TUESDAY. Castlefields, Manchester
The 2008 trip thus far: 366Locks; 718 Miles; 71 Swing\Lift Bridges. Bus pass journeys 35
Again, it was raining as we set off this morning. By the time that we had passed under the Bridge carrying the A580 East Lancs Road (of Z cars fame – for those of you that can remember that far back!) it had stopped.
I always like travelling along from Plank Lane, even in the wet; the canal in this area still has the evidence of colliery working for those that care to look. I wish that I could have travelled along when the pits were busy; it would have been full of boating interest.
It was blowing quite hard as we went over the Barton Swing Aqueduct; sadly no ships were visible. It is always a pleasure to travel so high above the Ship Canal with very good long distance views. The main structure is a tank; either 235 or 300 feet long according to who you choose to believe, and 18 feet wide holding 800 tons of water.
It was opened in 1893 to a design of Sir Edward Leader Williams, who was the resident engineer for the construction of the Manchester Ship Canal. He also designed the Anderton Boat Lift.
Another reason that I enjoy travelling along the Bridgewater canal is that it has a good water depth; something missing on the vast majority of BW administered canals. We arrived in Castlefields, the potato wharf side, to find most of the spaces taken up by Bridgewater canal registered residential boats.
Over the weekend, there had been a concert in the Castlefields Arena; this entails covering over the two water filled arms which are home to the aforementioned boats. The arms are being ready for use again tomorrow (Wednesday) morning. One or two of the boats that are currently licensed look as though they would be hard pressed to pass a BSS inspection; one particularly tatty example looks ready to sink at any moment.
Weather – Wet to start, the drying up. A few showers in the late afternoon.
