Back to Boothstown

After a day off at Plank Lane we headed back towards Manchester today, stopping for the night at Boothstown.

We’ve had some pleasant walks around Pennington Flash, even though the weather has been windy, cool and occasionally damp.

The flash was caused by subsidence following coal mining, and a row of cottages has obviously suffered the same consequences, the row strapped together with steel braces.

Mutual support…

The lift bridge crossing the canal at Plank Lane has historically had a bridge-keeper in attendance. Although only a “B” road, it’s a pretty busy route, especially at rush hour.
Now this cushy but probably boring job has been contracted out – to us boaters!

Alongside the bridge there’s a large expanse of cleared land, the site of Bickershaw Colliery. Once the largest pit on the Wigan coalfield, it was also the last to close, in 1992.
This area is due a makeover, a mixed development of housing and commercial building, and a 40 berth marina. The marina pool is the only bit so far completed, and this is not in use having no mooring pontoons installed yet. I guess another victim of the recession.

The grandly named Diamond Jubilee Marina

We got away around 10:30 and had a fairly bright but breezy trip back through Leigh.

Leaving Plank Lane

The well surfaced path is part of the Greenheart Jubilee Way. This multi-user path runs from Leigh to Wigan along the towpath of the canal, and also includes part of the Douglas Valley. The Greenheart Regional Park is a project aimed at revitalising the areas abandoned by the loss of the mining industry, encouraging wildlife, leisure, economy and sustainability.

Recorded for posterity, the team responsible for creating the route.

With a short, squat tower, St. Peter’s at Westleigh could be mistaken for being Saxon. In fact it’s Victorian, a Grade II listed building from 1881.

More Victorian architecture entering Leigh. The nearer stone building dates from her uncle, William IV’s, time in 1821, the brick structure is from 1894. Both were warehouses, now converted to make The Waterside Inn.

Leigh (ex) warehouses.

Butts Mill chimney and blue skies

Between Dutton Stop Lock to the south, Poolstock Locks to the north, Runcorn to the west and the bottom of the Rochdale Canal at Castlefield, there’s around 45 miles of level navigation here. It’s understandable then that there are lots of stop-planks with attendant cranes, standing ready to stem any breach.

Near the East Lancs Road Bridge there are two opposing sets of stop gates for the same purpose.

Stop Gates
The local kids have found the blank faces of a stack of metal stop-planks irresistible….

We filled with diesel, replaced an empty gas bottle, disposed of several days of rubbish and even bought two bags of solid fuel at Bridgewater Marina. Still buying smokeless in May! Huh! The weatherman is predicting frosts….

I suppose we shouldn’t really complain, it’s better than in Oklahoma….

Leaving, topped up, from Bridgewater Marina

We pulled in just along from the marina, on the offside again. Just for tonight this time, tomorrow we head to the Trafford Centre for a bit more retail therapy.

I’ve made the decision to go ahead with repainting Seyella this summer. The paint shed at Canal Cruising in Stone is booked for early August, and we’ve finalised a colour scheme. We’ll be mainly dark blue and mid-grey, just for a change.
Red hand rails will add a bit of relief. The roof will remain cream, the gunwales black. I’ll also be adding mouse’s ear’oles on the stern cabin panel.

Signwriting has yet to be determined…

Locks 0, miles 6

Back on C&RT waters

We left Worsley on Friday, cruising just a short distance to moor in the bushes on the offside near Bridgewater Marina.

Worsley Delph, the raison d’etre of the Bridgewater Canal.

Back in the mid 1700s Francis Egerton, 3rd Duke of Bridgewater, had a problem. He had extensive coal mines in the Worsley area, and a ready market in the Industrial Revolution driven expansion of Manchester. But he just couldn’t shift the stuff fast enough using horse and cart. As a young man he’d done the “Grand Tour” of Europe, and had seen first hand the operation of canals and pound locks, and realised that water transport on an artificial navigation could be the solution.

The original proposal placed before Parliament involved two routes from Worsley, one to Salford and the other down towards Warrington to meet the River Mersey. The Salford cut went well, not so the Mersey section, which was abandoned in favour of an extension of the Salford route to Runcorn.  At Stretford the line was cut almost due east, finally reaching Castlefield in Manchester in 1765. The Duke’s commitment to reduce the price of coal delivered to the city was realised, dropping to 4d a cwt, around 33p a ton.

The arched opening in the picture above was the entrance to the underground mines, ultimately 46 miles of tunnels with inclined planes connecting the levels. The lower levels were canals carrying the coal out into daylight in double-ended boats.

Worsley is now a peaceful, well, mainly, suburb of Salford. But in the 18th and 19th centuries what is now the green was a hive of industry, with forges, carpenters and all manner of canal and colliery related trades active on the site.

