No Water in Wigan (Again).

 Monday 10th and Tuesday 11th July 2023 in Heatons Bridge.

Shopping in Aldi was not a success as they had no fresh peas, much to M's disappointment (or should that be "disgust"? says M!). So, we set off towards Wigan hoping to make good progress today.

Our first obstacle was Plank Lane lift bridge. Lift or swing bridges are not M's favourites but at least this one was electric and just needed the right key and a press of a button to work it.

By 11:00am, we were approaching Poolstock Locks only to find a number of other boats moored up. One of the boaters told us that Poolstock Locks were closed as hooligans had drained the pound overnight and it would take all day to refill it. We had no choice but to moor up too and that was us stuck for the day. Such a shame after making an early start.  The best laid plans and all that ....

Next morning (Tuesday), R walked up to the locks and found that the central pool was full but the pound between Poolstock 1 and Poolstock 2 was dry. However, he met a C&RT chap who was in the process of filling that pound and said that we could start going through in about half an hour. We set off at about 9:00am to move up to the first lock past the huge flashes or lakes (caused by mining subsidence) on either side of the canal. This one is called Pennington Flash and, on a sunny day, is busy with sailing craft.

There were five boats trying to go west through Wigan and we paired up as these are wide locks. We had to wait for the two boats in front of us to go through and then wait for a pair to come the other way going east, a very time-consuming process. As ever, the boaters all helped each other and compared the usual notes about their boats, destinations and experiences.

So we really got to know the other boaters, who were all delightful - but it did delay things and it took us two and a half hours just to get through the four Wigan locks.

Eventually we sailed past Trencherfield Mill, which we visited in 2015; it was amazing. We determined that coming back we would take more time and visit it again, but today we need to keep going as we are due at Scarisbrick Marina first thing tomorrow morning.

As you leave Wigan you pass the famous, or is it infamous, "Wigan Pier". Not sure that the housing advertisment does it any favours. George Orwell would definitely NOT have approved!!

One thing that the Leeds & Liverpool Canal has in abundance is swing and lift bridges. No less than eight today, although thankfully four of them were fixed in the open position.

This canal has been unexpectedly pretty although the views were somewhat dampened by heavy rain in the mid morning. At one point we ended up doing a lock in torrential rain - but it soon passed.

Finally, we moored up for the night at Heatons Bridge, about a mile before Scarsbrick Marina.

In the background of the photograph above is the Heatons Bridge Pub and, after a very long day, we went there and treated ourselves to a G&T each to celebrate the fact that we actually manged to get here on time.

Tomorrow morning, we will put MM into Scarisbrick Marina and then take the train home as we are going up to the Lakes to celebrate Christine's 80th birthday. So we shall be back on board in three weeks.

Two Days:20 miles, 8 locks, 5 swing bridges and 8.9 hours.

Trip: 112 miles, 61 locks and 62.1 hours.

Charles, Emma and the Girls Visit

 Sunday 9th July 2023 in Leigh.

After the rain storms of yesterday, this morning dawned with bright, warm sunshine. Hooray! By the time that the RHS Bridgewater Garden opened, we were waiting outside the door. M went in to find a good table in the cafe overlooking the little lake, while R waited outside to welcome Charles, Emma, Penny and Minnie when they arrived. 

As R waited, the queue to get into the gardens was getting longer and longer, even though it moved very quickly. This new RHS garden has become so popular that even members now have to book in advance. One of the staff indicated that visitor numbers are eight times higher than they originally expected, so a success story indeed!

When C, E, P & M arrived, we started with a snack in the cafe before venturing into the garden. M was worried that, at this time of year, there wouldn't be a lot of colour.

How wrong she was!

This RHS garden is built on the grounds of the former house of the son of the Duke of Bridgewater. The original "Head Gardener's" house is quite magnificent and is now used to house temporary staff.

Not sure if M took this picture because of the density of the flowers or the family line-up! ("both", says M!).

This weekend, the National Sweet Pea Society was having its annual show. M loves sweet peas, so was in seventh heaven. The fragrance as you walked in was exquisite.

A final group photograph outside the RHS Garden before we walked back to MM.

As they needed to start back home and we needed to get on, we only took a short cruise round the corner to Boothstown Marina, where we had left MM twice last year. First Penny took the tiller...

And then Minnie. Both did very well and we managed the short trip without doing any damage.

At the Marina, we said farewell and went our separate ways.So wonderful to spend time together and very much appreciated that they came all this way to see us.

