For this privilege, we were paying £15 for 10 GB. Well it ran out before the month end! Ali contacted them and managed to get 15 GB for £15.99, so some good came out of the saga.
So we are back up and running. On Tuesday morning we left Moore and began the day dodging showers. The deep waters of the Bridgewater remain a pleasure. We were soon passing through the rather leafy Stockton Heath and after this, under the noisy M6 near Thelwall. At Lymm, we managed to find a mooring in order to make a quick shop stop. I managed to get my hair/beard cut at the same time. In Lymm we also leap frogged N.B. Carpe Diem, with the chaps feverishly polishing the boat. We met them again at the water point east of the town and surprise surprise, they were off to meet Doug & James!
By mid afternoon we had reached Dunham and we moored and walked to the Hall. A very pleasant place it is in it's Georgian splendour. This was used as a hospital during WW1 and one of the wards has been recreated. The gardens themselves are worth the walk. We left as it was closing and decided to do a circular walk back to the boat which just happened to take us past the Axe and Cleaver, nestling within the somewhat extended estate village. In there we enjoyed a few drinks and a chat with the chap's from Carpe Diem, before we were back to the boat for our meal.
The bridges are high on the Bridgewater
The Pennines in the distance
On the Manchester flight path
Lovely gardens at Dunham Massey
Fallow Deer
This made us laugh
Today we awoke to an autumnal chill. It was cold, damp and dreary. Heating on and as the boat and water warmed, the clouds cleared. Showered and we were off towards Manchester. We intended to head for Worsley today. The tranquil rural scene was soon behind us and we were into the industrial suburbs of this great city. Not unpleasant at all though, and remarkably free of litter. Passing under the Railway bridge opened the vista of over two miles of dead straight canal. It was very quiet boat wise.
The towpath along this section is being upgraded and the ongoing work has closed it to pedestrian traffic. As with Leicester, this area appears far more pleasant than on our last trip. After the straight, it was under the M60 and towards Waters Meeting. This junction sees the divergence of the canal, right to central Manchester, left towards Liverpool, so left we went.
Crossed over the Barton Swing Aqueduct and then onto Worsley. We moored near the services and had a walk around the village and to " The Delph", were the underground mines surface. This was the reason for the construction of this canal, to transport coal to the market, by water, direct from source.
After this, we made the short hop to Boothtown basin, mooring just before the marina. The Great British bake off tonight.......
Barton Swing Aqueduct
Looking down on the Ship Canal
....Apparently he couldn't find a stick so was carrying a branch!
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