Sunday 16th September

There is sun somewhere!

We were rocked to sleep last night and we have been rocking all day!  The wind has been quite strong and the rain has poured all day.  As Richard and I are both sailing people we are used to the sound of waves lapping against the hull but it seems so strange that it’s on Mary H!

It was far too wet to go for our promised walk this morning so Sue and I got a taxi back to her car then called into Booths in Lancaster for supplies before returning to Glasson.  We had lunch and then Sue left us to drive back down a soggy M6.

We had hoped that it would clear up in the evening so that we could go for a walk but just as we thought we could go down came the rain again L  However there was some sunshine somewhere as the photo shows.

Glasson Basin

So a bit of history about the Glasson Branch and Glasson Basin.  Due to the difficulty of navigation up the River Lune to the docks in Lancaster, the Lancaster port commission decided to build a dock at Glasson in 1779 which was completed in 1787.  Grain and timber were the main imports and coal to Ireland was the main export.  The opening of Preston Dock in 1892 brought Glasson's period of greatness to an end and it has now settled down to the quiet place it is today.  British and foreign coasters still use the port with outbound shipments including coal for the Isle of Man and the Western Islands of Scotland, and incoming cargoes including animal foodstuffs and fertilizer.  Which reminds me of the third verse of another John Masefield poem.

Dirty British coaster with a salt-caked smoke stack,

Butting through the Channel in the mad March days,

With a cargo of Tyne coal,

Road-rails, pig-lead,

Firewood, iron-ware, and cheap tin trays.



Glasson Dock from the Basin

 

The 2½ mile canal was completed in 1825 and at one time small seagoing vessels sailed up it to Kendal and Preston.  The canal drops boats down 52 feet from the Lancaster Canal.

Glasson Basin covers twelve acres and at one time could accommodate seagoing vessels of 200 tons. The basin now shelters ocean-going yachts (and narrowboats) and is used for wind surfing – great place for wind surfing I should think!