Worsley Monday 6 February 2017

No the title isn't wrong, today we have been to Plank lane Bridge on the Leeds and Liverpool canal and back again.

The day started sunny even if the grass was white with frost and we actually felt quite warm on the outward journey. on our way we met a wide beam boat called "Waterwomble" the photograph was taken into the sun so not to good, but when we got back to Worsley it was on the moorings, so here is a photo from the front.

It wasn't long before we were at Vickers Hall Bridge, this is the one that is going to be closed for several months and caused us to cancel our planned trip to Liverpool. I spotted this sign on it so I wonder how tall the cyclists are around this part of the world.

Talking of cyclists I just had to take this shot of two on top of the bridge, the bridge is all stares and they had to carry their bikes.

After we left the Bridgewater Canal at Leigh Bridge in the town of Leigh we joined the Canal and Rivers Trust CRT waterways again, this time on the Leeds and Liverpool canal. the canal is quite open but all the way along there are these wooden posts, other than something for the local scrotes to try and burn, does anyone know what they were pit in there for.

To the towpath side you pass a large expanse of water known as Pennington Flash, between the towpath and the Flash a series of wooden balks have been erected with names carved into them, but there is no indication whet they represent. Just passed the flash so old lock gates have been erected with the word UNLOCKED carved into one of them.

CRT have a large mooring basin just before Plank Lane Lift Bridge where we winded to head back to Worsley. Its interesting to look at the web site for the moorings https://bwml.co.uk/pennington-wharf-marina/ and then compare it with what is actually there.

Our return journey was quite a bit cooler with the sun gone behind the full cloud cover. A boater we passed informed us that it would be raining in a couple of hours time and I quite believed him, only he was a bit out on his timings. We left the CRT waters under Leigh Bridge back onto the Bridgwater canal. Leigh still has several old large mills, some are still being used for various purposes but some look very unloved. In the distance is the Leigh Spinning Mill a Grade II building and one of the largest cotton spinning Mills in Manchester. http://leighspinners.org/ The church that can be seen from the canal has a very large effigy looking down from the top of the tower, I bet they had fun lifting that up there in the days before telescopic cranes.

Not all the old buildings are going to waste, this one is in the throws of having a new lease of life given to it.

Most of the towpath between Stretford and Leigh is a hard surface, that is all except about a mile half way between Worsley and Leigh where its a real mud bath.

We were soon back in Worsley and moored up behind Waterwomble before going for a walk round the area, you can see in this photo where the canal branched of to go into about 50 miles of underground canals in the coal mines. The water here use to be bright red, now thanks to the EU it has been cleaned up to just a dirty brown. All around the area there are interpretation boards telling you about the area. The industrial revolution owes a lot to Worsley and the Duke of Bridgewater.

O and the rain, well it turned up about 4pm, just a couple of hours late, thankfully.

Today’s Journey 15.5 miles in 4.25 hours on 2 canals.