The Plank Lane lift bridge
We set off in glorious sunshine this morning, with the prospect of an easy run into the centre of Manchester. After yesterdays lock marathon, this looked like being a great day.
Mining subsidence in evidence
We passed large areas of wetland on the canal which is raised up on an embankment for mile after mile. A lot of the lakes are formed as the result of mining subsidence - you get a real sense of the magnitude of the mining activity when you see these vast lakes.
A canalside pub in Leigh
We passed through Leigh, stopping to re-fill with water and to remove a horrible tangle of plastic, rope and netting from the propeller. In Leigh, we finally left behind the Leeds and Liverpool canal, and moved onto the Bridgewater canal. The only real difference is that all of the British Waterways signage and bridge numbering stops at this point, and you have to resort to basic map reading skills to know where you are.
The mining museum at Astley Green
Beautiful house by orange canal
Somewhere around Astley, the canal stared to turn a bit yellow, As we got further on, the colour intensified until it was deep orange by the time we reached Worsley.
A lighthouse?!
Just beyond this lighthouse, the canal returned to the usual brownish colour.
Crossing the Manchester Ship Canal
We crossed over the Manchester Ship Canal on a swing aqueduct - an impressive feat of engineering. The view from here was equally impressive with Manchester in the distance and an almost sheer drop over the side of the boat to the canal below - the sides of the aqueduct are only a little higher than the water we were floating on!
The Trafford Centre
We passed the enourmous Trafford shopping centre - totally underwhelming from the canal with very littly to show it exists apart from this gateway which fronts onto the canal where there are no moorings! They have obviously concluded that people on boats are not going to be buying sofas etc.!
Old Trafford
As we got closer to the centre of Manchester, the scenery became somewhat desolate with massive areas of wasteland and crumbling factories. Standing out however, was Manchester United's ground at Old Trafford.
Moored tonight in the centre of Manchester
We made it into the Caslefield Basin in Manchester as a little rain fell, but after another day of almost perfect weather. There are loads of boats here and we could only just fit into this space, but it is pretty spectacular to be moored right in the centre here. It is a bit noisier here than last night out in the country, but we are looking forward to exploring tomorrow, albeit in what looks like torrential rain!
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