Leaving Liverpool & Up the Wigan Flight Of 21 Locks

Monday a rather breeze start to leaving salthouse docks we made are way round to the first lock and was helped  through by CRT staff. We made really good progress and moored at swing Bridge 10.

Tuesday 28th we teamed up with a Mike and Aileen on there boat Quaintrelle and we were soon through the 4 swing bridges and moored at Burscough so we could do a bit of shopping and for me to get a haircut.

Wednesday we moved off with Quintrelle but only Aileen was onboard as Mike had work commitments. We moored at Parbold  we were waved in By Gerry & Honour from The Great Escape who we met in Liverpool.

Thursday we headed off with Gerry & Honour and moored at Crooke nice and early.

Friday we were up to leave for 9.00 as we are doing 25 double locks today including the 21 Locks at Wigan. We soon arrived at the bottom of the 21 locks and set off at 11.15. we had a great passage up the locks and were soon in to a good steady routine and we completed the 21 locks in 4 hours 15 mins .

Tacet & The Great Escape Entering A Lock

Ladies In A lock

.

Weeds On Lock Wall's

We have moored by a golf course this evening.

View From A Mooring Tonight.

Time Travelled Monday 6 Hrs  Distance Travelled 9 Miles

Time Travelled Tuesday 4Hrs Distance Travelled 4 Miles

Time Travelled Wednesday 1.5 Hrs Distance Travelled 2.5 Miles

Time Travelled Thursday 1.5 Hrs Distance Travelled 3 Miles

Time Travelled Friday 7 Hrs Distance Travelled 6 Miles 25 Locks

 Total Distance Travelled 449.. Miles 

108 Locks (Broad) 197 single locks and 17 tunnel's, 1 Massive Lock

Total Tunnel length 9097 yards   
Total Time 281 hours  

Guess What we are LOVING IT.

Sun Set. Celebrities And A catch Up

Its our last day in Liverpool and we have really enjoyed this lovely city. We have seen so many interesting places and learnt a lot about the history of the city.

We would recommend a visit if you are thinking about a city break, everything is so close there is something for everyone.

The museums are all very interesting and close to each other. There are loads of shops for the Ladies to look around if they feel the need for retail therapy. Lots of places to eat out and very reasonable priced.

The start of the drop

The last day at school is celebrated with a massive balloon drop in Liverpool 1, inside each balloon is a tag which has a prize written on it or not. it was good to watch the young people having fun popping the balloons and seeing if they have one anything.

Saturday in Albert Dock there was a wake-board competition which was ok to watch for a short while. I did take some photos.

Craig Phillips

Sunday was a Triathlon event which Sharon & I tried to book in to but unfortunately it was full of very good athletes and some celebrities. Sorry but I can't remember all there names but one was in the TV programme the Bill.

The event consisted of a Swim of 2500 Metres a 40 K cycle race and a ½ marathon for the novices

We had a fantastic sunset on Friday and got some really nice photos, I especially like the big wheel and its reflection in the water. The cranes are lit by the setting sun.

Salthouse Dock & The Big Wheel A View
from Tacet

Illuminated Cranes By Sun Set

Sun Set Across Salthouse Dock

Tacet With The Tower Cathedral In The Back Ground

Tomorrow we leave the docks and make are way back to Wigan as we are meeting some people we met in the docks who are also going up the Wigan flight of locks so at least we have a buddy for the 21 double locks on the day.

WE ARE LOVING IT

Liverpool

We are having a fantastic time in the city of Liverpool. It really is a great city with so much to see and do.

What have you been up to I hear you ask, well Eddy has been doing his usual, looking out of the side hatches and watching whatever is going on. Eddy has made friends with a great Dane from the boat next to us. Well I say friends Eddy looks at him as if to say come any closer and see what you get!!!.

We have been on the open topped sightseeing bus which gives you a good idea how far various attractions our from the dock’s.

So on Sunday we headed to what the Liverpudlians call Paddy's Wigwam which is the Catholic cathedral.

Top Of Paddy's Wigwam

A very modern building it is.  We just so happened to walk in to the end of a  holy communion service and were ushered towards some seats. It was soon over and we had a look around the cathedral. The building is constructed mainly from concrete.

After the cathedral we went for Sunday lunch at the Philharmonic public house and had a very nice lunch indeed.

The pub has the only Grade 1 listed toilets in the country (Gents). A visit to the gents showed how luxurious the toilets are as you can see.

We concluded the necessaries at the philharmonic and caught the bus to Liverpool cathedral. This is a fantastic building and classic in its design

It ‘s construction started in 1910 and finished in 1978.
We were lucky as when we walked into the cathedral the choir  was practising for a special service in the afternoon. The sound they made was amazing and we both sat down and listened to them the acoustics were phenomenal. We then looked around the cathedral and were told off for taking photos but I had already took some.