We carried on for a couple of hours until we got to Leigh, where we moored up. There is an Aldi next to the canal and we will nip in quickly for some "more bits" before setting off tomorrow.

Today: 5 miles, 0 locks and 1.9 hours.

Trip: 92 miles,53 locks and 53.2 hours.

Heading Straight for a Lighthouse!

 Saturday 8th July 2023 at RHS Bridgewater.

The weather was rather dull and overcast today. After a quick trip into the Trafford Centre for breakfast in M&S and a "few bits", we set off towards Bridgewater. Soon after leaving, we passed through the Barton Swing Aqueduct that carries the Bridgewater canal over the Manchester Ship Canal. Before the Manchester Ship Canal was built, this was the site of James Brindley's 1761 aqueduct (or "river in the sky") over the River Irwell. Apparently James Brindley created a model of the aqueduct (in cheese!) in front of incredulous Members of Parliament to prove that the idea worked - how we wish we could have been a fly on the wall!

Looking down on the Manchester Ship Canal with the road swing bridge behind. Both bridges had to be able to swing to one side to let large ships through. We don't think either bridge has been opened for a very long time now.

Approaching Worsley is a sharp left turn overlooked by a rather incongruous lighthouse. In the middle of the turn we met a hire boat that tried to pass on the left instead of the right. The only way to avoid a collision was to put MM hard into reverse and head straight for the lighthouse! We managed to sort it out but running hard in reverse, MM picked up a load of plastic on the propellor, so we had to stop and moor up to get it off. By this time, it was raining hard.

Soon after, we arrived at RHS Bridgewater and moored up opposite the footpath that leads down to the gardens. It's a pretty mooring along here and you can moor either side of the wide canal.

As it was still early in the afternoon, we went down to the gardens and into the cafe for tea, coffee and snacks. Tomorrow, we are expecting Charles, Emma, Penny and Minnie, so we will explore the gardens then.

As we walked back to MM, the sky darkened and became very threatening. We just made it back to MM before the heavens opened and treated us to a very violent thunderstorm!

After the storm abated, we saw the local trip boat go up and down with a very happy 30th birthday party on board. We toasted them as they passed.

 Today: 4 miles, 0 locks and 1.4 hours.

Trip: 87 miles, 53 locks and 51.3 hours.

The Trafford Centre.

 Friday 7th July 2023 at the Trafford Centre.

As we were moored outside "Kickback Coffee", that called for a coffee before breakfast as soon as they opened. That's R, blazing a trail to their door!!!

We spent a leisurly morning in Kickback talking to passing locals, many of whom were interested in MM. These four ladies, old friends who regularly meet at Kickback for a catch up, ended up coming on board for a quick tour and loved it. M had to stay behind to guard all their handbags!!

Eventually we tore ourselves away and continued north. This is "Waters Meeting" where the canal into central Manchester (and Old Trafford) goes off to the right but we continued to the left along the Bridgewater canal.

We moored outside the Trafford Centre to find the towpath lined with small children going out on a "litter pick". Later we saw them returning with a whole dumpster of full rubbish bags. Well done, kids! And it looked like they had fun in the process!

There are two parts to the Trafford Centre. Nearest the canal is the Trafford Palazzo, the more recent structure, which is a completely over the top Greco-Romanesque style extravaganza filled with statues, pillars, fountains and domes. We love it!

The central fountain features a large number of gold coloured ladies in various states of undress, along with a few dolphins for good measure (or maybe in the interests of good taste???).

Behind the Palazzo, connected by a walkway, is the Trafford Shopping Centre containing over 200 shops, 60 restaurants and a cinema complex. It was incredibly busy even on a Friday afternoon.

As we left, we looked back at the facade of the Palazzo across one small section of the many car parks that surround the centre. This is also our view from the canal!

Back at MM, we had a quiet evening and night, only slightly disturbed at 1o'clock in the morning by the sound of motorists doing tyre screeching "wheelies" in the car park outside the centre.

Today: 6 miles, 0 locks and 1.9 hours.

Trip: 83 miles, 53 locks and 49.9 hours.

"Kickback Coffee" in Altrincham.

 Thursday 6th July 2023 in Altrincham.

Yesterday, we found a lovely coffee/breakfast shop named The Coffee Lounge on the street called Eagle Brow, so we went there for an excellent breakfast. It was amusing to see the volume of traffic in the town during "rush hour"!

