Bulls Bridge Return

We awoke to a grey, drizzly day - just when we hoped to go for a short trip! We checked with with High Line and they were open!

Mike cast off from the marina mooring and brought the boat around to the service point and we were soon filled up with diesel. It needed quite a bit to fill - sadly Mike upset his new Marine 16 bottle and lost most of it to the bilges. yes, we know that the boat in the photo is not ours - it is meant to show where we obtained the fuel!

Off to the shops!

Around 11 o'clock we decided to go down to Morrisons - by boat and moored by the entrance. Sadly, whilst trying to find a place where one mooring pin could be knocked in, it 'jumped' into the water. From the store we picked up a few things including bread and cooked meat for lunch.

Back at the boat we had a late coffee and waited to see if the weather would improve - not a lot despite the forecaster's promises. As a result most of the photos included evidence of the rain!

There is no guaranteed turning point before Bulls Bridge, about an hour further south. Rather than attempt a long reverse back up to the marina entrance, Mike set off, well wrapped up. The rain continued but occasionally dried up for a few minutes at a time.

Whilst we were moored earlier, Christine lit the fire - which gave Mike plenty of smoke to watch!

Bulls Bridge

At Bulls Bridge we turned around without stopping and set off back the way we came. There have been some new footpath signs provided along the way - they seem to be different from what remember from earlier in the year. Spotted an new finger direction at Bridge 198 which indicated Old Vinyl Factory. Just the other side of the bridge is the building below. It looks as if it is meant to resemble a former wharf but nothing on the site now seems ever to have related to it and the Pettigrew & Wilson's history of the Grand Junction Canal makes no mention of anything just here - plenty elsewhere.

However, this is all part of the former Thorn-EMI site with its famous research laboratories and where vinyl records were pressed. The world's first airborne radar system was also developed here. Earlier in 2014 plans for re-development of some of the site - The Old Vinyl Factory -  were announced and this website has quite a lot of historical detail - but no mention of the canal! http://www.theoldvinylfactory.com/ A little closer to Bulls Bridge, between the canal and the railway, several new blocks of apartments have been constructed in recent years.

Despite the cold we made our way back to the marina and were on our pontoon before 4 o'clock. Hopefully, our next trip - perhaps towards the end of February - will take us a little further!

7.8 miles - 0 locks