Back to Castlefield, a run and a visit.

Another catch-up post! I’ve been a bit remiss in updating the blog the last week or so. Truth is, I’ve not had a lot to report.

We spent Wednesday tied up the other side of Moore, working on Corbiere. Then Thursday we moved back to Dunham Massey. Just before we moved, one of the canal maintenance boats arrived, to do some reinforcing on an eroded bank. This involved hoisting in several large tree trunks! Simple, but effective.

Bank Repairs.
Across the valley, you can see the Victorian water tower, looking down with dismay on the new housing estates built on the edge of Norton.

Water Tower
We had 4 stops on the way back, the first at Moore for the Post Office, then Lymm for shopping, Stockton Heath at Thorn Marine and finally at Ye Olde No 3 for water.

Waiting for Carol at Moore
We left Carol at the pub, Sonja had decided to drive up for the night, and moved onto to near Bollington Aqueduct.

We spent Friday doing some more work on Corbiere, then Saturday morning set off early for Castlefield (again). We wanted to be there soon after lunch to make sure there was room for us. After a quick stop at Sale for a paper and a few bits, we arrived at the basin at around 13:00. On the way we had to watch out for boats out from Manchester University Rowing Club, and Trafford Rowing Club. They take up a lot of room, with the long sweeps, but they can certainly shift!

Rowing 8, Man Uni.
At the sanitary station, we were met by a couple of very hostile geese.

Angry Geese

One of them actually jumped on Meg’s back!

This is why…
On egg is broken, leaving just one viable.

Castlefield was busier than expected, but we slotted in on opposite sides of the arm to the Grocer’s Warehouse.

Moored in Castlefield.
I got my head down for a couple of hours, in preparation for Sunday.
It was quite a miserable day compared to the recent weather, a lot cooler, and raining most of the way. Sunday’s forecast is better, cool start, warmer later, dry with a small breeze. Good running weather!

The Manchester 10K has become the biggest event of this distance in the UK. This year it attracted 31,000 entries, and was oversubscribed several time over. We’re a bit short of pictures of the event, but here’s one of Mags with a new friend…
If you’re interested, more pics and news of the event are on Greatrun.

I had a good run, slightly faster than last year but about 12 seconds outside my best for the distance. Must do better! Jo Pavey had an excellent run. She’ll be running the 10k in Beijing in the summer for GB.

In the afternoon, we decided to visit the Museum of Science and Industry, just a few minutes walk from the mooring. The special exhibition is Gunther Van Hagen’s Body Worlds. I’ll not explain it, just go to the website. I found it fascinating, if a little macabre. The rest of the museum is worth a visit, and it’s free!

In the Air and Space Hall

The Power Hall
I was starting to flag a bit by 15:00, legs were a little tired and we’d all got separated, so I headed back to the boat for a rest. Had some tea, watched the coverage of the race on BBC2, took Meg for a walk and relaxed for the evening.

Locks 0, miles (since last post) 21

More Sanding and Brief Encounters.

A catch up post, this. After the exertions of last week, we decided to take it easy for a couple of days.

We stayed at Dunham Massey till today, although on Sunday we had a trip to the moorings and water point near The Old No 3 pub. Here we met Dot (Mags sister), John and Paul, for a mail drop. She’s been very good acting as postmistress for us recently. She had my entry details for Manchester’s 10k next Sunday. My number is 1010, in case anyone watches the highlights in the afternoon. (Not that I’m going to be a highlight of course. I’ll be 17 or 18 minutes behind the winner).

We continued on nearly to Lymm to turn around and to charge the batteries while we did a load of washing, and arrived back to rejoin Carol later in the afternoon.

I had a paddle in Carol’s canoe when we got back. I used to do a lot, slalom and racing, but I’ve not been in one for over 30 years. I was pleased I could still get in and out without falling in the canal!

Me paddling
Yesterday we spent fettling paintwork on Corbiere. It’s getting close to putting some topcoat on now.
Just before lunchtime we were hailed from a passing boat “That’s my old boat!”. Barry Meeks and his partner Carol were on an extended cruise from their base on the Lancaster Canal, heading down to the Thames. They pulled in and spent some time with Carol, talking about Corbiere and her history.

Barry, Carol and Carol on the back deck of Corbiere.
Leaving on the beautiful NB Partnership.

Today we decided to have a cruise down the canal to Stockton Heath. At Thorn Marine we filled both boats with diesel, and bought some odds and ends, including cabling to connect up Carol’s new 1200 Watt inverter. I was told that the advisory from HM Customs and Excise is that they will need to add 47p/Lt duty onto the price of diesel for propulsion in November, making today's fill a whopping £102! Ouch!

