Moston

Not the best nights sleep with the noise from the road and then a cruiser coming and turning round in the basin at quarter to midnight.
Yesterday evening I tried to book of passage along the Manchester Ship Canal (MCS) and onto the river Weaver, the first available date as the 29 May so we will have to kick around the area for the next 10 days.
This morning around 9-30 Mike arrived to do our Seaworth Certificate a requirement to travel the MSC and also to fill us in on all the procedures involved. Just as he was leaving another boat arrived and moored ahead of us and as they had moored on the waterpoint I told them we were about to leave so they could have our spot.

We chugged along the canal wondering where to stop for the night and decided on the moorings near the zoo, however we only got to bridge 135 when we saw barriers across the towing path, a chap in orange overalls sprang out of his car and asked us to stop while he got on his radio, and then his phone. He explained there was a large hole at the side of the canal and he needed to check if it was safe for us to continue, about 5 minutes later we got the all clear. We were expecting to find them digging a hole to run the pipeline under the canal from the non towing path side.

What we actually found was the towing path sinking, this is only a few yards short of bridge 134. I do wonder if anyone has informed CRT yet as I have seen a notice about it and no sign of CRT on site.

Since we have been moored up we have found out what the pipeline is for and details of how its going under the canal without disrupting boat traffic.

 

We carried on for about another 15 minutes and moored for the night. Just as we were tying up two things happened, it started to rain again and a Beluga again came almost over us, probably slightly lower than yesterday and a similar time around mid day.

Today’s Journey 5 miles with no locks in 2 hours