And so to Stalybridge

A chilly one last night, lulled to sleep by the River Tame tumbling over a weir below the canal. As expected we didn’t see another boat so weren’t in the way at all.

Moored below Scout Tunnel, taken from above the tunnel mouth

We’ve lost that pesky wind today, in the sun it was positively balmy! We didn’t see much for a while though, the valley is well wooded.

Heading towards our first today, Lock 11W

I stayed off for the first three locks, they were fairly close so there was no point in getting back on board.

Mason’s mark, Lock 10W

In common with the majority of the locks on this side of the big hill, all of today’s were empty and therefore against us. Each had to be filled before we could use them and some were quite slow. Lock 9W was harder to open at the top end than most, no purchase for the feet!

Muddy underfoot at 9W

The valley started to open up a bit so the sun could get through. Mags couldn’t see where she was going, she reckoned, so borrowed my baseball cap.

I’m a lumberjack and I’m all right….

We stopped at Grove Road to empty the loo and fill the water tank. I know we only did them on Wednesday, but now we’ve plenty of time to get to Bugsworth Basin and the next sanitary station. It saves having to use the facilities at Marple Top Lock then reversing back through the junction bridge.

Lock 8W and Grove Road facilities

Below this lock was a major obstacle to the re-opening of the canal. An electricity sub-station had been built across the line of the canal while it was abandoned, so it had to be bypassed.

Looking down from L8W.

The canal originally went to the right out of the lock, where the sub-station now stands. The new bit has to swing around to the left, and is steel sheet piling and concrete. Not pretty but effective.

On the “new bit”.
Unfortunately the only route available was under an existing pylon! It does allow for some unusual views of the structure…

Under the pylon
Looking back….

A few hundred yards of new cut took us back to the original line. From here it was about a mile to Stalybridge, light industry on the canal bank as usual being the first indication of population.

The Wooden Canal Boat Society has a yard here, and are currently restoring a 1914 boat, built in Cheshire and used in the salt trade.

Wooden NB Hazel
Launched as Mull, she was renamed when she changed hands, now carrying coal but still in Cheshire. In 1948 she was used as a camping boat, but was then fitted with an engine and a full-length cabin and used as a residential or cruising boat for the 30-odd years.
In need of extensive repair, she was donated to the society in 1988, and was preserved till funds allowed a start on restoration. The hull required almost complete replacement, and she will be returned to near original form, open hold and no engine. It will be interesting to watch her re-launch. She’ll have to be side-slipped, I just hope there’s enough water….

Lock 7W is on the edge of town, taking ages to fill with only one ground paddle operational, then we motored into town discarding the first two moorings and finishing up just past Tesco’s.

Mags’ sister Dot and her son Paul came over for supper, they live not far away, and we had a good evening till they left around nine o’clock.

Now then, Stalybridge on a fine weekend night? Not for the faint-hearted! Groups of youngsters roaming around with bottles of cheap cider, screaming, yelling and banging on the cabin as they passed. Fireworks going off and music blasting out from a car parked on Tesco’s car park till gone half-two.
I’d moved all the cabin top furniture to the outside of the roof to avoid temptation, and as it was nothing was touched although we did have a couple of uninvited boarders.
Not a good night, not a lot of sleep. It’d probably be fine to moor here in the week, and there may be quieter moorings further out from the centre, but if it’s a weekend probably best to keep clear. Unless it’s raining, of course. Inclement weather tends to keep them indoors….

Locks 5, miles 1¾  

Another good walk and Pork Pie to die for!

This morning was just too pleasant not to make good use of it, so Meg and I set off up to the monument we could see from the moorings. It was a fair pull, 830 feet in around a mile, and the wind certainly blew the cobwebs away but the views as the sun came up behind were stunning.

The object of the walk, the memorial to the casualties from Saddleworth in both World Wars.

Built in 1923 from stone quarried a little further along the ridgeline in the forlorn hope that the “war to end all wars” would be just that, it had to have another plaque added following WWII. The Tame Valley is below, with a scattering of settlements along the river. On the horizon to the right is Oldham.

