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Finally away to pastures new! |
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Monday 4th May
Moored near Burscough, Lancashire
To our immense relief, I am finally able to declare that 'Hawthorn' is now able to maintain 6 knots without leaking or overheating. The bad news is that it took us four years of grief and expense to make it so. Of course, we were never going to be able to find out how she would go on the Bridgewater Canal, so a run down the Manchester Ship Canal was chosen in preference to chancing it on the Irish Sea. We charged down with a constant watch on the the many temperature probes installed in critical places and were hugely relieved when everything behaved as we hoped. We moored at the Ellesmere Port Boat Museum - a fine spot for a few days (it only costs £5.50 per person for a week). Not only is it safe but it also has all those old boats to admire and it needs all the support that it can get. We stopped for just one night before returning to Pomona Lock and the Bridgewater Canal. The big moment for us was, when getting to Waters Meet, we turned north for Ireland. Problems on the trial run would have meant returning to our mooring near Lymm, in which case this blog may well have announced my imminent suicide! So a huge thanks to Walsh Engineering, ARS Hydraulics, Crowther Marine and the many good souls that helped us sort our problems not of our making; we really do hope that we have got to the end of all the misery and stress caused by our 'boat-builder'.
So now our thoughts turn to Ireland and the 24 hour voyage to from Tarleton to Dublin. We have already organised the best crew that we can think of for such a venture. Sid Fisher will pilot us over with Paul Lorenz as engineer and Don Crawford as able seaman. We cannot depart until after the 7th May as Sid is committed until then. Of course, there is no guarantee of when we will leave as we must wait for a fairly rare phenomenon - a relatively calm Irish Sea. There is no rush as 'Hawthorn' is going to take a fair bit of preparation before we can launch onto the salt not to mention the need for us to steel ourselves for what is quite a daunting venture. Having not had much time to enjoy 'Hawthorn's' good behaviour before taking a load more stress on board we hope that we will be able to really chill once we make the Emerald Isle. We are also busy making covers and sorting out repairs for local boaters up here near Burscough; work that we hope to have a little less of once we depart these shores.
We have kept our mooring at Thelwall but are not sure when, or even if, we will return. Times change and our mornings are no longer punctuated by conversations over the canal with various dog walkers, our days not pleasantly interrupted by the arrival of the lads on Womble or greeting fellow moorers. Not to mention the absence of our great mates at Thorn Marine who did so much to help us. And we can no longer walk down for a Sunday Session at the Bull's Head in Lymm for 'a pint' with the hedonists - no bad thing according to my liver. So it seems apposite to finish by saying many thanks to all those folk, both friends and customers, who made our stay on the Bridgewater such a pleasure. We may be back; watch this space!
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Hawthorn Blog 