- 16 hours ago
Canal Boat Diaries - S7 Ep05 - Runcorn to Middlewich
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Short filmTranscript
00:10My name's Robbie Cumming. That's me dragging my boat backwards after a major mishap. I didn't
00:16even hear it go in. Not only have I dropped my most important piece of equipment in the canal,
00:22I've also got to pull my boat back so it can turn around somewhere. For over a decade I've
00:29been exploring Britain's rivers and canals. Camera in hand, filming every bump, scrape and
00:36tricky situation and there's been a few. So much is going on I just slipped and fell in.
00:45I'm quite stuck. It's all very soft mud that I'm just sat in. This time I'm on the Bridgewater
00:55Canal. I begin my journey in Runcorn. I'll head towards Prestonbrook where I join the Trenton-Mersey
01:07Canal. I'll pass through the winding Saltersford Tunnel before I reach the Cheshire town of
01:13Middlewich. After that my journey takes an unexpected turn but more on that later. There'll be plenty
01:22to see. So jump on board my canal boat diaries.
01:48Right, I'm just about to start a new journey. This one begins at the end or one end of the
01:55Bridgewater Canal in a place that's actually quite special to me. It's where I first began
02:00making my canal videos many many years ago. I'm in Runcorn in Cheshire and it's where I first realised
02:08how connected the system is or used to be. For example where I'm moored is at the top of what
02:16was
02:17a flight of locks that led down to link up with the Manchester Ship Canal, the River Mersey and even
02:22the Weaver navigation which is where I ended my last trip. But yeah, I'm just about setting up,
02:29ready to go. Apart from my usual engine checks, I've also got things like cameras to worry about. So,
02:35I've got a couple of action cameras here and I've got the camera in my hand which is always tightly
02:42gripped at all times. But yeah, these two I'm gonna clamp on at various points of the boat. I'll start
02:48with the front. Right, all that's done. I'm ready to get cranking.
03:04Now, as usual, I've got a rough plan of where I want to go. I'm heading on down this Runcorn
03:10arm of the
03:11Bridgewater Canal through a few canal tunnels. Let's try and make it to Middlewich where I believe the
03:18canal is currently closed. So, I don't actually know if I can get beyond that when I get there.
03:26It's been a funny old year. Plenty of closures due to low water levels and also there's lots of stuff
03:31broken like the Anderton boat lift. So, I'm just gonna try and get as far as I can. And also,
03:37yesterday
03:38something happened that really, really set me back. But I will... I'll tell you about that in a bit.
03:46Yep, it was a real mishap that threw me off course.
03:52Anyway, I'm travelling along the Bridgewater Canal, which is over 250 years old.
04:00It was built by the Duke of Bridgewater to move coal from his mines in Greater Manchester.
04:07Often called the first great triumph of the canal building era.
04:12It was designed to follow contours in the land, avoiding the need for locks.
04:22It's a good moorings here in Roncorn, some of which are right outside this theatre called the Brindley,
04:29named after James Brindley, the canal engineer that first designed this canal.
04:35But I've actually been on stage here. What I've been doing, aside from moving my boat around of late,
04:41is going on a little bit of a tour around the country, just giving talks about my journeys,
04:46and even playing a bit of music. Yeah, it went quite well. Performed to 400 people,
04:51and I don't think many of them complained, so it was all right. It was a good night.
05:05After ten years of travelling on this boat, I've no plans to stop, but I do have a few ambitions.
05:12One of them is to get a little patch of land. Nothing fancy, but it's still early days.
05:22It's quite a few quirky little mooring sites, boatyards, marinas. As I'm passing them,
05:27I'm thinking about my own dream of having my own boatyard and moorings, and it's something I've been
05:33thinking about a lot recently. I just need a bit of land, obviously, next to the canal or river.
05:48I'd like to head back across the country to Yorkshire. That's because I have got some plans
05:54afoot to try to create my own moorings for other boaters and for myself, so I'd like to get there
06:03first with the boat. This is how it's working in my mind. I'd like to clear the land, put some
06:09buildings up. It's probably going to take years and cost me all my money, but it's an area of the
06:17country where I think, hopefully, it could be possible.
