I've lurked on here for a while and posted from time to time, and now I'm going
to have a go at emulating Brian, a hard act to follow I know, and I'm
not comitting to a daily post but will post some trip reports.
So here goes....comments welcome
Cruising to be Champions?
As some of you may know we are Southport F.C. supporters and at present the
team is second in the Blue Square North, 2 points behind Fleetwood with a game
in hand.
There are 6 games left to play and the last on is on Saturday 24th April at
Eastwood which is near the top of the Erewash Canal.
We a have been to some away games before on “Patty Ann” and so we have now set
off from our mooring in Burscough giving us about a month to do the 165 miles
and 100 locks to be there for the game, and hopefully we will be crowned
champions and not need to be concerned with the play-offs this season. We shall
see.
In the mean time I’ll be doing some trip reports as we go along….
So now on the 30th March we are moored in Castlefield in Manchester.
We came up through Wigan yesterday now the water levels have been restored
following the problems over the last few weeks, though there was still a couple
of pounds a bit low.
We stopped at Dover Lock last night. The pub has a new landlord, Bob having
left about 6 months ago. The place has been redecorated and was a lot warmer
than last time we where in there. We where told that they have plans for a
function room and a boaters weekend in the summer, It was nice to find a pub
that is being positive in these times. The Allgates bitter, a local brew was
refreshing as well.
Today we boated in to Castlefield in Manchester and are moored in the Grocers
Arm. The weather wasn’t as wet as yesterday, the sun coming through a couple of
times. We passed through Plank Lane and asked the bridge keeper if there was
any truth in the rumours that they are only going to have the bridge manned at
weekends? No but they are considering restricting the opening hours to 16.30 in
the week in summer. Which I don’t see a problem with. There can’t be many
people who need to pass through after that time is there?
The landscape around the bridge has changed dramatically since we last passed
through with the demolition of the old hotel and the mine wages offices. This
is due to the redevelopment of the former Bickershaw colliery site along with
the digging of the new marina,
There where quite a few boats moving along the Bridgewater, we had to wait for
a boat to cross “The Trough” before we did, thought there was no sign of
movement on the Manchester Ship Canal below us.
There are quite a few boats moored up the grocers arm in Manchester, including
a couple of hire boats, one, “Mow Cop” having worked down the Rochdale 9 this
afternoon, and there is plenty of water coming over the gates on the 9.
Went for a pint in what until to day was one of our best pubs on the system,
The White Lion near the science and industry museum. £3.75 a pint!!!! Where do
they think they are, the middle of London. Won’t be going back there….
Colin
Nb Patty Ann
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