The Packet House stands alongside the short cut to the Delph.

The Packet House, Worsley.
From here, fast horse-drawn packet boats would take passengers into Manchester. The trip, taking less than 2 hours, would cost around 1s. That’s 5p for those who can’t remember £sd…

We covered the 1½ miles to our weekend moorings at a lot slower speed, finding a spot long enough between the bushes on the offside for both boats.

After a quiet, uneventful couple of days we set off, the first port of call should have been Bridgewater Marina for diesel but they’ve run out, so we’ll make that stop on the way back.

Leaving our weekender.

From here to Wigan the primary industry was “black gold”, coal. So much was extracted from  deep underground that the countryside has subsided to a remarkable degree, leaving the canal, with it’s successively built-up banks, standing high above the landscape.

Cruising towards Leigh

I always think that this section is a bit desolate, with low scrub vegetation struggling to get a living from the poor soil, mostly landscaped pit waste. But I suppose it’s a far better view than it would have been 100 years ago.

To compensate for the slowly sinking scenery, Bailey Bridges have been pressed into service at many of the crossings.

Whitehead Hall Bridge

Under the span the headgear of Astley Green Colliery can be seen, now a sole survivor of the many that would have punctured the skyline, and marking the Colliery Museum.

The canal cuts into Leigh, a town who’s fortunes were built on the textile industry. Cotton and silk spinning mills were built to supply the growing demand, five of which still stand.

Leigh Mill, or Leigh Spinners.

Butts Mill chimney


Leigh is a typical Lancashire mill town, what you see is what you get.

Mather Lane Mill

Little and Large – narrowboat and, I think, a “Duker” a motorised Bridgewater barge. Built in the 1950s specifically for use on this canal, this class of barge was made redundant as recently as 1974, when Kelloggs at Waters Meeting shifted to road transport.

Leigh is also the furthest west the Bridgewater Canal penetrates, this section from Worsley was built in 1795, and was connected to the Leeds and Liverpool Canal when the Leigh Branch of the L&L was finished in 1820.

Leigh Bridge, from the Bridgewater to the L&L

Leigh boasts almost as many supermarkets as old textile mills, Ann and I did a good shop at Tesco, about 10 minutes away. We could have used Aldi, right next to Leigh Bridge, or Lidl, a bit the other side of Tesco. Then there’s Sainsbury’s, on the north edge of town but a bit too far to walk back laden. I think there’s an Asda knocking about somewhere, too.

From Leigh we had another half-hour to Plank Lane Bridge, where we turned around and moored.

Moored at Plank Lane

Pennington Flash lies alongside and below the canal, a large depression caused by coal extraction now filled with water.

Pennington Flash
Weather permitting we’ll have a walk all the way round tomorrow. There are paths all across the area, with some interesting features….

“Book” made out of old lock gates

Thanks Carol, and Doug and James, for your comments regarding my leg. It's maybe not as bad as I first thought; and intensive regime of icing, massage and stretching is showing results, I might be OK for next Sunday after all. A trial short run on Thursday morning will be the deciding factor...

Meanwhile, Chas is feeling a bit better though still has to be careful not to twist too sharply. Ann's knee is an ongoing problem that she can cope with, although once again she has to be a bit careful.

Locks 0, miles 7½

Old Crocks cruise to Worsley

Well, we did leave Trafford today, a far more pleasant cruise than it would have been yesterday.

We’re a bit battered, Chas has hurt his back, Ann has a dodgy knee and I‘ve strained an Achilles tendon. Mine started on Monday during a heavy session of intervals, so I took a day off yesterday, but I actually felt something give way on my run first thing this morning.

I had a miserably uncomfortable walk 2½ mile walk back to the boat. I may be out of the Manchester 10k now, it’s only 10 days away and I don’t think it’ll heal before then. Bugger.
Mags is the fittest of us all at the moment, how about that!

The cripples convoy got away not long before noon, a short distance and around the corner to Barton Swing Aqueduct.

Moore2Life across the ship canal
Designed by Edward Leader Williams and built in 1894, the aqueduct is swung about a central pier, still containing 800 tons of water.

Looking “downhill”, Barton Road Swing Bridge in the foreground, then the M60, Barton Locks in the distance
The swing aqueduct replaced the original stone-built arched aqueduct over the River Irwell, built by James Brindley in 1761. When the Manchester Ship Canal was constructed in the 1890’s, the arched aqueduct wouldn’t  have had enough headroom, so was replaced with the steel structure.
A few years ago we were lucky enough to see the aqueduct in operation.

The oddball “lighthouse” at Monton is still there, standing proud at the side of the canal.

