Out of Manchester

A lighthouse guides navigators on the Bridgewater Canal

A late start cruising this morning as Angela, Denise's sister joined us at 9:30am.  Then on our way back past the MU stadium to Waters Meeting where we turned north on our way out of Manchester.  Fairly soon we passed the Trafford Park shoppng mall, over the remarkable Barton canal swing bridge crossing the Manchester Ship Canal, and through the outer suburbs of Manchester to Worsley.  The picture shows the bizarre lighthouse in the gardens of a house overlooking the canal.  Note the orange colour of the water, not pollution but the iron stained waters coming from the Worsley mine.

Delightful canal scenery at Worsley

We moored at lunchtime in Worsley to eat on the boat and then walked to the Worsley mine which had given rise to the Bridgewater Canal. The mine had an underground canal network which linked directly to the Bridgewater, so avoiding extra trans-shipments.  Our guidebook states that there are 46 miles of tunnel, but there has been no access for many years.

After filling up with water we set off again, leaving the city  and entering an attractive tree-lined stretch of canal where we moored out in the countryside near the Astley Green Pit Museum - apparently with the last remaining pit head in what was Lancashire.

The canal is very empty, during the whole journey of 3.5 hours and 10 miles we cant have met more than 4 other boats, none have passed in the hour since we moored..