All Great Things Must Come to an End.

Friday 23rd and Saturday 24th August 2024 at Boothstown,

Friday morning, M got into conversation with the owner of two beautiful Malamute dogs that were walking past MM. The dogs were so very bright and always seemed to be smiling.

 Later in the morning, Lazy Bee set off first as they needed to empty their cassettes and MM followed soon after. As we left Leigh, we waved goodby (for now) to the "Leigh Branch" and the C&RT and sailed onto the "Bridgewater Canal", owned by the Manchester Ship Canal Company.

 

This area was heavily industrialised and as recently as 1968 coal was being delivered to the local power station by barge. We saw this photograph in the Waterside Inn of coal arriving in 1968.

None of the buildings survive and even the bridge in the foreground is no longer. All that remains is some vast mills, some of which have been converted into apartments.

We moored the two boats side by side just outside Boothstown and sat on the towpath for a farewell drink as the sun set.

At one point, M had called Harley a "Jammy Toe Rag", an expression with which he was not familiar but he soon adopted as his own. Shopping in Tesco, we saw a wine labelled "Jammy Red Rod" and, after some editing, presented Harley and Shelley with this bottle of wine to take with them on their travels..

On Saturday morning, we set off together for the last time this year. MM stopped in Boothstown Marina, where she will spend the next couple of weeks, while Shelley, Harley and Lazy Bee went on to the south and disappeared with a smile and a cheery wave.

This has been the most fantastic four weeks travelling with Shelley, Harley and Lazy Bee and we will very much miss their company, their hospitality and the fun times that we had all together. Hopefully we can catch up with them again next year one way or another. We look forward to that very much.

Having moored up MM in the Marina with the brilliant help of Les, we walked up to the bus stop and took the bus into Manchester. Because the centre of Manchester was closed for Gay Pride, the bus dropped us about a mile from the bus station, but we still had plenty of time to walk to bus station and on to the train station and catch our train home.

We plan to be back on board on Wednesday 11th September, so watch this space.

Today: 5 miles, 0 ;ocks and 4.4 hours (with power).

Trip: 223 miles, 99 locks and 115.2 hours.