The valley squeezes between Alphin Pike (left) and High Moor past Greenfield

Across the valley High Moor gets it’s first touch of sunshine

Looking north along the ridge the area of outcropping gritstone is known as the Pots and Pans.

Pots and Pans
The stone for the memorial was quarried here, and the high ground to the right is Dick Hill, on the edge of Saddleworth Moor, which rises to 1600 feet. Sadly, the moor will forever be associated with the Moors Murders the 1960s.

We came down a slightly different route, past a farmhouse with a steep access road paved with gritstone slabs.

Built to last

We needed some essentials like bread, milk and a paper (see, you’re not the only one, Bruce!), so I had a walk up the High Street after a shower and breakfast. There’s a good butcher up here, called Paul's I think, and the pork pies are first class. I had one (only a small one…) for a late lunch. I wish I’d bought two…. Got some other meaty stuff, some proper bacon and a handful of pork and apple sausages. Then it was back to the Co-op for the mundane stuff.

After all this fannying about it was gone eleven by the time we left Uppermill moorings. The first lock was a mere fifty yards away, so I untied Mags and walked down to set it.

First one today, Lock 21W, also known as Wade’s Lock
There’s an interesting aid to opening one of the bottom gates, there’s no room to swing a conventional balance beam so there’s a geared solution.

Lock 21W offside bottom

The valley slope eases as the River Tame heads towards Manchester, so the locks are further apart. There’s only one in the next mile, then two close together at Royal George.
There’s a fair bit of water in the canal after the rain, over the towpath in places.

Flooded towpath near Bridge 82

Someone’s got a macabre sense of humour…
But it is nearly Hallowe’en, after all.

Locks 18W and 17W maybe date from the early days of the restoration. The gates are rickety and leaky, with stiff paddles and their own eco-system.

Foliage at Lock 17W
Sorry about the wrist strap in the bottom right!

These locks have unique “pepper pot” style sluice vents at the top end.

Marked Huddersfield Canal Society 
The canal crosses the river between 18W and 17W, and this was the only pound that was shallow. Not short of water, mind, just shallow. Any throttle above tick-over raised gouts of mud from the bottom, and deviating from the centre of the channel meant running aground.

Shallow Pound and Tame Aqueduct

Roaches Lock is alongside the pub of the same name.

Roaches Lock, 15W
Below here were two anglers on the lock landing, but Mags picked me up just below the lock to avoid them. They still scowled a bit as we passed, ignoring my cheery “Good Morning”.
Maybe it was afternoon, or maybe because we’d stirred a load of dead leaves off the bottom as we emptied the lock…. This was unusual (the reaction, not the leaves). Most of the maggot-drowning fraternity we’ve encountered up here have been friendly.

Looking back from 13W, the steeple of St. John’s on the skyline against the grey sky. 
Unusual place to put a datestone, underwater when the lock is full!

Datestone in 12W

Just below L12W is Standedge’s baby brother, Scout Tunnel. A mere stripling at 205 yards long.

Scout Tunnel

With brick-lined ends and rough-cut rock in the middle it’s much like it’s larger relative in construction, but it has something the other lacks; a towpath.

Entering Scout Tunnel

In the middle
A lot of years ago I came through here on foot. It was during the restoration (no, not 1660-1685) and the tunnel had just been reopened.
I was with brother-in-law John, sadly no longer with us, and our dog Bruno. We’d walked up from Droylsden following the Hollinwood and Fairbottom Branch Canals, then eastward over Hartshead Pike and joined the canal at Mossley.
Bruno wasn’t the sharpest canine around and decided that the middle of a very dark tunnel would be a good place for a drink. Of course he fell in and the only way I could haul him out was by lying full-length on the towpath. You can imagine what we looked like back in daylight.
It was March and we had to walk back to Droylsden wet, muddy and to cap it all it started to snow as we headed down the Ashton Canal through Guide Bridge.
Not one of my finest Sunday morning excursions.

