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.