Fri
24th June Lymm to Dunham
As it was
forecast wet later, we set off early to avoid the rain, and quietly to avoid
waking sleeping boaters. Our first stop
was in less than a mile, by bridge 24, to empty cassettes. Thankfully the elsan
unit was unlocked, as it was still early.
Soon after
that we passed the old buildings at Agden Wharf, and we had a look out for the
oyster catcher family we had seen twenty days earlier on the roof of a
building. We saw one adult and one youngster, much bigger than before. The
second youngster was not in sight. We guessed it had been had by a predator as
there was nowhere to hide on the roof.
Canalside buildings at Agden Wharf
Oyster Catcher with young
We passed
our previous mooring at Bollington Underbridge, as we had plans to visit Dunham
Massey, but wanted to explore Dunham Town a little further on. We stopped
shortly before bridge 27.
Moored at Dunham
Rain
started soon after we stopped, as had been forecast.
Later three
large vessels went past, heading for Lymm. We had seen two of them on the
Weaver. They must have travelled down the Weaver onto the Manchester Ship Canal
at Weston Marsh Lock, then up the MSC to Pomona Lock to get onto the
Bridgewater. The third was a Leeds &
Liverpool short boat. They were all heading for the Festival of Transport at
Lymm.
Leeds and Liverpool short boat
The
weather brightened up later on and there was a bit of a sunset. James went for a short walk along the towpath
to see who was there. He heard two tawny owls and a little owl in the trees,
but didn’t see them.
Hopeful swan
Hugo drew
our attention with some miaowing on the back deck. He had brought us a small
vole as a present.
0 locks, 4
miles, 1 mouse
Sat 25th
June Dunham
We had
another wet morning and we had planned to stay another night. However, we found
out later that although on CRT waters, mooring on the towpath is allowed for 14
days, on the Bridgewater Canal it is only permitted for 24 hours. It would be
nice to know the purpose of this rule.
In the
afternoon, when the rain had stopped, we went for a walk round the grandly
named Dunham Town, which has a church, a pub, half a dozen houses and a couple
of farms. We noticed that every building except the pub had the woodwork
painted in the same brownish red colour, suggesting that they were all one
estate, presumably part of Dunham Massey. We found a farm shop, but they had no
courgettes, which we would have liked.
The only
pictures today were an experiment with taking photos through the binoculars.
The zoom on the camera I use (which is a Sony Xperia phone) is not much use,
going very fuzzy. The picture through
the binoculars is only slightly better, but the blur may be down to camera
shake, particularly as it was late evening and low light, so the exposure took
longer.
Through the binoculars
No boating
today
Sun 26th
June Dunham Massey to Sale
We started
early to make sure we could find somewhere to moor in Sale to visit a church we
had seen online. It was just over three
miles away, which took an hour. We had to avoid canoes, which were out and
about, timing themselves on the straight length of canal.
We moored
by Walton Park Leisure Centre, with one rope tied to railings, and the other to
a mooring pin. The canal is lined with large stones and it difficult to get
mooring spikes in, but we discovered that the secret is to locate the spike in
line with the crack between the stones, about two feet back from the edge.
We walked
to the Life Centre, where LifeChurch Manchester is located. This is in a large modern building,
apparently replacing the previous Victorian structure, which started out as
Sale Baptist Church. We had a good
welcome with several people coming to say hello. The worship team were good,
with concise harmonies. Some songs we did not know, which we discovered were
penned by the worship leader, Jamie Hill.
The preacher spoke about suffering, from 1 Peter 4.
Life Centre
After a
pleasant time over coffee and cake, we walked back to the boat and moved a mile
further on to Sale Bridge, where we tied up using exactly the same ring and
railings we had used last time. We picked up something on the propeller as we
used reverse gear, and had to pull the stern in using a rope. We had a late Sunday roast in the King’s
Ransom opposite the mooring. Not very good. I think they suffer from honeypot
location syndrome, with a steady source of new customers.
The pub and the mooring
We visited
Sainsbury’s and Aldi before returning to the boat. The next job was to free the
propeller. There was a sweater there, plus lots of assorted plastic bags.
We moved a
little further along the canal, to a place where there was a high wall to cut
out noises, and a narrow strip of bracken for Hugo. We had more heavy rain
later.
0 locks, 5
miles
Mon
27th June Sale to Leigh
Overnight mooring in Sale
Our
departure this morning was fairly leisurely, as we only planned a two hour
cruise to Worsley. We passed under the
M60 motorway, and a line of boats moored opposite Watch House Cruising Club.
M60
Stretford
Marine Services was the next stop, where we took on diesel and water, and emptied
cassettes and rubbish bins. This place is kept very clean and tidy.
Stretford Marine Services
At Waters
Meeting a right turn would have taken us into Manchester. We turned left to go
north and in about two miles we passed the Trafford Centre (without stopping
for shopping).
Waters Meeting
Soon after
this the Bridgewater Canal crosses the Manchester Ship Canal on the Barton
Swing Aqueduct, a most unusual feature of the waterways, opened in 1893. It
holds 800 tons of water when it is sealed at both ends before swivelling on an
island in the Ship Canal to allow large vessels to pass. Today it wasn’t being
swung, so we were able to cruise straight through. Downstream to the left is the road swing
bridge.
Stop plank crane and the aqueduct
Crossing over
The canal
passes through some industrial areas, with a road immediately alongside. By
Bridge 50 there appears to be a lighthouse, which apparently is a folly.
Opposite is a pub now called the Waterside Restaurant. It used to be the Barge
Inn, and in 1997 on the delivery voyage of Lystra, our first boat, we were
passing here going south. The landlord was leaning on the railings outside the
pub, and James said “Terrible news this morning isn’t it?” “Oh, what’s that then?” “Haven’t you heard? Princess
Diana has been killed in a road accident.” The look of shock on his face was
memorable.
Lighthouse
Waterside Restaurant
The colour
of the water was getting redder as we approached Worsley. We passed new
canalside housing and a boatyard and dry dock with historic boats before
reaching Worsley where we stopped for lunch.
New housing
We
had planned to stop here for the night, but with all the talk of boats not
being welcome, we decided to move on and leave the Bridgewater Canal. We set off once more, passing the entrance to
the mines, where the water was at its reddest.
We
had hoped to visit the coal mining museum at Astley but it is not open on
Mondays. There were a lot of water lilies on this section, with at least four
varieties.
Water lilies
We reached
the end of the Bridgewater at Leigh, where there are several large mills, and
the final Bridgewater Canal stop plank crane.
We moored for the night opposite a pub which looked good later, with
decorative lights
An old mill at Leigh
0 locks,
13 miles
Next: On
to Wigan and then Sunday in Burscough
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