Catching Up - Part One

Well my last entry was on 1st July, and left you in Burnley and Blackburn on the Leeds & Liverpool Canal.  Yes we have travelled quite a bit since then, but rather than write one very long entry, I'll try to catch up in more manageable chunks.

Blackburn
The canal through Blackburn, like many cities, is not very attractive.  The remains of an industrial past still border the canal.

However, Blackburn also hosts a flight of 6 broad locks which we descended with another boat.  Whilst there is nothing particularly unusual about these locks per se, we have never before done locks that are in flood.

Under the bridge to the left is the previous lock, which when emptied caused this flood.

 A bit of guess work was involved as it was impossible to see the canal edge.

We found out afterwards that these locks are well known for flooding, that the side weirs that are supposed to take the excess water frequently get blocked and that in theory there should be a a BW lock keeper on duty to monitor this problem as the flooding tends to go down over a main road.  What made us laugh most was upon reading Nicholson's Waterways Guide - was the statement "the lock keeper maintains a tidy flight" - a well washed flight maybe??

After that we carried on through gradually improving scenery and weather, and had a very pleasant carvery at the Boatyard Inn at Riley Green.  After a night there we cruised through Chorley (and another 7 locks) and then spent a pleasant few days at White Bear Marina.

Wigan Flight
 The best laid plans as they say . . . we had planned for Smurf (a good friend) to join us to do the Wigan Flight on Friday 6th July.  The weather had other ideas.  24 hours of rain put an end to that plan and Smurf had to return home without doing a lock.

Saturday however brought sunshine, (the weather forecast being right for once), and an early start for us.  Left White Bear Marina at 7am, and reached the top of the Wigan Flight at 9am, and found at least 4 boats in front of us.

The Wigan Flight consists of 21 broad and heavy locks, and on a good day takes 5 hours to go down.  Ominously the paddle gear on one of the top gates for the first lock was out of action, and had been so since 1st March 2010.

 We were fortunate enough to be able to share the experience of the flight with another boat, which makes the whole trip far easier.

The entire flight lowers the canal 214' 7" and covers about 3 miles.

Like a lot of the Leeds & Liverpool canal, the Wigan flight has its share of unusual lock gear.

 The one above had a chain with a weight hanging down from the gate - it made opening the gate very easy but was a b****r to close!

And this one had its own gears to be wound to open the gate - and was in need of some lubrication!

It wasn't an unpleasant flight of locks, but it was hard work.  At the bottom of the flight, we left the  main Leeds & Liverpool for the Leigh Branch and headed towards Manchester.