06:29But things are just getting started with that.
06:35Next, I pass Norton Priory, a 12th century site ruined during Henry VIII's dissolution of the
06:42monasteries. It's now Europe's most extensively excavated monastic site. Thousands of artifacts
06:52have been uncovered here, revealing its past.
07:06Right, I'm coming up to Preston Brook Tunnel now, and it is quite a narrow one. In fact,
07:13there is a system in place which ensures that boats don't crash into each other or have to reverse all
07:19the way back. And there's a little sign here that says I have to wait until half past the hour.
07:25So
07:26there's a 10 minute period at which I can get my boat in. I think I'm just going to pull
07:30in here,
07:31take my chimneys down, get my lights ready, get my cameras ready. And also, yeah, there's a little
07:37story I've got to tell you about what happened yesterday.
07:45Now, you might not have seen this part of the canal before, but for me, it is eerily familiar,
07:49because just 24 hours ago, I was right here with the boat, tunnel light on, all ready to go through,
07:57then disaster struck.
08:02Now, you're watching this show, it's very calm, and it just seems like everything just works. Well,
08:08there can be some things that trip you up. In the case of Preston Brook Tunnel,
08:14it was the wire that was attached to me with the microphone on it. It's usually foolproof,
08:23and it never fails, unless it snags on the tiller, which it did in this case,
08:29yanking my phone out of my pocket into the canal.
08:35There was nothing I could have done.
08:39Another phone in the canal. Don't start writing in saying,
08:43Robbie, you need a floating gadget tied onto your arm somehow.
08:47None of that would actually work. Otherwise, I'd be doing it.
08:52Just unlucky. I didn't even hear it go in.
08:55And I'm shooing this on my producer's phone.
08:56Here we are. We can have it back now.
09:00So, this is a metal phone. I spent the next two hours
09:04fishing around with my magnet, and also a fishing net as well, but
09:08neither did the job. And I was left with that horrible, sinking feeling of calling it a day,
09:15and going back to the start, and filming it all over again.
09:22I've had to give up on that one. The whole day's work gone. Not best pleased.
09:29So, after wasting a day and losing some of my footage, I ended up pulling my boat back,
09:36turning it around, and starting the whole trip again, filming on another phone.
09:54Right, second attempt at Preston Brook Tunnel. My old phone is somewhere in this vicinity.
10:02I'm keeping my current one very much gripped in my hand.
10:14It's quite tricky anyway to film in canal tunnels.
10:18For me, I've got this light on here. I want to get this shot of this vent going up there.
10:24There's so much going on. I love it. I really do enjoy the challenge.
10:29But you've also got to be quite wary of bumping your head, for example.
10:34And look where you're going, especially on this one,
10:37because it isn't quite as straight as you might think.
10:44Preston Brook Tunnel.
10:45Preston Brook Tunnel opened in February 1775.
10:49Inside, the Bridgewater and Trent and Mersey canals meet.
10:57While outside, a stop-lock lifts the naughty lass by only a few inches.
11:03Built to ensure neither canal company took more than its fair share
11:08of the others' valuable water supply.
11:25Well, I'm going to moor up in a little bit, I think.
11:28It's been a long day, or two, in my case.
11:40Well, this looks like an alright spot next to these other boats.
11:45Yep, this'll do.
11:47A nice place to spend the night.
12:02I'm exploring the Trent and Mersey Canal in Cheshire,
12:06and it's the start of a new day.
12:17Well, that was a nice mooring there, away from the buzz of a town or road noise and all that
12:24sort of stuff.
12:26My goal today is to get through two canal tunnels, make my way past the Anderton boatlift and on towards
12:35a place on a system where I can stop right outside a museum that's to do with the canal that
12:41I need to check out.
12:42So, yeah, it's plenty to see today, and I'm just hoping that the weather holds.
12:51The Burrs Tunnel I need to navigate was built by the famous 18th century canal engineer James Brindley.
13:06The same man the theatre in Roncorn was named after.
13:12He became one of the era's most influential engineers, designing more than 350 miles of canal.
13:23Still, not everything he built was perfect.
