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.