The Lady Chapel

Vaulted Ceiling

Monday we caught the bus to the library as Sharon needed to photo copy some of the pattern for her cross stitch. The library is a mixture of old and new building and well worth a visit just to look at the old reading room’s.

We then had a walk around the World Museum which is next door to the library and 5 floors high. We spent ages in the museum looking at the exhibits and had a thoroughly good time.

Tuesday we had booked on to the Old Liverpool Dock Tour. The tour is of the very first wet dock built at Liverpool and construction started in 1715. The tour is very informative and the 2 guys who do the tour make it very interesting and amusing as well.We were taken to the sight of the docks and down some stairs, the old dock is 2.5 metres below current ground level and also under many of the surrounding buildings as the dock is about the size of 2 football pitches but only this part is visible to the public.

Bedrock and corner on Old Dock

Bedrock And Corner Of Old Dock

Bedrock and Brickwork

After the tour we had a Chinese buffet lunch  (very nice ) and had a look around the Maritime Museum. Another great museum over 4 floors with a display on the Titanic and the Lusitania two ships that sank with the loss of over 3000 lives. If you are unfamiliar with the history of the Lusitania its worth doing a google search and reading up on it.
Well that's what we have been up to and we are LOVING IT.

Liverpool Docks

We left Burscough on Tuesday morning the sun was out again and we had a very nice cruise up to Heatons Bridge for the evening.
Wednesday we cruised up to Bridge 16 Bells swing bridge which would not work so I called CRT and they dispatched an engineer to fix the problem, the engineer arrived in 25 Minutes and gave one of the closing swing arms a wiggle and proclaimed that should do it and it did the swing bridge swung into action and we passed by. We moored at Bridge 15 Methodist Swing Bridge as there is a Morrison's very close by and we needed one or two things before heading to Liverpool.
Thursday we cruised on to Bridge 10 just through Maghull and moored for the evening.

Peter Powell Stunt Kites

Later in the evening I saw some kites being flown and as i enjoy
flying kites I took a walk over.

Loop the Loop

The kite's shape looked familiar and they turned out to be peter Powell Stunt Kites which had been joined to each other, this brought back some childhood memories (long ago) when me and my mates used to fly the same kites over Foxhall Stadium they were the best kites you good buy back then and i wished I still had on.

Today Friday we headed off to the meeting point at Bridge 9 Hangcocks Swing Bridge where CRT escort you through right the way down to Salthouse Docks.

It's a shame that the canal is full of so much rubbish which meant I visited the weed hatch twice.

The wind was blowing quite strong today and when we went through the last lock on to the docks the wind really picked up and we had waves to contend with.
What a fantastic experience Sharon and I have had today travelling along these famous docks.

The Royal Liver Building

Under The Museum We Go

We came Through  The Tunnel on The Left

Old And New Buildings 

Heading Towards Salthouse Docks

Time Travelled Tuesday 1.5 Hrs  Distance Travelled 3 Miles

Time Travelled Wednesday 5 Hrs Distance Travelled 8 Miles

Time Travelled Thursday 1.5 Hrs Distance Travelled 2.5 Miles

Time Travelled Friday 6.5 Hrs Distance Travelled 9 Miles 6 Locks

Total Distance Travelled is 419.5. Miles 

83 Locks (Broad) 197 single locks and 17 tunnel's, 1 Massive Lock

Total Tunnel length 9097 yards   
Total Time 261 hours  

AND WE OUR LOVING EVERY MINUTE OF IT

Terrible Behaviour & Bengal Owl

Thursday morning we woke to a lovely sunny morning, and enjoyed breakfast in the bow of Tacet.
We set off around 11.00 and made our way to Plank Bridge Lift Bridge. I may have broken the record for holding cars up as the instructions on how to work the bridge were very difficult to read as the sun was on the screen, however I got the bridge to open and close and counted 20 vehicles waiting to cross. We had a lovely cruise up to the Dover Lock Bridge and moored for the evening.

Friday morning we set off for the first locks we have done for a while. The locks on the Leeds & Liverpool do leak a lot.It would not take much to reduce the leaks if CRT tried, just a piece of timber fixed to the rebates would reduce this and may even extend the life of the lock gates.
We done 3 locks and then moored for water by the new CRT offices. I popped in to have a chat about the Wigan Flight of locks as we will be going up them early August. Very Helpful indeed.
We carried on through Wigan and moored in Crooke right by another pub, It was very busy all afternoon and early evening.

Saturday we left Crooke mid-morning and had planned to stop at Appley Bridge for the day but it was such a good day cruising we carried on to Parbold. We passed under this motorway but not sure what one it is.

Motorway and Disused Lock.

