Liverpool

Left Manchester on the 27^th May for Liverpool. As our due date for Liverpool was not until 9^th June that gave us plenty of time to enjoy the trip, mostly done in good weather, through some of the prettiest canal route we have travelled.   We spent a couple of days moored at Pennington Flash, a large nature reserve on a former coal mining site.  Some walking and birding planned. 

We then chugged on to Wigan, reached on Saturday 1^st June.  After walking into town to shop we left Wigan for Appley Bridge where we found a lovely mooring just short of the village and spent three days walking the meadows and woodlands before returning to the boat and ending the day with a BBQ.  The weather was glorious and one day we saw two foxes, two jays, a kingfisher and a deer.

It took a further three days to reach the outskirts of Liverpool.  Once you reach the edge of Aintree, bridge 9, Hancock’s swing bridge, access is restricted to those boats that had pre-booked a birth.  You are met by CRT employees who then control your movement for the last five hours of the journey that culminates in descending the four lock Stanley flight into the first of the Liverpool docks.  At this stage you are still two locks and 30 minutes from your mooring.  The dock at the bottom of the flight is overlooked by a massive brick warehouse built in the 19c to store tobacco shipped into Liverpool.  At the time it was the largest brick building in the world, and still is.

Leaving Stanley bottom lock you enter Stanley dock, then chug through Collingwood and Salisbury dock, passing Victoria clock tower before proceeding through the central docks to Princes dock, you then pass Pier Head and the Liver building, Mann Island lock and Canning dock and finally into Albert and Salthouse docks completing a journey that is probably one of the best on the system.

We stayed for three days, all that was available when we booked.  The days were full; we ferried the Mersey, visited numerous museums, two cathedrals, wandered the streets and strolled around the docks, themselves a tourist attraction in their own right with the largest collection of grade 1 listed buildings in the country.  We also took a Metro ride under the Mersey and visited Port Sunlight a model village on the Wirral Peninsula.  Built by the Lever brothers, (now Unilever), to accommodate workers in its soap factory.  Building commenced in 1888.  The name is derived from Lever brothers’ most popular brand of cleaning agent “Sunlight”.  Port Sunlight contains 900 grade 2 listed buildings.

The three days flew by, the weather held till the last day but our departure, controlled as our arrival by CRT staff, was in heavy rain.

Pics to follow.

 

Peak Forest and Ashton Canals

Travelled northwards along the final few miles of the Peak Forest Canal, eventually arriving at Dukinfield Junction, Ashton-Under-Lyne.  This is a major canal junction, the Huddersfield Narrow Canal runs eastwards into the Pennines, whilst the Ashton Canal travels west towards Manchester. Portland Basin overlooks the junction and is home to the Portland Basin Museum based in a former canal warehouse which was built in 1834.  The museum shows how people lived and worked in the area in the last 200 years.  It also includes the impact of the canal system on the social and historical history of the area.

Portland Basin & Museum

We moored the night just off the junction facing the museum, which we visited next day.  It’s only a small museum, but well worth a visit.  One of the staff, mostly volunteers, suggested we visit the Town Hall, which housed the museum of the Manchester Regiment. If you enjoy military history, or like Flo and I, have served, the museum is not to be missed.  The Manchester Regiment ceased to exist over 50 years ago having been amalgamated with other units in defence cuts.  The Regiment, like many British regiments that have sadly disappeared over the years, is rich in history enacted throughout the world, going back some 200 years.

We left for Manchester along the Ashton Canal; it was only two days away, but what a two days, eight miles and 27 double locks.  The last nine locks are known as the Rochdale Nine, we met them in the rain and in very high winds.  The first of the nine set the tone for the rest of the day, dropping the boat under an eighteen storey building, amongst concrete supports spouting out of the canal like sentinels guarding the lock gates.  It was like being in an underground canal.  It was probably one of the hardest section of locks we have ever encountered.

Piccadilly Village, outer Manchester

Outer Manchester mooring

 It was with some relief to reach Castlefield Junction which was to be our home for our three days in Manchester.  The weather was glorious for our visit and Manchester was full of life.  Running tracks; high and long jump and pole vault arenas had been erected throughout the City and international and Olympic athletes competed in front of large crowds in Manchester’s Street Games.  There was a real buzz around the streets, which really added to our visit, and continued the next day, Sunday, when thousands of runners took part in the annual BUPA Manchester marathon.

 

Castlefield Quays

Castlefield Quays

 

Manchester Street Games

Manchester Shambles

After the Manchester Blitz in 1940 The Shambles were one of only a few pre-19 century buildings left standing, and the Wellington Inn as the only surviving Tudor building in Manchester City Centre. During a major redevelopment in 1974 The Shambles were underpinned with a concrete raft and jacked up 4 feet 9 inches to fit in with the new development. In June 1996 an IRA bomb destroyed many of the surrounding buildings which resulted in yet another redevelopment.  The Shambles were subsequently dismantled and moved 300 meters to their present site. 

We did the tourist bit; visiting most of the sites, had a great time.