Instead of just turning around and heading back up, we decided to carry on and moored about a mile past Moore, near Red Brow, with beautiful views all round.
It really is a very attractive stretch of canal, especially with the sun shining.

Wooded cutting near Higher Walton
There are lots of ducklings around, from a couple of weeks to just a couple of days old. They must be well fed around here. We also spotted a new swan family, the first we’ve seen since the middle of April near Goole. That seems a long time ago….
We’ve done really well with the weather, apart from showers on Sunday afternoon it’s been bright sunshine most of the time.

Locks 0, miles 18

The last 9 locks, then out into fields again.

I said at the end of yesterday’s post that today would be a doddle. Well, compared to yesterday, it was.

I took Meg for a walk along the rejuvenated section of the Ashton leading to Portland basin, and was well impressed. The “canal corridor” is attractive and well maintained.

Ashton Canal, up from Piccadilly

I had a chat with some people on 4 boats that were going up the Rochdale this morning, and they were queueing at Lock 83 at 08:20, keen to get going. The first pair went up, the second pair were waiting for the go-ahead, when the message came down that the vandals had attacked in the night, and 2 pounds were empty. There was not enough water to fill them from the upper pounds today, so the first boats were reversing back and all would have to wait another day. Ah, another day on the Rochdale.

Abortive queue at Lock 83
Anyway, we were going in the opposite direction, and got off at 09:15. Just around the corner was our first, Lock 84, followed immediately by 85 in the gloom under Rodwell Tower.

Into Lock 84.

Subterranean Lock 85
On down through the locks, surrounded by office blocks and apartments, till we could see a bit more sky as we cruised along below Canal Street, famous as Manchester’s Gay Village. It was here that a tragic drowning occurred recently. A man, sitting on the high wall over the canal, fell backwards into the water. A rescuer jumped in to help him and got stuck in the mud in the canal bed, and was lost. The rescuee managed to save himself.

Canal Street
Canal Corridor at Lock 88

We continued in the same uneventful way to the last lock, known as Dukes 92, and overlooked by the pub/restaurant of the same name. Here the lock cottage was originally occupied by a Bridgewater Canal keeper, the Bridgewater Canal Company insisting on maintaining control over boats coming into Castlefield. The cottage is now private, and supports a beautiful wisteria on its end wall.

Lock 92 Keepers cottage


Been there, done that...


We moored at Castlefield for a breather and to get some lunch.

Castlefield Basin. The Rochdale Canal starts under the stone arch in the background.
We each made a visit to the sanitary station under the railway bridge, then set off for the last leg into open country, 7 miles away.

Corbiere taking on water. Behind the bridge a new office and apartment complex is taking shape, along the old Potato Wharf.
With a stop at Sale Bridge to visit the Co-op, it took us another 3 hours to get to Dunham Massey, where we plan to stop for the weekend.

We spotted this young family enjoying the sunshine on their own raft.

We’ve had 2 glorious sunny days, and it looks like there’s maybe a few more on the way.
No more locks now, apart from the stop lock the other side of Preston Brook Tunnel, till Middlewich. WOW!!!!

Locks 9, miles 9½

Water, water, everywhere??? Anywhere???

We always knew that today was going to be interesting. We certainly weren’t disappointed! We had 2 and a bit miles, including a lift bridge and a lock, to travel before meeting the BW team who were unlocking the flight ahead of us, so we were away at 07:00 to get there for 08:30. The locks have to be chained up overnight to protect the precious water in the flight. If they were left unsecured the local “little darlings” would be draining pounds higher up and flooding sections lower down. More of that later.

The lock presented no difficulties, but it was the bridge I was dreading. The road that crosses it is a bus and commuter route and we would be arriving there at 07:30, right in the middle of the rush hour.

I trotted the 2 minutes between the lock and the bridge, so I could be all ready as they approached. When they were close, I checked for a gap in the traffic and pressed the button to close the barriers and lift the bridge. Then followed a very l o n g 4 m i n u t e s while the bridge inched it’s way up on its hydraulic rams. Why they can’t make these things faster I don’t know. The girls were ready, and as soon as there was sufficient headroom first Mags then Carol steamed through like the start of a power boat race. I dropped the bridge, still achingly slowly, till it latched in place and the barriers went up. I breathed a huge sigh of relief; no aggravation from work-bound motorists or behind schedule bus drivers! I counted more than 50 vehicles and a handful of pedestrians all waiting for me to press that little button. Oh, the power!!
The relief was so great in fact that I left my lock windlass on top of the console. I didn’t realise till we were into the flight heading towards Newton Heath.

