232 - Our Ribbble Link Adventure 

I remember Savick Brook from when I was a kid living nearby in the 70s and early 80s. It was little more than a small stream. Before the land was flattened between Leyland Bridge and Tudor Bridge there were some great old oxbows of the old course that me and the farmer's son used to use for great fun on our little motorcross bikes. Just upstream of Leyland Bridge there was an island we used to camp on, just behind the church. That stream was a great source of cycle parts, as that was were bikes were dumped. We built a lot of bikes from the part we found. Ah happy days.

Another fun video. Enjoyed

Those posts under the bridge are there for two reasons. First, when the brook is up a bit there is little headroom, and second, when the brook is down there's some ugly lumps of concrete that are the footings for the bridge.

This video was like a jungle cruise! How cool! And fun to have Lorna on board, too!

It looks a lot more scary from your perspective than I remembered! Thank you for having me, it was an amazing day as always

Very interesting video. Ohhhh, backing into staircase locks looked pretty tricky. You did a great job, Michael. And Jo, I would have been nervous and taken the bus like you did!

The physics behind the small boat needing a tow are slightly interesting. There's a feature of displacement hulls known as "hull speed", which is roughly the maximum speed possible without a massive increase in power and actually pushing the hull up and over the water (planing) instead of through it. Hull speed increases with length, so a 35 foot narrowboat needs around 50HP at the prop to achieve 8 knots (which is it's hull speed); but a 60 foot narrowboat only needs around 25HP at the prop for 8 knots (and its hull speed is around 10 knots). The last 20%-ish of your hull speed needs about the same power as the first 80%-ish, and exceeding hull speed can easily require double again. I picked 8 knots arbitrarily (but from open water experience) as what you need to competently fight most tidal flows; but I'm not certain what flow you hit on the Ribble (should be less than 8 knots). Fun fact: the Douglas (lower end), Ribble, and Savick Brook are all a little bit radioactive. It's from a combination of the Windscale disaster, effluent discharge and occasional leaks at Sellafield, and the Springfield nuclear fuel manufacturing plant which is right beside Savick Brook (north-west of it) and discharges effluent directly into the Ribble (possibly also that huge pipe halfway up the brook). Don't worry though, you get more radiation on a transatlantic flight, it's safe enough (just notably above normal background levels).

Well done Michael and the lovely Lorna. Geat narration Jo too. Worth the wait great vlog .

Fascinating cruise -- but then I can sit in the comfort of my own home and watch without having to steer a boat!

The towing boat (Gnat) has been on the River Ribble for over a hundred years!

Very entertaining vlog the ribble link didn't disappoint......thanks for sharing

amazing journey you are so brave x x

The map is so nice and great to see all the canals in plain sight. Love it thank you 😁

If anything was underwhelming it was the Aslan Lamp! This was a great trip. A little of everything scenery wise. I think the reverse lock flight was the most interesting part of the trip. Thanks Jo, Michael and Lorna!

Hi Mike n Jo, Glad to hear you giving it some 'CHUFF' , good boating well done,

Great , now I'll see what Lorna has to say on her channel. Looking forward to hearing what you think of the Lancaster Canal. I used to take my grandchildren there when they were little because there were no locks. We hired a boat called Lillie, also a few others but Lillie was their favourite. I'm sure its still on the canal. Maybe you passed her.

I love the collaborations and banjo!

Well done that man. The brook looked quite high compared to when I've seen it on other vlogs. Nothing much changed for me the Upper Trent is again in flood and the first two locks on the T&M are padlocked. Thanks guys. Take care.

Thank you, you two always make me smile!

Jo I'm so excited you have the maps in stock. I just purchased one along with Anna's painting of the boat and train.

I was out and about, on the Lanky, Monday through Friday the following week. Looking forward to seeing your next vlogs to see if we passed each other somewhere, lol.

Interesting route. Watching different perspectives is a fun bonus.

The Ribble looked like a mill pond, you got lucky with the weather. The Euro Fighter often flies over Liverpool, they go up the coast, turn round at Scotland and come back. Nice of Lorna to keep you company, and for giving a different, but equally interesting perspective of the trip. Got fingers and toes crossed that you get that Silver Propeller!

Good luck guys on the Lancaster canal.

lovely video i see lorna brought the sun again :)

That was Fun. It was different for me as the fox's did it the other way round and they didn't like that brook either. Thanks for another enjoyable ride.

Thank you for an excellent vlog, and we're looking forward to the rest of your journey.

Excellent enjoy that.

I am so looking forward to doing this cruise, thank you for sharing your experience.

Great vlog, we really hope to do the Ribble Link and the Lancaster Canal some day 👍

Well done!!! I've been waiting for this video for weeks.

Jo your supposed to face your fears , oh well your choice . When the Savick Brook is low and tide running out thats when it gets hairy . A nice river trip as well , nothing scary there either because your traveling in a group :-)

Looks like you had a better passage than foxes afloat.

Another lovely cruse! Savick Brook reminded me of our canal path walkway. It's soo overgrown. Of course our canal is empty but still quite lovely. I have had some magical encounters with birds and deer. The best was putting my eyes back on the trail, about 100 feet in front of me a Deer and her baby, just watching me. they allowed me to get pretty close before they took off. Of course, no camera.