We decided to call it a day just after the tunnel, mooring on the offside on the bollards normally used for waiting boats when the tunnel is occupied. I don’t think we’re going to be in anyone’s way….

Moored outside Scout Tunnel

We timed it well, we’d had a few drops of rain as we came down, but by 5 o’clock it was chucking it down. Stalybridge tomorrow.

Locks 10, miles 3

Downhill from Diggle

We didn’t move yesterday, it was just too windy for comfort. Meg and I took a walk back up over the tunnels to the first airshaft in the afternoon.

Not very clear, but this is a huge mound of excavated material with the airshaft on top
It’s been levelled out on the top.

Looking south down the Tame Valley from the heap
Meg loved it up here, it’s rabbit heaven!

The footpath drops down past the white house below, which hasn’t always had mains water….

Handpump

Meg tried to make friends with a foreign gentleman on the way down…

“Wanna Play?”
But the alpaca was having none. They’re quite aloof, aren’t they.

The three railway tunnels are side-by-side as they enter the hill, the latest twin-track bore swinging over the canal tunnel a little way in.

Diggle Railway Tunnels
The earliest of the disused tunnels is behind the brick building, the other is barely visible on the far right. You can just see a bit of the yellow height warning sign. This is the one used for maintenance, and can be driven through.

For the canal tunnel alone, assuming a nominal cross-section of around 10 feet by 10 feet, there was a massive 64,000 cubic yards of material to be removed. Some was raised and deposited around the airshafts, but an awful lot was dumped outside the entrances.
You’ll have to click then zoom to read it.

Less windy this morning, so we decided to start on the downhill run towards Staleybridge. With no schedule now we can take our time a bit more on this side.

First lock of the day, 32W

These first 9 locks are unusual in that both top and bottom ends have single gates. Also the paddle gear for both ground paddles is on the same side. So the lock can be worked without crossing over. What a good idea.

Mini aqueduct carries a stream over the tail of Lock 31W

Until Dobcross there is a fair separation between the canal and the river, giving great views up and down the wide valley

Old mills on the edge of Diggle

Looking up the valley….
….and looking down
A last look at the hills before the valley becomes more confined
We came under that lot!

We stopped for water and loo emptying at Wool Road just below Lock 24W.

Wool Road Transhipment Warehouse
Until the tunnel was finished, goods were transferred here to packhorse and cart for the arduous trip over Standedge to Marsden and the canal down to Huddersfield. There were even a couple of boats on the moorings here today.

The Trans-Pennine railway is always a presence alongside, and it crosses over on the spectacular Saddleworth Viaduct between Lime Kiln and Dungebooth (fine name!) Locks.

Saddleworth Railway Viaduct

Uppermill was our destination for today, and we pulled in on the offside visitor moorings above the car park. This side it’s a bit noisier from the road, but the moorings on the towpath are busier with pedestrians. Handier for the shops this side too.

Uppermill Visitor Moorings

To the east above the town on Alderman’s Hill there’s a memorial to those from Saddleworth who died in the two World Wars. I think we’ll have a walk up there in the morning. It promises some good views.

Memorial Obelisk on Alderman’s Hill

Locks 11, miles 1½

Blogger Problem

Since the internet "black spot" at the northern portal of Standedge Tunnel prevented me posting to the blog, I'd three entries to upload last night now we've got a connection again. But I couldn't. I kept getting an "Error 403, Forbidden" Message popping up. Some research indicated that this may be due to my Google account being hacked and temporarily suspended, so  tried all the suggested fixes.

Then I realised that the other Google applications I use, mail for one, were unaffected, so it couldn't have been a blanket suspension, it only affected Blogger.

After trying several test posts I came to the conclusion that I could post text-only, but if there were pictures to upload I got that error message. I should point out that  use Windows Live Writer as an editor.

I managed to post the "Going a bit too far" entry by going through the long winded route of writing the post directly into Blogger, then editing and resizing the photos before uploading them. Then it was a matter of getting them in the right place on the posting... Painful!

