tick over and there was little that could go wrong. 

I'm not sure how the herons are doing in numbers at the moment but we don't seem to be seeing as many of them as we have in the past.

They really do look like pterodactyls, flying dinosaurs.

When we came the other way towards Liverpool I said that dredging had been going on on this stretch. Actually it was the opposite. The water bourne digger was actually taking clay out of the pan and patting it down on the bed of the canal, trying to plug a slight leak in the aqueduct that ran underneath. The waterway that the canal crosses actually marks the boundary between Merseyside and Lancashire.

 As we approached Downland Cross I noticed this building that was on the outskirts of a farm. I wondered whether it was a disguised pill box, something I had never seen before. Or was it converted from a pill box following the War. The slits look like precast concrete items with brick surrounds.

When you look closely it may be painted brick, but why? Is it concrete that has been marked to disguise it as brick? If it was just a farm building the wall would not be as thick as it appears in the photo.

This launch was looking quite 'tiddly' and the name caught my attention first, quickly followed by the flag painted on the hull. It was that of the Pacific Steam Navigation Navigation Company. It was actually started by an American but he couldn't raise finance in the USA but did so in the UK, with a Royal Charter and got started in 1840. By 1873 it was the largest shipping company in the world. Factors worked against it and the ships were sold to Orient Line and Royal mail Lines. The routes were down the east coast of South America and up the west coast. Eventually they were amalgamated into Royal Mail Lines, until becoming independent again in 1932 until the 1960's. I don't think there was ever a ship of this name but there was a pair of passenger ships called 'Reine del Pacifico' and 'Reine del Mar'.

As well as the Haskayne Navvy there is this stone with bench that was placed at the same time. The design carved on the stone was produced by local school children.

I'm not sure if this was at the Saracens Head or at Heaton's Bridge, but again it looks like a observation post or something from WWII. You can see it also had a lower level of slit. I suppose it could be some form of storage place with small windows, but I would like to know.

We arrived at Burscough Bridge and the wind was getting up and it was quite cold. We wanted to fill up with water but found a boat tied up on the water point with nobody aboard and no sign of a water hose. We had to moor under the bridge and run lines of hoses to fill up. They came back, out of the pub, and off they went. Not a word of apology. There was a line of vacant moorings, with bollards, just next to the water point. If it had been me I would have felt so guilty I couldn't enjoy a drink, even if I wanted to. I just don't understand how folk can be so selfish and feel so entitled.