In the centre of town is an ancient looking cross built on a massive rock outcrop. The origins of the cross are apparently not known.

We left mid-morning after acquiring a few more "bits" and M bid a reluctant farewell to her favourite (so far) house as we passed. We were later informed by a local young man that the house belongs to the Corbett family (of "Sooty and Sweep" fame).

As we progressed north, we passed over Dunham Underbridge, which was the site of a massive breach in 1971 that took two years and £250,000 to repair.

Our destination today was "Kickback Coffee", a specialist coffee shop that is built into one of the arches off the canal. We found this place when passing last year and were determined to visit again. We were greeted by Harvey and Toby and enjoyed an excellent coffee.

The long line of arches is all that remains of the viaduct that once supported the Warrington & Stockport railway line. There are about twenty arches each containing a small business, one of which is a pizza place. It was cheering to see such excellent use of the former railway arches.

As ever on the Bridgewater canal there were no rings so we moored MM to a handy set of railings! The wall on the right is the end wall of the viaduct. Nothing remains to be seen on the other side of the canal where there was originally a massive three-level rail junction. It turned out to be a very quiet mooring, despite its location.

Today: 6 miles, 0 locks and 2.1 hours.

Trip: 77 miles, 53 locks and 48.0 hours.

On to Lymm in the Rain.

 Wednesday 5th July 2023 in Lymm.

We set off after breakfast as rain was forecast later. Sadly, the weather didn't take the trouble to study the forecast and the rain came earlier than expected and so was on and off throughout the morning. We pressed on through Stockton Heath, where we stopped for water and diesel, until we reached Lymm.

Lymm is a delightful small town full of real shops, lovely buildings and cobbled streets.

n.b.Hirondelle had been moored up next to us for three days in Runcorn but we never met her owners there. To our surprise, we found the boat already in Lymm and the owners, Chris and Debbie from Florida, turned out to be delightful. We managed to have a good chat with them before they moved on. We might catch up with them again later.

Above the village is Lymm Dam that was created as an earth dam in 1824 to carry a new turnpike road across the gorge formed by "Sow Brook" (it's now the A56). The resulting lake is now a nature reserve, which has a series of paths forming a lovely walk winding round the lake.

The lake is surrounded by ancient woodland full of beech and oak trees, some of which are absolutely huge. The ground is very rocky sandstone and many of the tree roots are exposed, serpentine fashion, as they cling to the rocks.

At one point there is a series of exposed rocks with deep channels etched into them called "Nye Channels". A nearby notice describes these channels as a particular type of sub glacial erosion caused by fast flowing melt water from the end of the last ice age, "though undoubtedly they have been embellished by the feet of children sliding down them over the years".

In Lymm town centre someone had knitted this charming cover to the local post box!

The mooring here is very unusual for the Bridgewater Canal in that MM is moored on rings rather than the more usual pins.

Opposite MM is this house, which M declared to be her "dream house"; it was perfect in every respect, other than (a) being totally out of her price range and (b) too far from the familes back home! Just look at that beautifully kept garden!

Today: 7 miles, 0 locks and 2.5 hours.

Trip: 71 miles, 53 locks and 45.9 hours.

M Home for the Night.

 Monday 3rd and Tuesday 4th July, 2023 at Moore.

Moored up in Runcorn opposite the Brindley Theatre, we woke up to lots of interesting wildlife including this very alert Heron who totally failed to catch his breakfast.

And a large family of very small ducklings.

Runcorn railway station is only ten minutes' walk away and has a two hour service direct into Euston station, so M decided to go home for one night to check on the house, pick up the post and - (says M) sigh in despair at the garden! R stayed behind to look after MM and spend some more time exploring the delights of Old Runcorn.

On Tuesday afternoon M returned to Runcorn and soon after we unmoored MM and turned her in the terminus by Waterloo bridge before heading back along the Runcorn arm. You can see how the canal is truncated at the bridge - such a shame.

Halfway back up the arm, we passed the Norton Priory where we had tried to moor but couldn't get a pin into the ground, so disappointngly had to abandon the idea.

Back on the Bridgewater main line, we found a very pleasant and quiet mooring at Moore, where we spent a very peaceful night.

M counted eight different varieties of wild flowers in the grass bank beside MM while she (M not MM) was happily podding peas.

 

Today: 7 miles, 0 locks and 5.0 hours (inc power).

Trip: 64 miles, 53 locks and 43.4 hours.