13:29This tunnel is only about 400 yards long, but I can't see out of the other side.
13:36It's so wonky, so many twists and turns to it, that there is no light at the end of this
13:43tunnel at the moment.
13:50Sort of a tunnel is definitely the wonkiest tunnel I've ever been through.
13:55Well, the shortest and wonkiest, because the length of it, you'd think going in one end, you'd immediately see the
14:03other side.
14:03But no, it's so bent out of shape that you just feel like you've gone into a much longer tunnel.
14:15Just about to go into the next tunnel, but at this point, we are the closest to possibly get to
14:22the River Weaver,
14:22where I was a couple of weeks ago, on Narrowboat Tench.
14:26In fact, I could see the Weaver from where I am, and it is just a short walk down the
14:30hill,
14:31from this point where the tunnel appears, just around the corner.
14:36Right, I better concentrate.
14:47My second tunnel of the day is longer, yet noticeably straighter.
14:56It appears James Brinley got it spot on this time.
15:01And it's around here where I left the naughty lass for a week,
15:06when I borrowed an old boat to explore the River Weaver,
15:11now cut off because of the broken boat lift.
15:27Just passing by the Anderton boat lift, or the Anderton broke lift, as some boaters are calling it at the
15:34moment,
15:35because they still don't know when it's going to be fixed.
15:38And friends like Heidi, she's trapped down there on the Weaver.
15:42So although I'm thinking, oh yeah, I'm going to be stuck when I get to Middlewich,
15:47or at least I'm not stuck on the River Weaver.
16:00Right, I'm going to look for my mooring now, but tonight I'm going to be tying up next to a
16:05museum.
16:06And I'm hopefully going to time it right so I get there early enough to have a little look around
16:11as well.
16:17I'm mooring outside the old Lion Salt Works,
16:22which has now been restored, and is a museum and local visitor attraction.
16:28Brine, which is salty water, was pumped from underground,
16:32boiled in open pans, and the salt was raked out to be transported along the canal.
16:39I bumped into Hannah, who works here.
16:43Hello Hannah. Hi.
16:44Thank you so much for letting me look around.
16:46It's fine. You're still open, aren't you?
16:48Yeah, we've got a tour group in today.
16:51I'm most interested, of course, in how the salt was transported.
16:57So is it out of one of these buildings, do they just shovel it out onto the boats?
17:00Pretty much, yeah. So once it had been produced in the pans,
17:04it'd then go out onto the boats, it was actually crushed down,
17:06so it was made into blocks initially.
17:08I've got a picture here.
17:10So this is someone putting it into the tubs and making it into a block,
17:15and then it was crushed in a big crushing mill,
17:17back down to being sort of like the powdery salt that we know,
17:20because it was a lot easier to transport it like that.
17:23It was then put on the boats, shipped to Anderton Boatlift
17:27and then onto the Mersey and out to the rest of the world from there.
17:30Right.
17:32Apparently much of the salt that once left here by narrowboat
17:35was transported to Nigeria and used in the booming soap industry
17:41to help thicken the soap, make it set faster and maintain its shape.
17:48Now I arrived at the museum just as it was closing,
17:51so it's time for me to get going.
17:55Alright, well thank you so much for letting me have a look around,
17:58and yeah, I'll be a new exhibit outside if you...
18:02Thank you though.
18:03Thank you very much.
18:03Bye, Heather.
18:07It's certainly a handy mooring.
18:11And after my dinner, I'm calling it a night.
18:25This is one of my favourite things about living on the canal.
18:30Waking up in the morning and seeing the mist on the water.
18:36Anyway, I need to get going in a bit.
18:38So I've got quite a journey that I want to get through
18:40to reach Middlewich to see what the locks are looking like
18:44when I get there, see if they're open or not,
18:46and how that's going to affect my plans.
19:03It's been a year of stoppages, of low water levels,
19:08been very dry all over the country,
19:11so it's been nice weather for people to sunbathe in,
19:14but there's been a lot of water evaporating out of the system
19:17and being lost with leaky locks and things.
19:25Yeah, it does make me think, well,
19:28I'm just going to be stuck for I don't know how long.
