To be accurate, only about 3 minutes were spent cruising on the Rochdale before we passed under Ducie Street and onto the start of the Ashton Canal.
After a short distance we crossed over Store Street Aqueduct - it was below here that a new development is beginning as we mentioned yesterday. For some time the Ashton Canal had a very bad reputation with boaters advised only to cruise before 11 am - bad guys sleep, in it seems! It has now started to shed that image with multiple new developments alongside the canal and generally a much better atmosphere.
Piccadilly Village is a low rise development of housing - much is crammed into high rise blocks although student accommodation accounts for quite a bit of that. As we noted yesterday the off side moorings and those in the gated basin are marked with signs that go large on Private but make the fine detail impossible to read from the towpath side. We tried to get a little closer and in fact it says that these are all available as 24 visitor moorings!
And so to the first of today's 18 locks of the Ashton Canal.Most are quite open but few have had to accept living cheek by jowl with widened road bridges.
Most of New Islington is surrounded by modern high rise blocks (although we did note that the Urban Splash block Chips is having to have extensive remedial works to the exterior) but this canal house is a reminder of the past when key workers lived close to their place of work.
For some time, people in New Islington have had to cross a narrow lock bridge to catch the Metrolink trams. A new footbridge is under construction to make this route easier and safer but the works did pose obstacles for towpath users!
The pace of development in central Manchester means that every time we visit the skyline has changed. It may just be our failing memory but we do not think that the dark tower block in the centre of this picture was seen by us before. At least it is a tad more imaginative than most.
We passed at least two large former mills that are now standing empty and fast becoming derelict. Surprising that they have neither been refurbished for a new purpose or been demolished for yet another tower block.
The next part of the Ashton runs through an area with numerous arenas and sports facilities. The latest addition is the Co-Op Live which was due to open in April this year but rather spectacularly failed to meet that date with several events cancelled at the last moment (in at least one case after many of the fans had already arrived!) However, it does seem now to be in full swing.
One of the less well known - trampolining and adventure park - perhaps it will have an upsurge of interest after the Olympics triumph by Bryony Page.
There is also the National Squash Centre, a tennis centre and Manchester City's Etihad Stadium in there somewhere and it seems here is the National Cycling Centre as well!
We paused for lunch after 10 locks, alongside the bridge that marks the junction where once the Stockport Canal branched off. Sadly this is one of the longer lost canals, there are many in and around Manchester.
At one time, Lock 13 had a road swing bridge across the middle - fortunately for us that has long disappeared with the roads either side now ending unceremoniously in an abrupt row of bollards. At least pedestrians and cyclists can get from one side to the other.
There is a short break from locks after number 16, with two more to go. However, no let up in obstacles - with just one remaining swing bridge at Copperas, Before we went through, however, we had to take a look down the weed hatch as we thought that we had been getting much slower between the last two or three locks. No weed as such but a good crop of mangled clothing, plastic and a length of electrical wire! We also spotted that the air filter had become dislodged but the engine was too hot to allow its retrieval - that will have to wait until later.
Normally we do not take a lot of notice of slogans in graffiti but on a fence nearby was a message that worried us - after we do have skin in that game! At least we have not had reason to complain but the continuing shortfall of capacity over expectation that continues to dog our politicians may yet affect us. However, we have yet to work out what prompted this claim.
And finally into Lock 18 at Fairfield. At the top we pulled on to the services - water and elsan were an urgent priorities. When we last came this way in 2019 we were urged to spend the night at Drolysden Marina but on that occasion we pressed on, slightly regretting that when finding a mooring for the night proved harder than we had anticipated, So, whilst Mike did the servicing, Christine went to sus out the options.
A pontoon mooring was available - £10 a night - so we succumbed, especially as there was a possibility of a hook-up which would allow us to do some laundry. As we manoeuvred into place, local residents helped and made us feel welcome. Later, the marina manager came and collected the fee but also talked us into having a day off cruising, staying a couple of nights. We have had a good day completing this longer flight but are also quite worn out! They also have a large dryer which Christine may well use tomorrow to help with washing our bed linen. Whilst we do have a washer on board, drying larger loads can be a bit of a challenge. There is also a Tesco Superstore very close and more shops in the town centre. We may even take some pix of the marina!
After we had tied up two very heavy showers arrived out of nowhere - we were glad not to be outside in them.
3.9 Miles - 18 Locks
No comments:
Post a Comment