Having a swinging time in marvellous Manchester!

We’d heard rumours that Manchester is a busy place with only one ‘secure’ mooring site at Castlefield, so we weren’t sure how today would pan out. Of course we’d also heard terrible tales of hooligans and such like, from well-meaning fellow boaters, which Barry shrugged off in his ‘cup half full’ way. The amazing thing is that we really haven’t encountered any such problems on the canals, which reminds me of a favourite saying of mine: ‘If you think you can you can, and if you think you can’t you’re right’! I love his positive, 'can do', attitude to life.

 

 Leaving Worsley - Jim and Chris bid us farewell, or so they thought ...

 Swanky new 'Boatshed' developments on the outskirts of Worsley

 

 Under a railway bridge and just beyond ... a lighthouse! What's that all about?

 

... and an old ex Thames 'Director's Inspection Boat' on a trailer

We had a surprisingly exciting day, due to an unexpected bonus …

We cruised through a place called Barton, where there were many boats from the ‘Worsley Cruising Club’ moored.  I went to make a cup of coffee and missed my opportunity for fame and fortune as I spotted a Television crew on the canal-side filming, and they shot Barry and the boat as it passed them! He took a picture of them and said “Two can play at that game!”.

The poor bloke being interviewed was ignored as the camera panned away from him and onto Northern Pride 

As we continued it wasn't very reassuring that the majority of boats moored up had shields on their windows, the first time we’ve seen that since the journey into Coventry.

 

              Wasn't an encouraging look!               An old icebreaker boat circa 1905

Shortly afterwards we approached Barton Swing Bridge/Aquaduct, which crosses the Manchester Ship Canal, and were astonished to find it open. Apparently it's a rare event that Barry really wasn’t expecting to encounter, so he was thrilled! We moved the boat right up to the edge of the canal where there was a gate that closes prior to the swing bridge moving into the centre of the Ship Canal, and Barry jumped off to take photos. 

 

Sitting at about 40ft above a canal, on the canal, at a dead end

He needn’t have rushed, we ended up being marooned there for almost two hours as the other swing bridge, which is across a main road, wasn’t working and they had engineers tending to it. Other boats caught us up including Jim and Chris, so we got to pontificate with them once more about life on the canals.

 

We waited, and waited ...

As it took so long we used the opportunity to eat; it must have been one of the most incredible enforced lunch spots you could possibly imagine, and you certainly wouldn’t be able to book it in advance!

 

Jim negotiated a few obstacles to reach us at the gate

Eventually the whole thing worked and the waiting ship sailed through. The swing bridges both returned to their places, and the traffic and boats could continue their respective journeys. We felt very privileged to have experienced the event.

 

 Workmen beavering away repairing the road bridge while we had lunch

 

 This bridge, built in 1893, replaced the original aquaduct from 1761.  At 235 ft long and 1450 tons it's considered one of the wonders of the canal system visitsalford.info/whattosee/waterways/aqueduct.htm

 Awesome spectacle to watch

 

 

 The ship waited patiently but was off as soon as it was able to

   

 With the bridge swung back into place, they opened the gate on the bridge, then the canal gate and off everyone went - simple!

 Of course the road bridge is opened last and closed first 'cause motorists are far more stressed than boaters!

 

Was a bit of a mini rush hour initially

And so onwards to Manchester, a little later than we’d planned but that’s life.

 

 We couldn't believe what we saw when it passed, complete with rear vision mirror, didn't realise Land Rover made narrowboats!

The approach into the city is actually surprisingly pleasant, and it looks like a thriving hub of warehouses and factories. Of course we passed by Manchester United’s Stadium, which was awesome! Having visited a number of large cities in the time that we’ve been cruising on the boat, we were very impressed with all the buildings along the canal, even the derelict ones were tidy.

 

Piles of shipping containers in the Manchester/Liverpool colours

 

We saw a family jump out of the open container and run through the trees   No! Only kidding

 'Man U' Stadium, right beside the canal

 

 Some bit's of buildings

Photographers paradise, check out Neil Roland whose photography work we saw in town http://www.neilroland.co.uk/

 

The old and the new

We made it into Castlefield Junction just before 3pm, and were relieved to get a mooring place. We think there may be enough to do here to stop for the bank holiday weekend, unless there’s a restriction on the length of time you can stay.

The turnoff to Castlefield Junction, the Hilton Hotel in the background

  Even a heron in deepest Manchester - can't be too bad

Not many moorings left

A walk into the Manchester took us to the Information Centre where we collected masses of leaflets and the ever useful map of the city. We spent a few hours walking around seeing all sorts of wonderful things; heaven knows why we’ve been told such negative things about this city, we love it! The variety of people and buildings is immense, such a colourful and vibrant place.

   The walk into Manchester with the canal on the left

The 'Midlands Hotel' - very elegant, though not sure why they put the plumbing on the outside of the building??

The walkway to the Information Centre

The Town Hall and Gladstone statue - say wasn't he in Blackburn??

