November Trip: Day 0

For reasons that I won't go into here, October turned out to be a rather unpleasant month,  hence the lack of posts and, indeed, a lack of boating also.
So I was glad to see the back of it and, unusually, to welcome in November!
I had booked an engine service with River Canal Rescue for last Thursday, after which Hilary and I had planned a weekend on the boat with the possible intention of going as far as Lymm on the Bridgewater Canal from our base at Anderton.
In order to make sure Starcross would be ready when RCR called I travelled down the day before, getting a bus to Preston then a train to Bolton (only 25 minutes as opposed to an hour and forty on the bus!) followed by buses to Leigh (where I stopped at the indoor market to pick up provisions), Newton-le-Willows and Warrington (total cost £5.95).
Since moving back to Lancashire I have been surprised to see just how much the towns have declined economically since I was last here in the1980s, but some have done better than others and Leigh seemed to be thriving, relatively speaking, which as it is a former mining town rather surprised me.
On arrival at Anderton I baled out yet more water from the bilges (I was later to discover where it was coming from!) and then got the stove going and settled down to a cosy evening on board.