Problems, problems,problems.

Where do I start. We left Castlefields in Manchester at eight o clock. The first lock took a long time to fill which wasn't a good start. It was eleven when we reached the top of the ninth lock and stopped for a cup of tea. At this point we talked about taking the Ashton canal but in the end we set off up the Rochdale canal. This was the start of a day of problems. Locks with only one paddle working,four times we stopped in the day to remove rubbish that had wrapped round the propeller, including rope,plastic bags and a jacket. We finally stopped just short of lock sixty four,at eight thirty in the evening. We had completed twenty eight locks including the nine out of Manchester. We couldn't tie up because there was nothing to tie to and nowhere to bang spikes in,so we just sat there all night. Saturday feeling we had done the hard part and were now coming to the scenic section we set of at seven o clock to push for the summit. To start all went well the sun was out the view was nice. We then got to Rochdale and the canal was full of litter again. Past Rochdale it was good again until we got something round the propeller again. This time it was a paddling pool. It took forever to get it off. By three thirty we had had enough for the day so we moored for the night having done seventeen locks. Leaving ten locks for Sunday. We were optimistic when we set off this morning,however after three locks we discovered that the pound two locks up was drained. I rang the emergency number and we are now waiting for a team to come out to sort out the problem. Happy Sunday.