Wait, it must be cold. First tie Ive not seen you in cargo shorts ... great vLogs guys

I am now officially impressed and, if I ever get the chance, I probably would 'do the Ribble Link'. I'd previously said I wouldn't. Having said that, you said it yourself, Michael. If it had been raining; had it been windy (my big fear;) and had it been a more disadvantageous tide; then the yuk factor (and possibly the gut factor) would increase exponentially. I guess the CRT wouldn't release you on to the Douglas or southbound into Savick Brook if the weather was outside strict parameters? This was a fascinating vlog and I was glued from the first seconds. Thank you for doing the adventure and for putting together such an intriguing edition. I guess Lorna is an adrenaline junkie? We had one or two little adventures, even with our hire boating week on the GU. We had a lovely boat, but suffered an almost total loss of domestic electrical supply on Thursday night (one of the domestic alternator cables had cracked and wasn't charging) and then torrential rain all the way back to the boatyard, where we had a torrid time with the gale force wind, just getting into the narrow entrance of the Marina. I said the wind is my greatest fear with a narrowboat!

Great views of the Link, my boat and it's Lister will be avoiding such things, reversing into a lock just doesn't sound right! Weird!

Wow, that was a great trip. It’s on the bucket list but at 62’ and deep drafted I think it’ll be a struggle.

great vlog guys you seemed to have better conditions than the foxes had lol

Good to see GNAT still running. I think that boat's over 100 years old?

I don't blame you Jo, the current looked a bit strong. Somebody once took a narrowboat across the channel toFrance! 😬 this is some years ago. I can't remember their names but their dog was very nervous and so was I! 😳😲

It's been worth waiting for the vlog since you put on FB that you were doing it on the 13th.

Great video, thanks! A rather easier and less traumatic trip than the one I first saw a few months back, by the Foxes Afloat, for sure. A choppier Ribble and less water in the brook for them, I think. Savick brook = Lovely locks, awful canal - almost like an obstacle course for canalboats. Did they run out of money when they dug out the canal link or something? I wonder if improvements to it are planned. I was interested enough to discover that the original route went through Wigan to Preston directly but that bit was shut, Wiki says, in the 1960s and is presumably not now possible to restore.

FYI - Lorna's video is marked private, which is ok if that was intended, but I wanted her to know if it was an error.

someone tell Emma over at Narrowboat Girl that Mute Swans love Cheerios. Queen Victoria gave my home town in Florida, USA a breeding pair over 100 years ago, the birds have blossomed.

I was so curious about the Ribble link, last year, then this year I have followed three vloggers up there, including yourselves. It just makes me want to do it myself someday. Thanks for taking us along for the ride.

Great trip but shame again about the large number of Fast Forward sections which the London Girl's version never had ( p.s. Not my computer as you suggested earlier as I watched this one on someone else's !).

I love them MINI-Narrowboats They are cheaper to register with CRT, right? I bet they take hardly any coal to keep that small space warm in winter

Just think, someday someone will say they are using an ____ year old Jo Guide 😁

At last, have been following and waiting for some time to see u do the Lancaster. Hope u enjoy and I am certainly looking forward to the next few vlogs. Glad u had a good day. Cheers peeps.

The Gunsmithing Comment made Me think about the Legalities (in the UK) of keeping a Firearm, whilst Living aboard a Narrowboat.

The was probably the fastest the little narrow boat has ever gone.

In defence of the Ribble Link's reputation as a passage of terror: It's the way back that's scariest.

Sounds like someone may have a cold 🤧

That was the smoothest, trip through the ribble link that I have seen. How long was that small boat that needed a tow. looked to be about 15 feet.

Jo Jo sounds all stuffed up.

An enjoyable Sunday evening video, does it count towards the Silver Propeller?

A few random bird noises in the background during the last couple of minutes of talking to the camera bit at end wonder what it was

Good gravy! Did you two stay up late partying with George or something the night before filming? You look like you got about 3 hours of sleep!

If you go again Jo will have to take Collin and Dillon with her , we hope to do it next year

Hmm, afterburning jet boost on a narrowboat ... nah, it'd just spook George.

Have seen a couple of other videos when crossing made on much bigger tides and boats genuinely struggling up the douglas so maybe all crossings not as easy as yours

Does your waterways map get mailed to Canada on occasion? What's the surcharge?

you colud get yer walker colts there. lol

Was the eye roll due to the gun smith comment or the ice cream? LOL reminds me of my wife’s eye rolls.

What is the white flower on top

What is the name of the piece of music that play's along with your video? please.

It’s “Tarltun”. 🙂

👍👍👏

: )

is it me? The Clarity Of Your Voices has slightly muffled sound, are you to close to mike? maybe volume record needs adjusting, special in the voice overs. love the show and travels.

Why do you have 300211 in arabic numerals on your arm? A bit odd........

A full moon? An American werewolf on the link...

Another great expose (can't do accents) - Multitudinous thank yous to debunk the mystique of the passage which - I guess - puts others off. Methinks 'we' are seriously getting to the stage where the old adage of "cruise it or lose it" is becoming an issue. CRT is running out of funds and puff / and enthusiasm - coupled with the issues of more and more boats being used as static homes - which will put off 'explorers' doing what you are doing...BTW - got fed up with the same tune that you use elsewhere - how about some Bach snippets that stand repeating - 'cos that's what he did in his fugues....