19:36My journey today is about seven or eight miles,
19:40no locks or anything,
19:41just weaving my way for this industrial part of the canal.
19:45And I have actually rung ahead to Middlewich
19:48to see if the locks are open, and they're not.
19:52They don't know when they're going to reopen.
19:55So, yeah, I'm going to start thinking about what I can do,
20:01how long I might be stuck for.
20:03I just don't know at this point in time.
20:12Going through Winchem Wharf, which is always really popular,
20:16with all the boats here,
20:18some of them waiting for their turn
20:20to be repaired or maintained.
20:24Well, there's all sorts of jobs that could be done here.
20:27But, yeah, it is so popular
20:29that it can be a little bit difficult
20:31to see what's coming round the bend.
20:45For generations, this site, spanning the canal,
20:48produced soda ash,
20:51a white alkaline powder
20:55used in everything from glass and detergents
20:57to cosmetics and food preparation.
21:00In fact, it's a key ingredient in everyday items
21:04we take for granted.
21:09Well, the Trent and Mersey really opens up here,
21:11but I've got to be careful that I don't go too far
21:13over to that left-hand side.
21:15It might look quite inviting, but it is shallow
21:18and there's some sunken boats here.
21:23Apparently, they were abandoned along the Trent and Mersey
21:26after the 1950s, when British waterways
21:30considered the canal age had come to an end
21:33and the working boat era was over.
21:37Got to get rid of some boats.
21:39Can't haul them all out, so the easiest way
21:41is just to put a hole in them,
21:43let them sink to the bottom.
21:45Luckily, it's a different story now.
22:03I'm making my way along the Trent and Mersey Canal in Cheshire,
22:07and I'm approaching Middlewich.
22:19But there's a problem ahead.
22:23Right, here I am, Middlewich, big lock.
22:25It's got a big red sign on it saying Canal closed.
22:29But luckily for me, there is plenty of room here for me to moor up.
22:34This is where I'll be making my home for the next few days,
22:37weeks, months, I have no idea.
22:40Just glad there's enough room.
22:58Oh, I've just seen someone standing by the locks,
23:00wearing a blue top, Canal and River Trust uniform.
23:05Hopefully, I'll be able to tell me
23:06when I can get my boat through these locks
23:09and potentially how long I'm going to be mooring up here.
23:13Hello mate.
23:15Could you tell me when the locks are going to reopen again?
23:19This one and the next one will be tomorrow morning.
23:22Oh really?
23:22But it's only those two locks.
23:23There's a repair further down,
23:25and also the water levels.
23:28As you know, it will not only rain have we,
23:30so we need quite a lot more.
23:33Yeah, we need some real prolonged and heavy rainfall.
23:38We've had a little bit, so we're just continuing to monitor that.
23:42So what do you suggest I do as a continuous cruiser?
23:45Just sort of moor up and keep watching out for the notices?
23:49Yeah, absolutely. Keep monitoring the notices.
23:51If you see any of my colleagues, just grab them like you have done to me.
23:54Okay, will do then.
23:55Just be mindful of where the facilities are with your water and everything else.
24:00Yeah, I'm opposite the water tap, so that's good.
24:02And also this pub.
24:04That's a good tap.
24:04Yeah.
24:06Thanks very much. Cheers mate.
24:08Alright.
24:08Alright, see you.
24:12Well, it looks like I won't be moving my boat for a while.
24:16Now, I had a feeling this might happen.
24:19So, I've got a plan.
24:22I've come to the realisation that I am just going to be stuck in Middlewich
24:27on the Naughty Lass for quite a few weeks.
24:32And I can either just sit here twiddling my thumbs or I could go and do something else.
24:37And what I am going to do is something I've wanted to do for a long time, and that's to
24:42visit the Lancaster Canal.
24:45I've used my connections to find someone who's got a boat who will lend it to me for a couple
24:51of days, and I'll get to explore some of the canal.
24:55So, all I've got to do now is pack a few things and make my way over.
24:59I'm quite excited about this because it's a canal I've tried to get to before and not been able to
25:05on this boat.
25:06So, yeah, this is going to be an opportunity.
25:12The Lancaster was built to carry coal and limestone and is still known as the Black and White Canal.
