A bit of rain this morning, but it stopped by 10am and we were away at 1030hrs to blue sky's and sunshine, what we didn't expect was the amount of aircraft movement before we were up this morning, it seemed continuous, one after the other for about an hour. The three Minworth locks were against us with a broken Paddle on the bottom one which I will report. We decided to fill with water just below the top lock but the tap was so slow we gave up once we had turned the lock, this is a slow lock to empty as no water comes out of the bottom near side paddle, it lifts OK but must be blocked, its been like it for at least 4 years now and I have reported it several times, maybe I will do it again.
I do like it when canal side properties make bit of a feature of the bank, I don't know how often the bus passes.
A little further on and the canal was green with duck weed, nothing to cause us a problem, 
after this we started meeting a few boat which was good as one of the locals thought the canal was derelict and unused. As we arrived at Salford Junction Diana indicated there was a boat coming down the narrow so I had to draw back and let them out, this did mean that hopefully the Aston locks would be with us. I have moored at Cuckoo wharf in the past but I still can't work out which bit is visitor moorings.
All the locks were with us until we reached the top two which were full, as you can see the lock beam has got a good twist in it.
We did the complete flight in just under a hour and a half, a nice trouble free run.
It seems that C&RT are having quite a bit of trouble with walls that run alongside towpaths these days, there have been a few towpath closures this year for them falling over. I wonder who actually owns them and picks up the bill?
Once we cleared the top lock we turned hard left for a few hundred yards before winding and mooring for the night on the visitor moorings outside the university building. We are saving Farmers Bridge flight for tomorrow.
Todays Journey 7 miles, 14 locks in 4¼ hours.
2 comments:
I remember many years ago that the Cincinnati Company that owned the factory below the Minworth Flight (where the houses are now) won a Britain in Bloom award for the upkeep of their excellent-looking gardens. It must have been a couple of years later that the factory was closed and the gardens became derelict. The chap who looks after the patch of garden at the Eastern end is doing a good job of keeping his patch tidy.
There aren't any visitor moorings at Cuckoo Wharf despite what the sign says. Perhaps you'd like to report that too. I've lost count of how many times I've told them.
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