Summit

A day with many incidents - several of which were definitely unplanned! The start was fine - it was a brilliant sunny morning and remained so all day. We had some 25 locks to go: we are booked for the summit pound first thing tomorrow morning and so need to be at the designated overnight stop in readiness.

Off at 8:30 and we climbed steadily. Although industry was never far away, many stretches provided a pleasant green stripe. There is very little housing close to the canal, perhaps this is a result of the canal only being re-opened a few years ago and it takes time for developers to re-claim old industrial sites.

We passed under the M62 where the canal had to be diverted through a farmer's culvert - much to his subsequent annoyance. The culvert now has a floating towpath which can be removed if it is necessary to allow wide beam boats to pass.

A little later the A627(M) was another major obstacles for the restoration engineers. As the canal passes under a roundabout at the end of the motorway it creates quite long tunnel.

Rochdale followed and we were able to see the initial short stretch of the arm into the centre of the town, the only part that now remains.

We were unable to find a mooring place for lunch - either the water at the bankside was too shallow or the towpath looked impenetrable by a mooring spike. As a result we ate 'on the run'.

The first of two swing bridges came and passed without incident but when we arrived at the the second we were met by the crew from a hire boat who told us that they bridge could not be opened. However, after inspecting that nothing seemed to be broken but the bridge still refused to move even with four people pushing, we added a little help from a 'Take Five Snatch' and it was on the move. The other crew opted to stay put - they had already made a call to BW and we made them promise not to tell them how we managed it!

After passing Littleborough we arrived at the only Sani Station on this side of the summit. Whilst we waited for the water tank to fill, Mike and Andrew investigated the dampness in the rear cupboard which has been a problem for some considerable time. After removing the cover to a small inspection hole which we had had made some 18 months ago we immediately found a 'lake' of water right up to the level of the cupboard floor. The hand pump which we bought last year for emergencies in the engine compartment was brought into service and much pumping reduced the water level considerably. Time was passing so we left the task to complete later.

At the next lock the first tragedy occurred - Mike heard what he thought was a splash and then discovered that his pocket which should have contained a camera was empty! Hence there is a lack of photos for the main part of today's trip, some hundred pictures not only of locks and bridges (Mike's current collecting obsession) but also quite a few of the attractive scenery which we had been passing are now at the bottom of the lock. For some time we could see in creasing amounts of the hills we were about to cross.

At the next lock, tragedy number two when a glass biscuit container was jolted onto the floor and smashed into little pieces.

The final eleven locks are grouped closely together are various mills line the banks, a few now closed but several still hard at work.

The canal remained shallow and in places there were traps for the unwary - long poles are not just for decoration!

Eventually, the overnight mooring came into sight and we thought we were able to relax. Indeed a mug of tea and tea cakes were a welcome break! Christine had already ordered pears with ginger sauce for pud tonight - she was cooking the main course, using up some of the veg that was about to pass its best. (The pears need eating soon as well) Mike spotted that the lock house had a small shop and stocked ice cream. He returned with their bargain buy (in fact their only buy other than Cornettos) or only £1.50!

The bilge water problem still remained to be completed so we started pumping again only to realise that we were only clearing it down to the top of the concrete ballast blocks and that there was another 8 cms still to go. After cutting another hole to allow pumping from the deepest (or what we hope is the deepest) point we continued until we were satisfied that the equipment available today could do no more. Certainly the humans (definitely one of them) could do no more so we packed up and turned to the blog instead - and finishing off the meal preparation!

9.9 Miles - 25 Locks