Wicked Wigan!

Surprisingly I didn’t have aching arms today; I must be fitter than I think after so much time on ‘the cut’. It’s better than a boring (in my opinion!) gym - so much more fun!

Lisa and Barry have had a fascinating day talking about photography – I overheard conversations on composition, lighting, polarisers, graduating filters, portraits, and lots of other stuff. They both seem to be loving it. We were very lucky today to have warmth and sunshine in abundance.

We walked along the towpath to ‘Wigan Pier’ (http://www.wlct.org/Tourism/Wiganpier/wiganpier.htm), made famous by George Orwell in his book 'The Road to Wigan Pier' and George Fornby in jokes in the music halls many years ago. It isn’t a pier at all though; it’s just a couple of pieces of metal that curl up and stop above the canal and was used to tip coal into barges, it's officially a 'coal staithe'. The one standing today was actually made by pupils of Wigan and Leigh College in 1986, as the original was incredibly sold as scrap in 1929 for ₤34! Women worked as ‘Tipplers’, which entailed shaking the last pieces of coal out of the laden trucks. They toiled from 6am to 6pm five days a week, until 2pm on Saturdays, and were seen as ‘immoral’ due to the fact that they wore trousers! Shame on them! Lol.

Permanent moorings on our walk along the canal towards Wigan Pier

The Bottom Lock at Wigan by our mooring

A DIY dry dock, next to the lock, with someone blacking their boat's bottom

Part of a derelict building

Wigan Pier warehouses, now restaurants, etc

Reflection of the old buildings

This is the famous 'Wigan Pier' - not what you'd expect at all ...

... or get too excited about!

A very pleasant canal side area

Wigan town centre is a thriving place and we found a brilliant venue for a coffee spot – ‘The Coven’, a Pagan centre, very unusual and fascinating! Another serendipity experience here. Barry got chatting to the man in charge, and of course managed to weave the blog into the conversation and gave him one of our 'business' cards that we’ve had printed. He looked up the site almost immediately as he had his laptop on one of the tables, and said that he knew the bloke in the photo 'one man and his dog' from Thursday, as his boat had been modelled on the one that he and his wife lived on. We’d actually cruised past their boat at the top of the Wigan Flight!

Barry & Lisa took a few arty shots around the shop for practice

Sleeves of clothing hanging on the racks and blurred by moving the camera

Mirror ball spinning, along with shooting at a slow shutter speed, just good fun!

A trinket container full of all sorts of semi-precious stones and crystals (magic things according to Barry!)

Colin and Maria who run the business (found them on the web)

http://www.thecoven.biz/

p.s. Colin the 'biofuel' website is http://www.stillspirits.com/

Not sure if he's a customer or friend, seemed most at home and very convivial

Making the most of every situation!

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Around the corner, Barry and Lisa took a few pictures of All Saints Church (http://www.wiganparishchurch.org/), while I took the opportunity to go inside as it was free and spookily only open to the public on Saturdays!

The Parish Church Of All Saints Wigan, with the Cenotaph in the foreground

Another for the photo exercise

Row of beautiful old houses by the church ...

and the same row in colour and with the amazing turrets on the end

A sign for anyone whose ancestor was a gunsmith for the King of Prussia (i.e. Barry!!)

There were lots of people in the town, which was clean and well-kept with a multitude of shops to choose from, a bouncy castle, some Highland Pipers and a woman with the voice of an angel serenading us as we passed.

Wigan has been known as a bit of a party town, especially in the days of 'Northern Soul' I seem to recall from the 80's. There were some amazingly skimpy 'dresses' (the word 'dress may be a little ambitious!) in the shop below ...

How much is that doggie in the window .... grrr ... f--k off!!

Sandra & Lisa - lesson in taking 'people' shots and getting the right lighting

The bustling town on a Saturday lunchtime

Very attractive town centre

Amazing sculpture in the park - 'The Face of Wigan'

All stainless steel plates welded together, very effective

Another arty photo from the weekend's lessons!

How desirable can you make a derelict building?

Lisa and Sandra walking along the towpath, opposite the British Waterways building

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We had a spot of lunch back on the boat before moving down to the first of four locks that we shared with narrowboat ‘Amaryllis’ from Chester.

The first lock of the day

The side of Trencherfield Mill

'The Orwell' at Wigan Pier

Cruising past The Pier - shame about all the debris that's collected underneath, the graffiti on the wall behind and the barbed wire! Not such a cultural experience!

Looks like an old boat winch, opposite The Pier, for lifting heavy cargo

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On the outskirts of Wigan we noticed a number of people walking towards us from many directions on the towpath and over bridges, and realised that they were heading to a football match. At one stage it looked as though we were being pursued by a gang of chanting thugs! A number of police were in evidence, so it looked quite serious. As we drove past Wigan Stadium we could hear the chants from the crowd, and as the match began at 3pm an overwhelming roar filled the air which was surprisingly moving (certainly shocked me as I detest football!). We discovered that Wigan was playing Manchester United, so a big local derby. Burnley beat Man United on Wednesday, which would’ve been quite a coup for them. We must find out how Wigan fared tomorrow …

Sandra being pursued by potential blog followers maybe ...