The Bridgewater Canal tends to be in better condition than a lot of the canals that now fall under the jurisdiction of C&RT. Neglect and lack of funding during British Waterways governership has allowed quite a bit of bank damage to occur. Peel Holdings maybe have a  bit more cash to splash about.

Bank repairs, Bridgewater Canal style
They even bring their own loo!

Into Worsley

Worsley Dry Dock is on the right, reckoned to be the oldest still in use on the inland waterways.

Worsley Dry Dock
Both sheds are currently occupied by Mersey/Weaver flats.

We moored just beyond the iron footbridge, almost opposite the boathouse built to house the Royal Barge during Queen Victoria’s visit to the town in 1851

Tea time, after all we’re only 2¼ miles from where they come from…
Yummy!

Locks 0, miles 3

Thought about it, decided not to bother…

Moving today, that is.

We were going to make the short toddle to Worsley, but it was raining at 6 when I woke, still raining at 7 so I rolled over and went back to sleep, and still raining at half-8 when I finally decided to get up.
Meg wasn’t impressed having her walk in the rain, me neither.

It’s a good job we didn’t move, as it happens. Charles had bought some technology from PC World in the Trafford Centre yesterday, but the two of the three elements are ignorant of each other instead of having an amiable exchange of information. So one bit went back today for a refund.

There’s been a few boats up and down, but it’s generally very quiet on the stretch.

The towpath has recently been resurfaced along here with pea gravel, so every walker, jogger and cyclist gives advanced warning of their imminent arrival. A good thing from my point of view is that they had to cut back some of the small trees to widen the path, so I’ve been scavenging, trying to eke out the last bag of smokeless fuel till the summer comes.

Today’s small haul.

Could do with the rain to stop so I can cut it up…

Yesterday afternoon’s (dry!) walk took us down to the ship canal at Barton.

Twin Barton swing bridges, Barton Road nearer, Bridgewater Canal behind
Pigeons eye view from Bing maps

 

Manchester Coat of Arms on pump house alongside the ship canal
If your Latin is a bit rusty (or non-existent like mine) the motto means “By council and work”, a biblical reference – Eccl 37:14, “Let reason be the beginning of every work, and let council go before every action”.

Just along the road there’s the Franciscan Friary of All Saints, a fine building around 150 years old.

The forecast looks a bit better for tomorrow, so we’ll dodge the showers to Worsley.

Locks 0, miles 0.

A short toodle to Trafford.

After a blustery, showery weekend in Castlefield, it was time to make a move.

We’re killing time before heading back into town, we don’t need to be in Castlefield till Friday the 24th, so we thought we’d head off towards Leigh for a few days.

Moored in Castlefield

After filling tanks it was about 12:30 when we finally moved out from the railway bridges and wharves of the junction.

Hulme Locks, the old link to the Manchester Ship Canal, now derelict

There’s always a large population of Canada geese along here, must be something in the water. There are several young families, being guarded carefully by the adults.




On my morning runs this way I’ve been mugged on several occasions by the protective parents, they fly at you with beak open and wings wide. A couple got pecks in before I lost patience and gave one a thick ear. (do geese have ears? I suppose they must have…)

MV LS Lowry takes another boatful of sightseers down the “new” Pomona Lock, to take the tour of Salford Quays

Cruising this stretch you can’t help but notice Manchester Utd Old Trafford stadium on the left, but I was more interested in another of those very large drills working on the other side of the canal.

Another big drill. I want one!

It drills large, deep holes for cylindrical fabrications of steel reinforcing bar, which are then filled with concrete to form secure foundation pillars.

Oh, all right then, here’s a picture of the “Theatre of Dreams”.

Manchester container Euroterminal straddles the canal nearer the junction of Waters Meeting. There is a seriously large fork truck at work here!

I don’t think my (expired) FLT licence would cover this chap

Big Boys Toys. I want one of these too!

We hung a right at the junction and had an uneventful but windswept trip through Trafford Park.

The Kelloggs factory used to have grain deliveries by barge, but not anymore.

Guess where we moored for the night…
A clue is on the under-exposed sign on the right…

Ann and I had a walk around The Trafford Centre this afternoon., what a place. You could do your wallet some serious damage here!

I kept my hand firmly in my pocket, but Ann succumbed and bought  a couple of pairs of jeans. Might go back tomorrow, though…

Mercedes 380SL

 on the brass plate –

This car belonged to Mrs Margaret Mary Whittaker, the Mother of the Chairman and founder of Peel Holdings p.l.c. and The Trafford Centre. It is installed at The Trafford Centre as a lasting tribute for all her support, inspiration and guidance.

10th September 1998

 

Seems a shame not to have it on the road, though.

Locks 0, miles 4½