An "Interesting" Day.

 Wednesday 11th May 2022 in Wigan.

What a lovely surprise to see our friend Jon, who was the cabinet maker when MM was built, at Reading station on Tuesday! Quite by chance, he was on the same train as us. We arrived back at MM in Bridgewater late that evening after being somewhat delayed by a late running train and waiting in Manchester for more than an hour for a bus that is supposed to run twice an hour! It was fascinating "people watching" while waiting for the bus; Manchester is far more of a multi-cultural city than we had realised.  Back at Bridgewater, it was lovely to look down and see MM waiting for us in the marina.

 MM had been moved by the staff while we had been away but her new mooring was very nicely appointed with plants and "grass". Quite posh, in fact!

When we woke up on Wednesday morning, the rain had set in and was falling hard. We pulled over to the service bay and filled up with (expensive) diesel and (free) water before setting off. The rain was not forecast to last beyond the morning, but it showed little sign of easing off: We carried on nonetheless, although M grizzled that her bottom was wet from sitting on the stern!

In Leigh, we moored up and went to get a "few bits" in the local Tesco. The rain had stopped but the sky still looked very threatening and the wind was still chilling us to the bone despite wearing several layers.

We decided that we definitely do not like cruising in the rain and are resolved never to do it in the future unless we absolutely have to! On the way to Tesco, we passed a well known coffee emporium (not entirely by chance!) and treated ourselves to a warming drink, M had hot chocolate with cream and marshmallows! Leigh is not the most inspiring of towns, we decided!

The bridge, where we moored, is the junction between the Bridgewater Canal (owned by the Bridgewater Canal Company) and the Leeds & Liverpool Canal (controlled by the Canal & River Trust). The two notices welcoming you to the appropriate canal were a hundred yards apart on either side of our mooring. We speculated that if we stayed where we were, we might get away with never having to pay a licence fee to either. Don't think it would work though!

Just after Leigh is a large lift bridge. Having hardly seen another boat moving all day, we saw that there was a boat waiting to come through the other way and a lady trying to work out the control box.. Perfect timing!, They opened the bridge, came through and then waited for us to pass through. M was delighted that she didn't have to operate the bridge.

We carried on towards Wigan, but our progress was rudely interrupted by a very loud banging noise from the stern. We had picked up something substantial on the propeller. R stopped the engine and waited until MM drifted into the side with the wind. Having moored up, it was down the weed hatch for R.

The culprit turned out to be large knotted rope attached to a grappling hook and a railway rail clamp. It took a while to work out how it was wound round the propeller and then how to unwind it bit by bit. Always awkward as you have to work in a narrow space in cold water at full arm stretch without being able to see anything, as the water is so murky. Everything has to be done by feel.

There are two locks just before Wigan and we remembered, from our previous trip along here in 2015, that they are difficult. They did not disappoint! Every bit as hard as we remembered.

 The first lock was in our favour but was very slow to fill and the bottom gates were so heavy that there were winches to help you to close them.

Between the two of us, we managed it, but it took a lot longer than normal.

Unfortunately, there was no winch to help you close the top gates but M received very welcome help from a passing walker.

M took this lovely photograph of MM cruising between the two locks. You would never think this is Wigan, would you?

What you cannot see is that the "pound" between the two locks was a good two feet lower than it should be. M walked up to the second lock, which was also set for us, and opened the gates. Unfortunately, MM ran firmly aground about a boat's length before the lock. M had to open the top paddles to flush enough water down to refloat the boat so that she (MM not M!) could get into the lock. Even then, she (MM!) was sitting on the bottom of the lock.

Getting through those two locks took us well over an hour. No photographs as we were both rather concentrating on keeping MM safe and afloat.

Only a few hundred yards further on is the T-junction at the bottom of the Wigan 21 flight of locks and we moored up just below the bottom lock of the flight for the night. Tomorrow we tackle the flight.

Today: 11 miles, 2 locks and 4.8 hours.

Trip: 91 miles, 57 locks and 45.7 hours.