Anyway, we met the BW guys on schedule, swapped phone numbers and set off down Lock 65 into Failsworth

Mills in Failsworth
All went reasonably well until we arrived at Lock 70 in Newton Heath. Since the lads had been down unchaining the locks that morning, some bright spark had opened the paddles at both ends of Lock 71, draining the pound in between.

Empty Pound
After a call for BW assistance, it was nearly 1½ hours before we had sufficient water to float down to the next lock. The upside was Carol spotted a windlass on the bottom cill, which would normally be covered by water. An improvised rod and we were in possession of a replacement for the one at Chadderton.

We continued on, and met 2 boats coming up at Lock 75. After they filled the lock and set off, we went down – and down. In fact so far down that the boats were sat on the rubbish in the bottom of the chamber when the levels equalised. Another ¾ hour spent flushing water down from the pound above and we scraped over the cill and into relatively deep water.

Stuck in Lock 75
At Royal Basin in Miles Platting we found all the water that had been let down earlier. The paths both sides of the channel were inundated.

So that’s where all the water is!
Out of Miles Platting (a bit like Beirut) and into the home straight.

Carol at Lock 82. Just one more to go…
And here it is
We moored just below the lock, at Piccadilly basin, at around 15:00. The stories we’d heard about the rubbish in this stretch were accurate. We each had to stop twice to clear props. On one occasion, Corbiere’s prop was so tightly bound that the engine stalled when it was put into gear! We had a bit of friendly banter from a group of chaps enjoying the morning in a canalside pub, and there were several people who commented that it was good to see boats on the canal again.
If more boats used it, I think it would get better. Yes, the locks are heavy, and there’s a lot of them. And yes, there have been reports of problems with the local youths. But there are the same problems elsewhere, too. You just have to take precautions. The moorings at the Irk Aqueduct and at the other end, at Ducie Street Junction (Piccadilly) in Manchester, were no trouble.
It’s a long day, and would have been easier with bigger crews, but very satisfying to reach the junction with the Ashton. Of course. This isn’t the end of the road. Tomorrow we’ve the last 9 locks (The Rochdale 9) to Castlefield. A doddle.

Locks 19, miles 6¾

Leaky pound and an early finish

I had a walk down the Slattocks flight of 5 locks with Meg, and noticed that the first pound was a little short of water. About 3 feet short, in fact!
So the first job of the day was to run some water through the lock from the mile long pound above.

Filling the pound.
That done, we were able to carry on down the flight. It’s a pretty setting, running down through trees, but the buzz of traffic to the left reminds you that civilisation is not far away.

Slattocks Locks
We had another 5 locks to descend, spaced out over the next mile, then arrived at our overnight destination where the canal is carried on an aqueduct over the River Irk.

Irk Aqueduct Mooring.
It’s not a place we would normally choose to stay (again!) but it’s the closest to Manchester BW advise boaters to stay over. The towpath is very busy with walkers and cyclists, no doubt more so because of the fine sunny weather.

Carol took the dogs for a ball playing session in a nearby field while Mags gave me a haircut. The idea is that a close crop makes me look tougher should we encounter any hoolies tomorrow……

Playing Ball
We’ll be off at 7 in the morning, 1 lock, 1 lift bridge and a couple of miles to go to meet our BW escort at Lock 65, to take us down into Manchester, through bandit country. Looking forward to it.


Locks 10, miles 1¾.

Over the top! Downhill all the way now.

What a day!
But first, I forgot to mention that we crossed the county boundary yesterday at the last lock. We’re now officially in Lancashire.

County Boundary
Anyway, back to today. We were still floating, just, when we were ready to go at 08:30. Ray, the BW lock-keeper decided to send Thetis, travelling alone, through first, and then bring a Shire Cruisers hire boat back across the summit before we set off. So it was 09:45 by the time we got into the East summit lock.

On the Summit Pound
A 15 minute cruise at 600 feet, then we arrived at the West summit lock and the start of the long descent into Manchester.

Leaving the Pennines on the horizon behind us, we dropped down the locks reasonably fast, with the help of Ray until Lock 45.