25:21It connects to England's canal network via the Ribble Link,
25:26a tidal and slightly intimidating stretch that I won't be attempting.
25:33Instead, I'm heading up the motorway and borrowing a boat,
25:38one that's a world away from the Naughty Lass.
25:43Right, the Naughty Lass and Middlewich is about 80 miles that way.
25:48I am in Chewitfield, because it's here where I'll meet my mate Mick,
25:54and he's going to let me have a go on his pride and joy.
25:57I have tried to get Naughty Lass up here before,
26:01but my engine wasn't powerful enough to make the crossing along the Ribble Link,
26:05so this is my only opportunity at the moment.
26:09Morning, Mick. How are you doing, Mick?
26:11All right, welcome to the Black and White.
26:12Hey, brilliant. Great day for it, isn't it?
26:14Yeah, you might have to show me a few things before I get going.
26:17Yeah, we'll get some bits and bits for you, yeah.
26:19Brilliant. Dead easy.
26:19Right, here's my stuff.
26:22Get your kick.
26:22Yeah.
26:24Before I set off, what do I need to know?
26:27Show us the ropes.
26:28Yeah, sure. Dead simple, Rob.
26:30Steering wheel, not like you tell us, you've got a steering wheel, just like a car.
26:33You've got a mark on there for centre, so you know where you're at centrally.
26:37Accelerator throttle, it's dead straightforward, but other than that then it's the C cup.
26:40So the system's cool, the whole engine, inboard engine's cooled by water from the canal.
26:45It pulls it up from the canal, but in the middle of that you've got a filter.
26:49So you'll notice duckweed around and stuff like that, and that'll get blocked.
26:52That is key, that has to be kept clean inside it.
26:55If that does get blocked?
26:57That's serious, that's like terminal engine blowing up all the lot.
27:00Right, I don't want that.
27:01Not do I.
27:03Of course.
27:04Yeah, that is key. So that's got to be cleaned.
27:07Right, well I've got your number if I need it.
27:08Yeah, well there you go, she's all yours.
27:10I'll be after her for me.
27:11Thank you, will do.
27:15Well, it's a bit smaller than I'm used to this boat, but for a 1970s cruiser, yeah, dead cosy.
27:23Ah, this is going to be great. Famous last words.
27:36Well, there isn't as much space as on my boat, but the engine is a lot quieter for sure.
27:44I've never driven anything like this before in my life, so, yeah, here goes.
27:57And we're off.
28:00Already crashed in someone else's boat.
28:04Hopefully they won't mind.
28:12Mick has lent me his beloved boat, Pisces, to explore a 12-mile stretch of the Lancaster Canal.
28:21I'm starting in Teutfield.
28:25I'm hoping to moor in Hest Bank, near the coast.
28:29I'll cross the impressive Loon Aqueduct, before reaching the city of Lancaster.
28:38But I've got a feeling it's not going to be plain sailing.
28:45Oh, disaster already.
28:47The engine's just cut out, I'm not sure why.
28:50Let's see if I can start here again.
29:08I'm hoping it's cos the engine was a little bit cold.
29:11And that we haven't got weed already stuck in the little filter.
29:16This isn't as easy as I thought it would be, actually.
29:21This is a completely different way of steering the boat anyway.
29:23I'm not used to all these different controls.
29:27But I will get used to it.
29:32Well, after a bumpy start, I'm on my way.
29:37And it's the second time this year I've had to leave the naughty lass behind
29:41and borrow a boat due to low water levels.
29:46Things seem to be changing.
29:48Hot, dry weather is certainly having an impact on us boaters.
30:02As I said earlier, I have attempted to reach the Lancaster Canal on Naughty Lass.
30:09And to make the trip, it takes a little bit of careful planning in terms of the tides.
30:15So at one point you're moored up on a sandbank waiting for the tide to rise again.
30:22And for me on the Naughty Lass, it was a case of my engine wasn't fast enough really.
30:32But hey, I finally got here and it was worth the wait.
30:35As this waterway is stunning.
30:38And Mick's cruiser is a whole new experience.
30:45This boat is so well kept.
