Where the L&L started, so they say

Not quite so much rain as yesterday, but we didn't manage to avoid all the showers nor the drizzle. This was the sign at Lathom Junction telling of the closure of the Rufford Branch.

At Burscough Bridge we used the services and then went to Tesco, which is to the north of the canal bridge.

Now someone had suggested we might like to call on someone in a boat at Scarisbrick, probably in the marina, but I couldn't remember who! I searched through my e-mails and a few other blogs, but without success. We stopped, though, and looked round, hoping that a boat name might trigger my memory. None did.

Oh well. I hammered in the mooring pins of a neighbouring boat - the forward and aft pins had both been completely ripped out; the boat was relying on a centre line pin.

Ah - Ally, on the phone to Jan, has just said that it was a comment by James on Gabriel. I still can't remember whom we were to visit.

At Halsall there is a sculpture of a navvy seemingly rising out of the rocky ground.

The first cutting of the Leeds and Liverpool Canal took place here. There is a plaque marking the "exact" spot, where the canal has been cut through solid rock. I'll try to get a photo as we make the return journey next week.

We tied up at Haskayne; I'm writing this in the Ship pub using their wi-fi.

A little boat maintenance was done this evening: the bathroom sink has been getting slow to drain. Disconnecting the hose from the sink waste revealed a lot of disgusting whitish gunge lining the rubber hose. Filling the hose with water and then blowing down it forced it to clear, but only until the next fill of water. Eventually I reconnected it to the waste and used the empty milk bottle method - crushing and releasing to push and suck the water - until it eventually cleared.

Can anyone suggest what I might put down the sink to clean the hose? If it's a pollutant I can catch it as it comes out of the skin fitting. Would bleach work?