Leaving the Pennines
Overflowing top gates at Lock 44. We could have done with this spare water yesterday!
At this point we met another Shire Cruisers boat coming up, so he worked them back up to the summit. We’d heard about this boat, the crew had been hassled by a gang of youths yesterday late afternoon, hurling stones and abuse at them over a 2 mile stretch at Rochdale. Finally they called the police, and BW gave them an escort to Littleborough.
This episode concerned us, as the later start and slow turn round on the water point just above Littleborough meant that we would arrive in Rochdale about 16:00, just as the schools closed. So we tried unsuccessfully to moor at Littleborough, then “bit the bullet” and chose to carry on, down through Rochdale and on to Slattocks. This was the second mooring advised by BW Ray, the first being Littleborough.
As expected, we arrived at the Rochdale Locks at just after 4, and, also as expected, there was a group of youths hanging around the top lock. I jumped off, leaving Mags on the boat in the channel rather than mooring up. As it turned out, I had less to worry about than I feared. After fending off the requests for a ride and a guided tour through the boat (as if!), they pretty much ignored us, which was just as well because it took nearly ½ an hour to fill the lock! They did give me a hand with the gates, though. Even though they were in no way threatening, it was still a tense time, and we were glad that the lock emptied quickly and that we were not followed down to the next lock.

The rest of the trip was a bit of an anticlimax, just picking up rubbish on the prop and getting rid of most of it with a quick squirt in reverse. We did a bit of unusual rubbish spotting, though. The final tally was:-

1 x padded armchair
1 x 2 seater settee (different style to the above)
1 x brown wheelie bin.
1 x shopping trolley – only 1!
1 x wheel barrow (without wheel).
2 x TVs
These are the highlights, there were also several car tyres or complete wheel and tyre assemblies, a quilt, an unidentifiable sheet steel fabrication (could have been a filing cabinet) and a few submerged hazards that we scraped over, usually near bridges.

Settee and something battered, near Rochdale.
The final mile or so took us through the 3 locks at Castleton, where resides the infamous Farmer Jones, recently released from serving time at Her Majesty’s pleasure for several instances of damage to the canal or structures. He has an ongoing legal battle with BW and the local council over access to his land since the canal was restored. A culvert under the M62, previously used by the aforementioned Mr Jones, was reassigned to take the canal, on a short diversion, under the motorway. He now has to take a longer route to gain access to part of his property, a route he believes is not suitable for his heavy vehicles.

The M62 culvert.
The old line of the canal
A short while later we arrived at Slattocks Top Lock, where we stopped the night. Not an ideal mooring, being alongside the main road, but at least we can get into the bank! It was 19:00 when we tied up, an exceptionally long day by our standards. But we’ll have a shorter one tomorrow; 10 locks over a couple of miles.

I cleared the prop when we stopped, not a bad haul by anyone’s standards. The star was a pike lure, seen at the front. It gave me a nasty surprise when it stuck in my finger 18 inches under water!
Locks 18, miles 9½

Getting oiled and being a stick-in-the-mud...

Well, it’s been a mixed weekend for weather. Saturday was beautiful, so I spent the afternoon in the engine room, changing the oil and filters on the engine and gearbox. Yesterday was rainy all day, so Meg and I went for a long walk around the local hills!

Nice shiny engine.
I didn’t get any photos of yesterday’s walk, so I repeated it this morning, with it being fine and dry, although hazy.

Around the hills to the East of the canal.
After lunch we moved on up the last 5 locks to just below the East Summit Lock, Longlees.
As we approached the top of the flight, the pounds in between the locks got shallower and shallower, culminating in the final pound being little more than muddy ditch. By the time we’d come up through the lock, dumping another lock full of water downhill, a boat that had gone up earlier today was well stranded on the mud. Two others on the offside, permanent moorers, were also dry-bottomed.

Thetis, on the mud.

Not exactly parallel parking!
We couldn’t get in to the bank, but Carol found a deeper spot near the lock, so we finished slantwise across the canal. The chap on Thetis called BW, and a chap came and dropped some water down from the summit for us, so we’re all floating again.
I’m not sure what state we’ll be in in the morning though. There’s a leak into a culvert near the lock, so the pound will be down again by then.

Mags got this superb shot of Carol’s dog, Seally, pretending to be a figurehead on Corbiere’s cratch.
We’re scheduled to go up through the last lock tomorrow at 08:30, (assuming we’re afloat…), and from then on it’s downhill all the way to Manchester. Since we left the Trent at Keadby Lock, we’ve climbed up in every lock, apart from Sykehouse on the New Junction. When we clear Longlees tomorrow morning, we’ll be 600’ above sea level.


Locks 5, miles 1