30:48The owner Mick, he's really preserved so much of it.
30:54Yeah, definitely like a vintage boat.
30:57And it's gathering quite a few glances from people as I cruised by.
31:03It just highlights how little I know about these sorts of boats and how grateful I am to give it
31:09a go
31:09and discover what it's like to actually live aboard one as well.
31:21Making quite a good time in this, it's pretty nippy.
31:24So I'm just going to moor up in a bit and have a sandwich.
31:28This place I'm coming through now is called Carnforth.
31:31It looks really nice so I'm just going to try and find something to tie on to.
31:36Maybe here will do.
31:56With the naughty lass stranded on the Trent and Mersey, thanks to low water levels,
32:03I've packed a bag and borrowed a boat.
32:07To go exploring on the Lancaster Canal instead.
32:13Right, I'm just going through a place called Bolton Les Sands.
32:16I want to tell you about this place because it relates to a packet boat passenger service
32:22that was operating on this canal back in the 1830s.
32:27So these were horse drawn boats and they actually travelled quite quickly.
32:32They covered a distance of 30 miles from Lancaster to Preston.
32:37They did it in about three hours.
32:40Which is a lot faster than I'm permitted to do on any of the canals or even rivers in this
32:45country.
32:47In fact, a journey like that on the naughty lass usually takes me about a week.
32:53And wherever you are on the canal, there are always things that slow you down.
32:59I'm not far from my mooring but I do have a little bit of a challenge here.
33:02There's no locks but there is this swing bridge that I've got to tackle today.
33:13Right, I've unhooked this end of the bridge where your crew member would normally stand.
33:20Then they can open it from that way.
33:22But as it's just me, I'm going to have to go across back to where the boat is and push
33:28it open.
33:37All right, there we go.
33:39Just got to let go and hopefully it will use its own momentum to fully open.
33:49Otherwise, I don't know what I'm going to do. I have no barge pole or anything.
33:54That's done it.
33:56Well, that did the trick.
33:58But it just goes to show bridges like this were never designed for solo boaters.
34:06As there's no mooring on the side you need to open it.
34:10However, there's a handy chain I can use to pull it closed.
34:14And it's always polite to do just that.
34:24Right, this is it. This is the closest I can get to mooring by the sea. Fantastic.
34:36Hest Bank has to be one of the best locations where a canal runs next to the seaside.
34:42As here, the Lancaster is close to the coast and near Morecambe Bay.
34:53Well, what a first day that was on the boat.
34:57I've got to tell you, it was a bit challenging.
35:00Driving this boat is different.
35:03And the headroom, I have banged my head a few times.
35:06That's why I've still got my cap on to protect myself.
35:10But I'm getting nice and cosy now in the front part of the boat where I've got my sleeping bag
35:15laid out here.
35:18And guess what?
35:19This is something I don't have on my boat.
35:21I've got a TV.
35:23It's a 12 volt TV.
35:25I've got enough battery.
35:26I've checked.
35:27And...
35:28Yeah.
35:30Just got to see what's on.
35:45I'm not travelling far today on Pisces, so I've got time to stretch my legs.
35:51Along the coast to Morecambe, a Lancashire seaside town.
36:00In the past when I've been visiting places along my journey, I've tried to track down the former homes of
36:08musicians and comedians.
36:10And, yeah, just a few weeks ago I was at Ken Dodd's old house.
36:16Well, here in Morecambe, I've managed to get in touch with the son of a legendary local comedian.
36:24And I'm going to meet him right next to his dad's statue.
36:33Right, this is the statue of Eric Morecambe.
36:36And I'm hoping, standing next to it, is his son, Gary.
36:40Hi there, Gary.
36:42Hi, Robbie.
36:43I was hoping it was you.
36:46It's me. It's good to see you.
36:48Thanks so much for coming out.
36:48Ah, it's a pleasure. A real pleasure.
36:50I mostly want to know first, what was it like having a famous dad?
36:55I mean, the shows went out to about almost 30 million people at the height of it.
37:00I don't know about the famous dad bit. I think that having such a brilliant comedian as a dad was
37:07very noticeable.
37:09Was he a funny dad?