A bit of thought took me to Picassa Web Albums, where all my blog pictures are stored. Lo and behold... I'd run out of storage space! Since starting the blog in 2006 I've uploaded 1Gb of pictures. Wow!
Purchasing more space has set me back less than £2 a month and I've now got room for the next 150 years!
And I've got my blog posts up to date.

Relief!

It's wild, wet and windy up here at Diggle so we're staying put for today.

Through the Pennines

For the last two days we’ve been in an internet black spot, so I’ve not been able to post. Sorry about that. I have, however, written the posts so they appear independently in order.

Today dawned gloomy, damp and dull. It had rained overnight and it was still wet this morning. We got a knock at 08:15, “Ready when you are”. Well we weren’t, quite. I was only halfway through my bitesize shredded wheat!
Anyway, 10 minutes later we pulled up to the tunnel mouth to fill with water while Terry and Brian, our chaperones for today, got out the measuring stick to make sure we’d fit through the narrow bits.

Do we measure up? Meg looks on with interest.
YES!
With the top-box, solid fuel, trolley and aerials removed the highest bit on the boat is the kingfisher tiller pin! Lots of clearance, no need to take down the cratch board, for which I was thankful.

Last look at daylight for a bit, Tunnel End Cottages….
….and looking back to the visitor centre

The first few hundred yards is brick-lined, built when the latest railway tunnel was cut in 1893. The earlier two, built in 1849 and 1870, run on the eastern side of the canal tunnel. The are now disused since closure under Beeching’s axe in the 60’s and the closest is used as maintenance access. The twin-track newest bore starts on the eastern side but crosses the canal tunnel at either end to run on the western side through the hill.
All three railway tunnels run slightly higher than the waterway route, and the entrances at Marston and Diggle were extended to carry the new line above.

Extended section at Marsden end. 
I tried, and failed, to get more pictures of the interior, especially the rock-cut sections. But too much concentration was required to avoid the sides (and the roof) in places. But there are some good pictures here.

Terry was our pilot, and very informative. Not only did he advise when to slow down, watch out for lumps and bumps on the walls and the ceiling and warn of bendy bits, he gave an interesting commentary on the construction and history of the tunnels.

Ninety-five minutes after entering the Marsden portal we emerged into daylight at the Diggle portal, 3¼ miles on. We’ve also switched counties; starting in Yorkshire and finishing in Lancashire.

Thirty-five years ago I walked across the top of the tunnel, on the Pennine Way. At that time of course it was closed to traffic, as was the canal.

Standedge Tunnel, Diggle end Quite unprepossessing, isn’t it. You never think that beyond that arch lies the longest, deepest and highest canal tunnel in England. It runs at 645 feet above sea level, through the 1300 foot high Standedge. So there’s another 650 feet of rock above you in the middle. Food for thought…

Our guide for today, Terry, with his survival kit
The box contains skid-lid, high-vis vest and lifejacket for the steerer, gas detectors and spare lighting. His mate, Brian, shadowed us through using the maintenance tunnel, popping up at the cross adits built to aid construction of the rail tunnels.

I mentioned on Saturday that we were in the unique position of being the highest narrowboat in England. We had to share that accolade today; waiting to head north was NB Moon Shadow.

In goes Moon Shadow

Brian closes the gates to prevent anyone sneaking in, before setting off on his way back.

We moved a little further along, mooring just above the first lock on the downhill stretch. We’ll be counting down, now, this one is 32W.

It’s been a fascinating trip through and, thanks to Terry’s timely warnings, we didn’t touch the sides! That’s right, no paint scrapes at all! A close call a couple of times, though. We did get a little heap of mortar on the cabin top alongside the hatch, but that was when I stood up too soon in one of the low bits and banged my helmet on the ceiling!

A little souvenir of Standedge Tunnel.

I’ve put the top box back up so the cabin looks a bit tidier now. The next job is to move the solid fuel out of the cratch back onto the roof. But it’s raining at the moment so that will keep.

Locks 0, miles 3½, long deep hole in the ground 1.