More police than fans on this bridge!

Keeping a watchful eye out ...

Coming out of the lock with Amaryllis on the left

Another party boat - not sure how the skipper managed to see where he was going!
perhaps the guy on top was giving directions??

A lock underneath the M6 motorway - a stark contrast of travel stresses, depending on how much time one has to spare!

Must be part of the day trippers 'experience' to do the lock - it took them long enough!

We went as far as a small canalside hamlet called Appley Bridge, having meandered through some charming open countryside and villages along the way. As well as the locks there was a swing bridge to open, so Lisa had a good all round experience of the canal. She just needs to do a bit of driving tomorrow now!

Our mooring for the night, we're fourth along on the right

'The Water's Edge' pub on the left, buzzing with people or so it seemed ...

Says it all about the peacefulness of the canals - a narrowboat, fisherman, dinghy and ducks

Three ducks a swimming ...

In the evening we thought we’d try the pub across the cut called 'The Water’s Edge’ , as we were happy to see that there was some live music on. From the canal it seemed a lively place, but once we got there we found it a terribly unfriendly place – even Barry got irritated by the young barman who didn’t serve him for ages and then went to take the order of a woman who had just strolled in! The atmosphere was strange and by the time the live music appeared, it was a young woman dressed provocatively screeching Tina Turner and Blondie numbers with her sound system blasting our ears until they hurt! We didn’t stay long, but unfortunately she did and played (I use that term loosely!) until about 1130pm. Amazing as the pub was close to a built up area and all the boats, not sure how they get away with it!

Maybe we're turning into boring old farts, or more likely that we just value our eardrums highly?! Could be a good job we miss many of the events that are held in the pubs along the way if that’s the sort of thing we’d experience ...

Absolutely locked out!

Today’s weather was pretty dire in places with intermittent pouring rain, and, prior to setting off on the incredible lock challenge, we had a huge hailstorm which delayed our start until just before 12. As we'd been told it would only take about three and half hours to do the locks, with the assistance of the lock keeper (as suggested in the Nicholson's Guide!), we thought we'd have plenty of time to get to Wigan for Lisa's train at 1840hrs.

Hail stopped play!

So much for that predicttion! The lock keeper was a nice enough man when I walked down a few locks to meet him earlier in the morning, and he suggested he'd be out to assist us by setting some of the locks when he heard our engine running; but when it came down to it we'd done about five locks before we saw him again and then all he did was close one gate behind us and continued assisting another boat going up the flight, as that would’ve taken him back to his office so reasonable enough. Bless him, he can't help everyone.

The bollard at the top lock after years of rope burns

Into the top lock and the long descent commences ...

The lock keeper's hut; but where was the 'helpful' lock keeper when we needed him?

Past the 'Commercial Inn' pub

Bless this old chap walking in the rain - his Pit Bull Terrier was trying to stay under the trees

At least the rubbish was only 'by' the canal, not in it this time!

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As we'd passed a boat ascending the flight, we were hopeful that the remaining locks would be in our favour - no such luck! The lock gates were so leaky that by the time we got to the next one it had almost emptied itself and only two were nearly full out of the next 17! So we had to fill and then empty most of them all the way down ...

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Ah well, Barry and I found a sort of system which worked to a fashion, but each lock was slightly different so we had to be very flexible. I’d cycle down to the next lock while Barry was sorting out the one before. Then as he drove into the lock, I’d bike back up to the last one to close the gates and then cycle to the one after Barry to start that one. I don’t think I’ll be able to move my arms tomorrow, I feel completely locked out!

Looking down towards Wigan; not even half way there yet!

One after the other constantly

Father and son having a bonding day fishing

Heaving the gate closed,teeth gritted; some of them are really hard to shut

Get on yer bike ...

Lock after lock after lock, will they never end ...

British waterways rock & block storage area!

Since the locks were built a bridge has appeared so the gates are now closed with a crank handle and gear system - actually much easier and saves the pressure on your lower back

After a change of soaking wet jeans and a lunch stop, could we be nearing the end yet?

This striking tower dominates the canal at lock 79

Unusual end to this block of houses

Is there another shower coming up?

Will there be sunshine after the rain?

In between the downpours, there were some episodes of glorious sunshine, and we also had a mixture of both bringing with it two stunning rainbows; at one stage there was a triple one – awesome!

And then came the mixture which brings a magnificent rainbow

Huge storage tank at the bottom of the flight

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It actually took us, all in all, over six hours to complete the 22 locks that took us to our overnight mooring in Wigan. Barry got on the bike to collect Lisa from the railway station just a few minutes late.

Wigan at last! One lock to go ...

Trencherfield Mill - now being converted into offices and apartments like most mills in the north, but still has an engine shed and the largest working steam-powered engine in Europe which is fired up on Sundays, heralded by a loud blast of the stream whistle

Lisa’s on board now and having a weekend of photography as she picks Barry’s brain and learns some secret techniques to improve her picture taking. I’ll just be mum, lock woman and galley slave I think!

Barry and Lisa's first shot - they had to leave their tea to make the most of this opportunity as the sun set and it looked as though the building was alight

Just in time for a flock of geese flying south for the winter maybe