Boothstown

Today's Canals - Leeds and Liverpool Main Line, Leigh Branch, Bridgewater

Our booking for Poolstock was officially set for 10 am with the request that we be there 15 minutes early. As it happened, our overnight mooring was only just below the first lock on the Wigan flight which is also locked apart from the assisted passages. However, the other three boats due to come through today managed to squeeze in early so we thought that we might be last - although only two lockfuls are permitted anyway. However, both our locking partners from the past few days and one of the other boats let the lock keeper know that we had arrived first and so when the time came he waved us into the first locking. In general, such behaviour is widespread and commonplace amongst boaters. Anyone flouting it  is usually in for a hard time!

We failed to go and look at the short pound between the two Poolstock locks but someone else showed us a photo that had just taken before the lock keepers arrived. There was barely a trickle down the middle. 

The  lock keepers started just after nine and first had to fill that empty pound at least enough to let us through. The only place they can immediately take water is from the junction pound - our first lock and then Poolstock Top are both joined by the junction pound (as well as the currently closed main Wigan flight. A steady flow comes into the junction pound by pumping from the nearby River Douglas but there is a limit on how much can be taken - water is an increasingly precious commodity in an often monopolistic and unregulated market.

This photo shows how much this pound fell before there was enough at Poolstock to let us through. The current very limited schedule of passages is based on the time that it then takes to refill that pound. The situation is exacerbated  by the fact that this area, known to be in serious need of repair, never makes it far enough up the priority list to be undertaken. Perhaps it is time for IWA to devise some effective political action or are they only interested in restorations and southern canals?

We were assisted through the locks so there was not much opportunity to take helpful photos. When  we came up in June, there was a notice on the top Poolstock lock asking boaters to use all paddles to fill as otherwise it leaked out faster then it could fill and so never make a level, wasting a lot of water in the process. Although the notice has now gone, perhaps this photo of a traffic cone stuck in one of the top gat paddles may have something to do with it!

Until mid afternoon, they day was very grey, at first rather damp and occasionally rather chilly. Hence our photos were correspondingly dismal! We did pass this CaRT Volunteer working party that were clearing vegetation. They seemed in very good spirits as well!

We came though Dover Locks - the abandoned pub is no happier than when we came up, although the bright sunny day in June did make the picture we showed here feel much more cheery. The dismal, overcast day today just adds to the sense of desolation that this building, in the middle of nowhere, inevitably creates.

It is a long time since this swing bridge has carried any traffic but the puzzle is: even if it could be opened the canal now is much wider than it seems to span.

We moored just before Leigh Bridge as we wanted to pick a few flood items from the nearby Aldi but first came lunch!

By the time we set off once more there was a good couple of hours of bright, and still warm, sunshine - here as we passed Bedford Basin on the edge of the town.

Last time we showed one of the many former mills in Leigh, several now re-purposed. Here is another one, Brooklands Mill, now home to a number of small businesses. It was built as the third mill in a complex that was otherwise on the opposite side of the canal and opened in 1891. The original Mather Lane Company undertook cotton spinning (much of Leigh was sill spinning) and was merged into Combined Egyptian Mills in the 1920s. This company was set up to rescue 34 failing mills owned by various companies. At one time it was the second largest cotton spinning business in the world. It was later subsumed into the Viyella brand.

A house next to the bridge at Marsland Green looked highly decorated from a distance but it was only was we came close that we realised that it contained a substantial defence facility!

The boat moored alongside is appropriately named.

We continued until just after Vicars Hall Bridge and found a quiet overnight mooring. This was built about five years ago, seeming at least part funded by the remnant of the coal company responsible for a lot of the local subsidence. There was previously a 'temporary' bailey bridge here, presumably to maintain access until the ground stabilised enough. Luckily for the local landowner, it also provided currently a road to nowhere - nowhere just being the next piece of land looking for housing development! (see here for further comments) There is a suggestion that Viridor may create another country park alongside.

11.2 Miles - 3 Locks