From tpav@globalnet.co.uk Sat Apr 24 12:31:28 1999 Date: Sat, 24 Apr 1999 17:05:10 +0100 From: Trevor Pavitt Reply-To: canals@blacksheep.org To: canals@blacksheep.org Subject: Lady Elgar goes North - 7 On the Leeds and Liverpool at last! After interesting visits to Dunham Massey (a rather splendid country house with deer park) and the ^ÓSwan with two Nicks^Ô pub (yes, nicks not necks ^Ö swan-upping and all that) we left our pleasant weekend mooring at the Bollin River Aqueduct and made our way towards Waters Meeting. We decided to make a diversion in order to spend a night in the centre of Manchester. Reached Castlefield and moored near the Grocer^Òs Warehouse in this very sympathetically restored area. Only disturbance was from the nearby Quay Bar which, despite having no customers, had four exterior loudspeakers pouring out monotonous music from midday to midnight! Took one of the excellent trams to the City Centre, also visited a nearby Sainsbury^Òs for stores. Next day we reached Worsley in the pouring rain, (after passing the Worsley Cruising Club with its ^ÓCommodore^Òs Mooring^Ô - pretentious, moi?), but were too wet to investigate the Delph and soon moored in open country beyond, to the great relief of the dog who did not think a lot of the walking potential in Manchester. We were much troubled by violent squalls on our way to Wigan and on one occasion nearly hit a bridgehole. Stopped at Astley Green to visit Mr Rodgers, the local coal merchant, and pick up a couple of bags of Homefire. Interested to note that the pub had a ^ÓNews Room^Ô and ^ÓParlour^Ô ^Ö is this the equivalent of our southern ^ÓPublic Bar^Ô and ^ÓSaloon Bar^Ô? Finally moored safely just below the ^Ó21^Ô and visited Orwell^Òs famed ^ÓWigan Pier^Ô (actually a coal staithe ^Ö now just a bump in the towpath) and, more prosaically, the local Asda (we are anticipating a period without supplies!). We were delighted to receive a visit from David Long with a bottle of claret - a mini GIG ensued. Next day we went up the Wigan 21, which proved much easier than we had feared mainly due to the sterling efforts of three BW lockies and David Long, with whom we repaired to the ^ÓKirkless Hall^Ô for a farewell pint. Marvellous views towards Wigan and beyond from our mooring at Haigh Park. Next day a very pleasant morning^Òs cruising brought us to the Johnson^Òs Hill locks where, as related elsewhere on the ng, we suffered the temporary loss of our bow line. We wanted to moor close to Blackburn (but not *too* close!) so settled for a spot near Riley Green ready for a dash through Blackburn on Monday morning. We have noticed that several of the BW visitor moorings on this section look very difficult to moor on whereas there is often lots of lovely armco barrier just around the corner! Regards to all, Trevor - nb "Lady Elgar"