 As we approached Parbold we saw lots of tents in a field and when we asked a passing lady what's going on she told us it was the village fate.So after mooring we went for a look around the fate. However we did not expect to see domestic violence at a village fate. We witnessed this terrible behaviour from a man who was being really horrible to his wife  and this escalated to him hitting her with a stick, well everyone was shocked at this but luckily a passing policeman intervened.

The man being spoken to by the Police

I got to hold a very large Bengal owl he really was a fantastic looking animal. We enjoyed having a walk around the fate it was nice to see so many people enjoying the sunshine.

Afternoon Treat

Sunday we left Parbold and enjoyed the cruise up to Burscough and moved in to another county.




We passed a lot of boats today and it seems most have been to Liverpool.
 Burscough has a very handy Tesco store just a short walk from the canal and Sharon went to for some supplies. Today Monday its raining so we are staying put for the day relaxing.

Time Travelled Thursday  2 Hrs Distance 3.5 Miles

Time Travelled Friday 5 Hrs Distance 5 Miles 6 Locks

Time Travelled Saturday 3 Hrs Distance 4 Miles 2 Locks

Time Travelled Sunday 2 Hrs Distance 4.5 Miles

Total Distance Travelled is 419.5. Miles 

83 Locks (Broad) 197 single locks and 17 tunnel's, 1 Massive Lock

Total Tunnel length 9097 yards   
Total Time 261 hours  

AND WE OUR LOVING EVERY MINUTE OF IT

Not Very Far But It's New Water For Use All.

We left Boothstown mid morning with the sun trying to creep through the clouds. We made are way along to Astley where there is Colliery Museum that I wanted to have a look round.
The museum has the only surviving engine house with a  3,300 hp twin tandem compound steam winding engine and its massive.

You can see the Winding Gear Drum

One Half of the twin Engine

Engine Room & Headgear

A nice old chap called Allen told me loads of facts about the site, and that he and his father and his grandfather had worked in the mine over the years. Unfortunately I did not get a photo of him.

The Cutting Gear.

Wednesday morning we woke to heavy rain but by 10.00 it had almost stopped, as I was getting Tacet ready to head off this weed cutter came into sight. A funny looking bit of kit. It has a cutting edge and conveyor belt that lifts the weeds in to its hopper.

Weed cutter at work.

                                                                                                               Although the rain had stopped the wind was blowing a gale
We made our way to Leigh and have moored by a very nice Pub which will have some decent beer in it as it's owned by Greene King from Bury St Edmunds.

Waterside Inn.

Time Travelled Tuesday 1.5 Hrs Distance 2.5 Miles

Time Travelled Wednesday 2.5 Hrs Distance 4 Miles 

Total Distance Travelled is 402.5. Miles 

75 Locks (Broad) 197 single locks and 17 tunnel's, 1 Massive Lock

Total Tunnel length 9097 yards   

Total Time 239 hours  

AND WE OUR LOVING EVERY MINUTE OF IT

A Full Moon And The Beginning Of Canals

We left Dunham Massey on Saturday morning. The previous evening we watched the full moon rise (sorry for the colour of the photo)

Full Moon 

Reflection in the canal

A Lovely Misty Morning

We cruised up to Sale to do a provisions stock up, Sale is a nice little town with plenty of shops but we were only after provisions and were spoilt for choice as there is a Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Aldi all within 200 yards of each other.
So with a little bit from Tesco and a bigger bit from Aldi we made our way back to Tacet. We moved on up to the Moorings by the Trafford Centre.
This is a huge shopping complex and as luck would have it poor old Sharon’s feet we hurting her so she didn't want to walk around it. I had a quick look around the Barton Square then made my way back. We stayed here for the night.

Sunday we left the Trafford Centre and a really lovely cruise towards Wolsley as we wanted to have a look around this very historic place. This is the place where the first canal in England was conceived and as such the beginning of the canal system as we know it today.

It was built by the 3rd Duke of Bridgewater in 1761 to transport coal from Worsley to Manchester. The coal was dug out from shafts that totalled 46 miles long when the mine closed.

Read The sigh Its A Shame it's A Bit Overgrown

Tacet At Worsley

We spent the night there and had a very pleasant walk around the centre of worsley. It’s a very nice place and well worth stopping for a look round.

Packet House

Today we set off on a very short cruise to Boothstown, we are moored outside a pub and will be frequenting it this evening for a drink or 3 and a meal.

Time Travelled Saturday 4.5 Hrs Distance 8 Miles

Time Travelled Sunday 1.5 Hrs Distance 3 Miles 

Time travelled Monday 1 Hr 1.5 Miles

Total Distance Travelled is 398. Miles 

75 Locks (Broad) 197 single locks and 17 tunnel's, 1 Massive Lock

Total Tunnel length 9097 yards   
Total Time 235 hours  

AND WE OUR LOVING EVERY MINUTE OF IT