Our journey around the six locks at the bottom of Wigan was a whizz as Liz and Hector came along to give us a hand.
The super thing about the bonkers amount of rain we’ve had, meant the troublesome pound at Poolstock locks was the fullest we’ve ever seen, usually we have to phone CRT as it is completely void of water.
We moored alongside a work boat for tea & cake before waving goodbye to our crew.
John had a lovely chat as we moored on the outskirts of Wigan.
The Barton swing aqueduct on the Bridgewater Canal was due to close mid-March for routine maintenance, so we were keen to get across beforehand. There aren’t any locks on this canal, so I managed to get some spinning done as we cruised through.
Ada & Astrid came on the train & tram to meet us at the Trafford Centre.
It was so lovely to be able to sit outside to spin. However, we didn’t quite manage to moor up another day & got pounded with huge, very painful hail stones.
Yet another stretch of rather muddy towpath with the chemical works just beside us at Anderton.
We joined the Llangollen Canal at Hurlsford Junction. The steep bank behind the sign, is Hurlsford Reservoir, that is fed from the River Dee at Llangollen via the canal. This supplies drinking water to Chester & other towns. It’s an interesting journey cruising up stream against the flow, especially going through bridges, where it almost pushes us backwards.
As we moored at Grindley Brook an e-mail came through from CRT saying there was a breach ahead and the canal was closed indefinitely. So we started to rethink our trip. We had lots of birds on the feeder, as well as a vandal!!
We were in need of store cupboard supplies so headed to Whitchurch. There is a short branch off the canal at Whitchurch.
The branch used to go right into the town centre, but sadly a lot has been built over. The Whitchurch Canal Society have dreams of rewatering a further stretch at some point. View from both ways from the last bridge.
One evening on our way back from the pub, we encountered a towpath absolutely covered with frogs, who subsequently spent the night screeching and kept us awake!!
An area of Whitchurch close to the canal is called Chemistry!! We had to search for information about its name. It’s to do with chemicals used in tanning.
There have been some murky starts and some lovely sunsets, while awaiting news on whether the navigation would be able to be reopened.
How idyllic to have sheep and lambs in your front garden!
As we’ve been hanging around waiting for breach news, I’ve done lots of knitting.
