Wigan

Today's weather was a complete contrast with yesterday: instead of the continuous rain we had a bright sunny day, cool at first but gradually became much warmer. All this was just as well as we had quite a marathon, ending up mooring much later than normal, totally flaked out, but rather pleased, in a way.

As we knew that we had quite a target to complete, we set off early, just after 8 o'clock. The first two and a half hours cruising were simple and straightforward. However we did stop at the BWML White Bear Marina to fill up with diesel. It was a card machine and only offered a single duty rate. Although it advertises a chandlery that has now gone but we did also manage to use the water point and sani station whilst Christine walked to a very close Co-Op store for a paper.

Red berries beside the canal

 

Wigan Top Lock

We reached Wigan top lock just after 11 am. This is a famous flight of 21 wide locks and have been notoriously not in good condition for a good long time. When we came this was five years ago there was a lock keeper to help boats through but that service is not longer provided.

Each of the locks has its sequence number carved with Roman numerals in a stone at the tail of the lock.

Only occasionally were there views which showed just how much of a drop the flight has.

 

A number of the locks had gate opening mechanisms - not always especially easy to operate.

We soon established a suitable routine which involved Christine walking the flight three times (well in pieces between each lock, anyway) and Mike worked the boat through the lock, keeping it in position from the lock side by rope. As we only just fit into these locks we wanted to be super careful to avoid a 'cilling' - catching the stern of the boat on the cill of the top gates, all too easy in these locks. Some of the locks offer a further opportunity for disaster as they have not been fitted with protective bars to prevent the boat from being caught over the top of the bottom gates.

It was slower and harder than we have experienced for some time and it was a very late lunch break at the only stopping point in the flight, between locks 13 and 14 from the top. It was after 2:30 before we arrived there - we also heard reports of a wide beam boat stuck a little further down the flight.

After lunch we continued down the rest of the flight but after the first lock we discovered the problem: one of the locks had bottom gates that were leaking almost as quickly as water could be put in. as a result the pound above dropped dramatically and the wide beam boat could not exit the lock, being caught on the top gate cill.

We helped by running water down from further up the flight - there was plenty after the rains so that was not an issue. The following boat had also called CRT and someone was expected as soon as possible. In fact he arrived as we were beginning to fill the pound and he agreed that there was not much else to be done. It took some considerable time before the wide beam could float through the lock gates - we were able to enter without a problem, but we are comparatively shallow draft (the following boat up also took some time to come through)

Wigan Bottom Lock

By now two boats working together arrived at the lock above the problem and were clearly rather concerned. We discovered later that they were heading down the Liverpool branch and that there is a stoppage on the first lock at 9 tomorrow morning. (There is also an emergency stoppage on the Wigan flight starting tomorrow to repair one of the locks which has three failed paddles - perhaps they will also tackle the lock which was giving problems today)

Wigan Junction

Eventually the bottom lock came into sight and it was with some relief that we had completed the flight. By now it was nearly half past six and we still had to find a mooring. This meant another two locks on the Leigh Branch. These are 70ft locks so we did not have quite the same concerns about positioning the boat. These two locks were re-located as the canal was gradually built up to accommodate mining subsidence. They were constructed in concrete rather than the traditional stone.

Poolstock Lock

Dragon boat on Scotman's Flash

It took a little longer than usual to moor as the first place we tried turned out to be too shallow and we had to move on another 100m or so. We were beside Scotman's Flash (a product of mining subsidence), now a large expanse of water used for water sports - a dragon boat and crew were out practising.

Scotman's Flash

The only question now is do we have enough energy to cook and complete the other usual end-of-day routines! If you can read this blog tonight then you know that at least we managed something!

10.0 miles - 23 locks