37:11He had funny bones. He couldn't stop.
37:13Yeah.
37:13Maybe it was slightly his downfall at the end. I think that too much of not being able to stop.
37:18He always said if he once stopped, he'd never get started, which I thought was a very telling thing to
37:23say, you know, very honest.
37:25But yeah, no, it was brilliant. I mean, God, you know, I'm nearly 70, so I can look back now
37:29and it's always with a smile.
37:31That's good to hear.
37:33What would your dad have thought about this statue? Would he have been happy about it?
37:37He'd have been extremely happy about it. He'd have been doubly happy that the Queen unveiled it.
37:42And I think he'd have been trebly happy that they built this stone arena around it.
37:47As a young lad, he would fish with his dad just behind the statue here.
37:50Right.
37:51And imagine being told one day, oh, by the way, the Queen will unveil a statue to you.
37:55He'd be, oh, right, OK.
37:57Eight year old.
37:59So it's all a bit magical and a bit unbelievable.
38:01Well, Gary, I've got to move my boat now.
38:04No, I would give you a hand, but that's my leg.
38:08Well, I'll leave you to enjoy Morecambe and your memories of it.
38:11Brilliant to see you.
38:12Always look out for you.
38:13Thanks so much.
38:14All right, take care.
38:15Bye.
38:18Gary's dad, John Eric Bartholomew, took his stage name from Morecambe, his family's hometown.
38:26And together with Ernie Wise, they formed a double act that lasted decades.
38:33Making them both much-loved national treasures.
38:43Right, back on the boat, ready to set off again, but there's one important check I need to make that
38:49Mick told me about yesterday.
38:52Involving the cooling system.
38:54I've just got to check to see if this filter below here, see if that's not clogged up.
39:00Oh yeah, look at that. Absolutely stuffed full of pond weed.
39:04That could have been a serious problem for the cooling system because that stops the water getting in and cooling
39:10it.
39:11So yeah, the engine could have overheated with all that in there. Look at that.
39:18With the filter cleaned out, I can continue towards Lancaster along this waterway.
39:28And it shouldn't take long.
39:31Because this boat's got plenty of pace.
39:37The Lancaster Canal is a bit like the Rippon Canal.
39:42But because they're both dead ends and both right at the edge of the network,
39:48Lancaster certainly is quiet, peaceful.
39:51But unlike the Rippon Canal, Lancaster's even harder to get to because during the colder months they shut off the
40:00crossing.
40:01And you can't actually make it there from the rest of the system anyway.
40:05So it's a real special place for me to visit.
40:17There's one thing that I think is probably my favourite thing about this boat.
40:23And it's just the uniqueness of it.
40:26Lots of people have been commenting to me saying,
40:29Oh yes, I remember these from back in the 70s and all this sort of stuff.
40:34So it's obviously quite a well-loved model and make of both.
40:40So it's been a real pleasure to take round.
40:43It's clearly very well-loved.
40:54This is it. The Loon Aqueduct.
40:58It's not only the most impressive structure on this canal,
41:02but arguably the entire English Canal network.
41:06And I've wanted to cross this for such a long time.
41:15Breathtaking.
41:17It was built in the 1790s by John Rennie, the canal engineer.
41:22He's got five stone arches 60 feet above the river below.
41:30That's a bucket list one ticked off for sure.
41:42I'm nearing journey's end.
41:44And as I enter Lancaster, the canal runs alongside old textile mills
41:49that once depended on it for transport.
41:53Coal to power its steam engines arrived by boat.
41:56While finished goods were carried away.
42:05Well, it's been a strange journey this one.
42:07Started headed south out of Roncorn.
42:11Now I find myself up north on the Lancaster Canal.
42:14Lost my phone in the mouth of a canal tunnel.
42:17Let's not say any more about that.
42:19But I've had a lovely distraction, a boatman's holiday
42:23and saw a little bit of the seaside.
42:24So, all in all, it's been a journey to remember.
42:29And now, as I pray for rain so I can continue my own journey,
42:33I must hand the boat back to its owner, Mick.
42:37It's been a wonderful experience.
42:39I'll never forget.
43:09It's been my life to Ingol.
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