Car Shuffle Day and Aintree

Once again it was car shuffle day. Leaving Christine to do the cleaning and packing, Mike set off with his rail card (and ticket that he bought last night) for Maghull Station and a trip back to Overwater Marina. Four trains, one bus, one boat and one car ride later he was back mid afternoon. (The boat was the Audlem Lass at little boat that shuttles between the bottom lock and thr marina, raising money at the weekend for RNLI. There should have been a photo but, alas, Mike's unfamiliarity with the camera app on his phone that they have been deleted!)

We will leave the car in Maghull tonight and come back for it once we are moored in Salthouse Dock. The train ride out looks as if it will be a lot simpler than the drive into the docks!

The weather forecast for today had not been promising last night but it turned out to be generally sunny with fast moving fluffy clouds and just a couple of showers, one of which arrived just as Mike left the car to walk back to the boat! The wind, however, made navigating in a straight line a challenge.

The journey went just as planned and the return time was just five minutes earlier than estimated! The train services were really excellent, on time and on board and station staff all most pleasant.

Holmes Swing Bridge

After a cup of tea we set off for the short run to the rendezvous point for tomorrow's escorted run down to the docks. Only one swing bridge but it was very easy to move. It had doible security: not only the usual Watermate key lock on the latch but also a handcuff mechanism to close over the top of it!

Double Lock

Three boats were moored up before bridge 10 and at bridge 9, where we moored, was just one other boat.

Bridge 9

The surrounding countryside remained rural with just some new housing at Melling for a short distance. as we approached our mooring a loud roaring sound puzzled us until we worked out it was coming from the Aintree racecourse. No, not the sound of horses but ear splitting motorbikes.

2.3 miles - 0 locks