Dunham Massey Hall.

We moved a little way up the canal to Little Bollington.Then we walked to Dunham Massey Hall. a National Trust property. Once the seat of the Earl of Stamford.This Georgian Mansion Has a fabulous collection of paintings and Huguenot silver. In the grounds the deer roam free.We went round the house which was originally a Tudor house, that was rebuilt in Georgian times.The family had its share of scandals. One Earl married the daughter of his bed maker. When she died young the family hoped he would marry someone more suitable, alas he married a circus bare back rider.
After the house we walked round the garden and finally had a look at the water mill which drove a circular saw for wood cutting.
Returning to the boat we made our way into Lymm for the night. Just as we were arriving at the mooring the rain came down again,the difference being the day had been warm and sunny.

Orange Water.

Moving off this morning we went under the M60 Motorway to worsley. The water at Worsley is orange due to the dissolved iron ore in it. To my surprise Worsley was quite a nice place. We then passed through Salford which wasn't quite as nice,here we had the derelict buildings and the urban decay. Once through Salford we passed over the Manchester Ship Canal,it looked as though the aquaduct at one time sung open to allow large ships to pass through.We were now travelling down passed the Trafford Centre and Trafford Park area to the junction where the canal goes off to the left and up through the centre of Manchester to the Rochdale and Ashton canals. We went right headed for Stretford and Sale. What I expected to be a long stretch of urban decay proved to be a pleasant green corridor. Just running into Sale in the area of Ashton upon Mersey was a nice shopping centre which came down to the canal side,on the opposite side the King's Ransome public house looked very nice with it's large area of out side tables. Having cleared the last of Sale we were out in the country so we moored for lunch near Dunham town bridge, not far from Dunham Massey hall, a National Trust property.With the sun out we decided to stay here for the night. What we thought would be a day of urban decay had turned out to be quite a pleasant day

Astley Pit Museum.

After a lazy morning,which included a brunch about ten o clock we set off on the second walk on the leaflet. It was only a short walk but an enjoyable one. It centred round Astley Pit Museum which we visited after the walk.
We found the museum fascinating. You can't really appreciate the cramped conditions the miners worked in until you see the life size models in the museum. The second shock was the size of the engines that drove the winding gear,they were enormous.
As we were walking around the pit yard we came across a man with a small working steam locomotive.His biggest problem he said was keeping up with the leaks.
Later in the day we moved nearer to Salford, so we can go straight through Salford,Trafford Park,Stretford and Sale tomorrow. This will be about eleven mile but no Locks.
The only other thing for today's post is the subject of what people throw in the canal.The chair in the picture has been following us. We first came across it at Marshland Green,then this morning it appeared at Astley Green.Why do people think it is a place to dump what they no longer want.

Onto the Bridgewater Canal.

Left our over night mooring heading for Leigh Nicholson;s says there is a manned swing bridge at Plank Lane,in fact it's a lift bridge,passing trough we then stopped for water. Carrying on we arrived at Leigh,moored and went shopping then had lunch. As you pass under Leigh bridge you leave the Leeds Liverpool/Leigh Branch and go onto the Bridgewater Canal. This afternoon we stopped at bridge 66 and did a walk Round Bedford Moss which took some following.The walk was on a leaflet that we picked up at Haigh Hall. The walk was 3 mile. We then moved on to Astley Green And moored for the night. Astley Green has a Pit Museum which we plan to visit in the morning.there is also a second walk here on the leaflet.

Going down.

We were up and ready to go by eight thirty,however, two boats went down in front of us. It looked as if we would be doing all twenty one locks alone,then at the last minute another boat arrived to partner us down.We would share the work with the couple on Canny Annie.Sharing the work is all ways easier.The women steered the boats while us men worked the locks.All the locks were against us at the beginning so while the boats were dropping one of us went ahead to set the next lock.about six locks down we met two boats coming up, so the next lock was set in our favour. Later we past two other boats coming up,then after that the bottom lock keeper set all the locks that were left in our favour. This made the lower section much easier.
Three and three quarter hours after entering the top lock we reached the bottom, 214ft 7ins lower. Both boats moored for lunch. We were going to walk to Wigan Peir for a look but after lunch we decided not to and set off down the Leigh Branch and two more locks. the other couple did walk to Wigan Peir so we were now on our own.
We didn't go far after the locks before we found a mooring for the night.

Wigan Top Lock.

Nicholson's Guide said we would find the Crawford Arms at bridge 63,open all day serving inexpensive food. So last night we moored at Bridge 63 with the intention of having a meal at the Crawford Arms.When we checked it out we found it had been renamed Bridge 63 and was more of a wine bar than a country pub. It was too modern for us,it felt cold and lacked character, so we gave it a miss.
This morning we set off heading for the Wigan Flight of twenty one locks. on the way we stopped at bridge 60 and walked through the woods to Haigh Hall, we had coffee in the old stable block then walked back to the boat by a different route. The weather was once again windy with sun and showers. Continuing our journey we arrived at Wigan top Lock,where after pumping out and topping up with water ,we moored for the night. Tomorrow will be a busy day. Tonight though we will have our meal out at the Kirkless Hall Inn,at the side of the second lock down.

A rare morning of sun.

Everything looked better this morning the sun was shining,the sky was blue. We had left Blackburn behind. We left the mooring just after nine o clock, traveling through rolling hills and farmland. By ten fifteen we were at the top of Johnson Hill Locks. A flight of seven locks, dropping sixty five foot six inches in the space of three quarters of an hour.
Coming out of the bottom lock at twelve thirty we stopped for coffee. While there I did some running repairs to the front fender which had come loose due to a broken link in the chain.
Just before Chorley we came across an old mill that had been made into a shopping centre,It was called Botany Bay.The lady at the door asked if we were members,we explained that we were just passing on the canal, so she let us in.It was done out on four floors selling everything you could want,if only more of our old buildings were restored like this instead of pulling them down and building modern eye sores.
When we came out it was raining,so we had lunch and waited to see if it would clear up.While waiting I looked in the weed hatch and found rope and plastic bags round the prop shaft, it should run better now they have been removed.Showers seem to be quite frequent so we have decided to stay here tonight.