A very pleasant, largely sunny, day - which brought out all the weekend boaters. We perhaps saw as many moving boats today is in a week elsewhere this last couple of months! Our aim was to reach Upper Walton, the other side of Stockton Heath as we had made contact with the church there regarding the time of services tomorrow.
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| Merchants' Warehouse |
To start we had to turn the boat around at the end of Castlefield basin and then, at the junction, stop at the sani station as we did not expect to find any for the rest of the day. We did, however, fail to find the indicated rubbish bins.
Eventually we were on our way with a long, level pound ahead of us. It is quite remarkable to consider that we have not had a lock since just below Wigan and we will not encounter another one until the stop lock at the start of the Trent and Mersey.
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| Former Hulme Lock |
We passed the site of the former Hulme Lock - we do not as yet know anything about this route down, presumably, to the ship canal so we will have to do some research.
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| Manchester Ship Canal - Salford Quays |
Now we knew where Salford Quays is in relation to the Bridgewater we could spot the ship canal and the buildings we saw yesterday, mostly in the distance and only recognisable when known!
Just before Waters Meeting junction, Christine managed to take a photo of the Kellogs logo on the side of their huge warehouse (opposite their factory which we saw a couple of days ago)
From here to the other side of Sale the canal lacks much interest, is often very straight and there are huge numbers of inline moored boats. Late morning we stopped at Sale Bridge where Christine went for what she expected to be a short shopping trip. Although the area was pleasantly laid out with a number of smaller shops, none of the specialist food shops remain and so it was a walk up to Sainsbury. hence, no roast dinner tomorrow! (sob, sob). Meanwhile Mike stayed with the boat to enjoy a read in the sunshine.
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| Robert Bolt Theatre, Sale |
By the time Christine returned an hour later we opted to stay put and have our lunch using the fresh loaf which she had brought back. As we were munching away, a voice called out to us from a boat that approached from behind - it was John and Fiona from Epiphany (http://nbepiphany.co.uk). They did not stop - boats were moored in front of us, but we did catch up with them later when they had moored for the day. It was good to be able to catch up with a little more info than from their blog!
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| Linotype Factory |
The now-disused Linotype factory brought back memories for Mike of the time at school when he learnt to set type and letterpress printing. The Linotype system was quite remarkable in its day. Instead of composing with separate pieces for each letter, lines of text were formed by the operator using a keyboard and from the dies a slug of lead was cast - hence the term 'hot metal' printing which was used about the newsprint industry until digital techniques took over.
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| Seamons Moss Bridge |
Between Sale and Lymm the canal is much less straight and for a while is rural in character.
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| Bollington Mill, Dunham Massey |
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| Ditchfield Bridge 21 |
After passing through Lymm and then Stockton Heath we reached the wooded cutting where we wanted to find a night's mooring. We pulled in by Walton Bridge and, as Mike started to complete the evening meal (the gurnits we had bought in Leigh for last night but which had to be deferred as a result of our good lunch!), Christine found where the church is - all of two minutes walk away!
23 miles - 0 locks
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