Thursday 14 July 2016

Yesterday we chugged through some more lovely Cheshire Villages and small towns and various stretches of countryside and finally stopped in a place called Little Bollington.  There are no locks on this stretch of canal but it is amazing how tiring it is standing on the back of a boat out in the fresh air all day! 

It's so different when the sun shines, unfortunately the wind was still a bit chilly but at least we didn’t get wet.  We had a long cruising day today we are heading for a place called Melling which is just far enough outside Liverpool to be safe for mooring. 

We wouldn’t know this but we are going to meet up with Chris and Elaine on Saturday evening, the other couple that we cruised the River Thames with last July.  They have been in Liverpool for a week and are leaving on Saturday – we are booked in Sunday so an ideal opportunity to meet up and catch up on where their adventure has taken them this year.  They stopped at Melling on their way in.

We cruised through Sale and Stretford, suburbs of Manchester and over the Manchester Ship Canal.  At Waters Meeting we took the left fork, on the way back we will go through Manchester but today we are taking the Leigh Branch through Worsley and Salford which, from the canal, were very pretty. 

The Leigh Branch passes through countryside which was once spoiled by mining but has now been restored as parkland.  The canal is on an embankment high about the surrounding level which is due to the severe mining subsidence in the area.  We passed through two locks and turned left where we met another, through that one and we are suddenly in the centre of Wigan.  The book recommends that you moor on the secure moorings outside the CRT office if stopping overnight.  Luckily for us there was a space.

And to think I was worried about the road waking me up - I pulled the blind up this morning to see this burger van set up in the layby next to us - didn't hear a thing!

There are quite a few aqueducts on this part of the canal.

Past the Victorian Linotype Factory where metal printing type was manufactured.

Some interesting new development.

The Trafford Shopping Centre!

The Manchester Ship Canal - I'll zoom in so you can see how big the ships are.

Pretty big!

And looking the other way out towards the Mersey.

The boats along here all have covers over their windows - don't think we'll be stopping here.

Dissolved iron ore colours the canal bright ochre around here. 

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Look how lovely it is in Wolsley.

Is that a garden on the roof?

The mining subsidence has caused huge flashes in the surrounding parklands.

Arriving in Wigan - we are going to moor over there in front of the last boat on the left - you have to use your CRT key to get through the gates.