The town square in front of the Town Hall

The Victoria fountain

 

Urbis - The Exhibition Centre

 

The Manchester wheel

 

Such a city of contrasts, either very old or ultra modern

The pub got a little free entertainment from this old disco relic with his portable CD player who'd encouraged these girls to join him

  Mirror, mirror on the wall ...

And to cap it all, it’s Manchester Pride Parade on Saturday! Yaay! Maybe we’ll hand out Northern Pride blog cards there?!

Finished the evening with the view about 20ft away from our mooring      

Not too bad aye?!

The rusty canal

We were confronted with possible evidence this morning that BW really do clear some of the rubbish and weeds from the canals, as we encountered two working boats. Having said that of course we’re not in a BW area at the moment, so maybe that’s why it’s the first time we’ve seen such activity?!

This morning’s weather was dreadful with a howling gale and driving rain - we even put the radiators on to keep cosy! We took our time leaving Astley Green for our next stop in Worsley, before heading into Manchester tomorrow.

Saw a boat for the Fox clan on the way

It was just a short three mile trip, but a pleasant one as the weather improved a little. As the canal approached Worsley the water became an orange colour, known as ‘ochre’ due to the seepage of iron hydroxide from the underground coal mines of the area.

The coal seams ran under the higher ground to the north. The Duke of Bridgewater's land agent, John Gilbert, saw that it was possible to connect the canal directly to the mines by way of an underground canal, which could be used to help with draining them, and also provide a source of water for the canal.

The underground canal was constructed from Worsley Delph, an old sandstone quarry near Worsley Brook. At one time a million tons of coal a year passed through here. Around 47 miles of underground canals were constructed, on four different levels, connected by a water powered inclined plane and lifts. Specially designed boats were used in the tunnels which were only four and a half feet wide with protruding ribbed sides, and so were given the nickname of 'starvationers'. These were loaded with coal at the coal face, hauled from level to level on the inclined plane, and eventually brought it out onto the canal: www.penninewaterways.co.uk/bridgewater/bri2.htm

The area known as 'The Delph', contains one of the openings to the mines, and also the quarry where the rocks were obtained to build the Bridgewater Canal - it’s a fascinating place.

However the conditions and pay for these men weren't too good, and a collier was quoted in a local newspaper in 1843, after the accidental death of one of his colleagues, as saying:

“Who would be a collier to be exposed hourly to death: to have his head split in two and his brains dashed out: all for four pence a day?”

 As we approached the main bridge in the town the water changed colour

The entrance to 'The Delph' at the top right of the picture - no longer navigable - and left to Leigh and Wigan

Worsley itself is just a small hamlet with a few random shops and a couple of pubs, but the homes in the area seem very affluent with a variety of top of the range cars apparent; BMW’s, Mercedes, Audi’s, Porsche, etc. We suspect it’s mostly populated by people who commute to Manchester, but don’t want to actually live in the city.

There are five information boards scattered around a circular walk which show the heritage of the area.  In the now very flash village green, there was a boat-building yard, nailmaker's, basketmaker's and wheelwright's workshops, timber yard, warehouses and railway siding craftsmen.  There's evidence remaining of the work carried out there.

 The oldest building in Worsley, originally the nailmaker's house

A walk through Worsley Woods revealed the first signs of Autumn, some of the leaves are starting to turn yellow

Continuing the lovely walk, which follows the stream for some way

 

 This culvert was coming out of the hillside; not sure if it's one of the old underground tunnels or just a drain

 The village 'Green' which was once covered with all sorts of industrial workings. You can just make out where the railway sleepers were by the patterns on the grass, and there's an old mooring pin at the left side

 

It's said that workers were persistently late returning from lunch, giving the excuse that they couldn't hear the clock strike one above the general noise coming from the yard. The Duke cleverly had the mechanism of the clock altered, so that it struck thirteen instead! This clock is now situated in St Marks Church and still rings thirteen times at 1 o'clock.  Hilarious!

Another story was that one man was late arriving at work and The Duke challenged him.  He told how his wife had unexpectedly given birth to twins during the night, and the worked said that instead of an abundance of money like the Duke, he had too many children!  The Duke gave him a guinea. 

Some of the lovely houses surrounding 'The Green', and the monument built to honour the Duke of Bridgewater

It was quite a busy canal with boats passing us in each direction, and we’re wondering if our luck of not encountering too much boat traffic may be about to run out. The Shropshire Union Canal is closed in parts due to a breach (commonly known as a leak where the sides have literally ‘burst!), so hire boaters have been transferred onto the Macclesfield Canal which is where we’re heading. Unfortunately at that point we’ll be back onto a narrow canal which could make it more of a challenge; we’ve been on rivers and broad canals for as long as I can remember now! There’s only a week or so left of the school holidays so we may be lucky; we shall see …

The orange/ochre colour is very obvious here

 Left: The oldest dry dock on the canal system, and still in use            Right: The granary building, now offices

 A boat for Tom

Worsley Packet House and 'Northern Pride' in this afternoon's rain ...

... and once more this evening - what a stunning setting!

Through the park alongside the canal, looking at the main street of Worsley