Page published 17 May 2023
Day 5 - Wednesday 16 July 2003
To learn a little more about this cruise read the Background page. or simply go to the Day One report and my start from Lancaster at the beginning of my cruise with the Tuesday Night Club.
Departure from Parbold
Understandably, with the discovery of the second engine mount failure Neil was anxious we get ahead of time so the next crew exchange could take place as planned. He was expecting a half day stoppage while the two mounts were replaced. As a result we were under way at 06:05 on Wednesday morning and passing through Dean Locks, by the M6, at 07:24.
An hour and twenty minutes after setting out we were passing under the Gathurst Viaduct which carries the M6.
Wigan
From the M6 it's only a mile before you begin to enter the urban area around Wigan. There's another couple of miles and a couple of locks before you pass Wigan Pier. My photo says we did that at 08:53.
Immediately before you reach Wigan Pier, you pass this building. I learned much later that it is Wigan Pier No.4.
I wasn't sure what to expect of Wigan Pier. I only knew it was it was associated with one of a number of warehouses in the town. I recall that I took the picture of Pier Four as I thought that was the great landmark. Only after turning a slight kink in the canal do you see what was then labelled as "Wigan Pier".
Wigan Pier - I had to have a picture of this landmark!
However, modern pictures suggest this was, in fact "Pier 3" and the further projection in my picture part of the "Pier 2" building. Perhaps that makes the building you see half hidden by a tree "Pier 1", but I haven't found any photos with it labelled as such.
Immediately opposite the building I knew as Wigan Pier you turn under a bridge and climb through two locks before passing the Leigh Branch junction. Round a further bend in the canal you start the climb up the 21 locks of the Wigan Flight.
Wigan Flight
Neil reckons started the Wigan Flight proper at 09:30, sharing the whole flight with the Jackson's, a couple on their nb Verity Ann. I didn't take any photos of the first five locks up the flight. The first being at Lock 80 at 10:20.
I'm fairly certain this is Lock 80, but it's not easy to be certain as much has changed in the area over the last 20 years.
Revd. David Long, a frequent poster on u.r.w. (If you don't recognise that abbreviation read the page describing the Background to this cruise.) had been contacted by Neil and, after his morning service, Neil reports he managed to join us at 10:30 for his customary bike assisted lock wheeling. I don't recall seeing it but Neil says he had with him a draft of the latest issue of "Sankey News" which interested him as it had a lot of pictures of Earnest during what he describes as it's "Engine mount and prop shaft destruction cruise" on "the nether regions of the Tidal Mersey". I wish I had taken some photos of David, but it seems he spent most of his time away from the boat preparing the locks for us.
It's 10:39 and Martin Clark steers nb Earnest towards Peel Hall Bridge and Lock 77.
Half way up the flight housing and industrial areas gives way to what I take to be an area of abandoned mines. It's steep-sided scrub land with a number of ponds in it, but it does provide a wonderful view of the canal and the town beyond.
It's 11:17 and Earnest passes between Locks 73-72
I took a photo of nb Earnest traversing between locks 73 and 72 and a further picture showing nb Verity Ann make her way to Lock 72, but it was too similar to be worth showing here.
11:19 An apparently deserted Lock 72, but both nb Verity Ann and Earnest must have been in the lock.
The first two of my last three photos taken on the Wigan flight are both from the off-side. The first showing Withington Lane Bridge, beyond which is the final lock in the flight. Then I swing round to take a picture of the Kirklees Hall Inn. The 2003 edition of Nicholson Guides tell you that the pub will issue an embellished certificate to any boater that completes the ascent of the flight. As we were in a hurry I don't think we called in to claim ours. I suspect that Neil may have already had one from previous ascents.
It's 12:23 and we can see Withington Lane Bridge just above us.
I swing the camera round to show Kirklees Hall Inn. Martin is on Earnest's roof and Mr Jackson, skipper of the Verity Ann, has his windlass to hand.
I believe the cycle we see in the final photo taken while on the flight is David Long's and I assume the person, almost out of shot, with the yellow short sleeve shirt is him.
We are seen in the top lock of the Wigan Flight at 12:30, so we completed our passage a few minutes later.
Neil's notes declare that a three hour trip up the Wigan Flight is "acceptable" adding, as we clanked away from the top of the flight, that "David did manage a quick "bless" of the wreck that was Earnest".
Onwards to Blackburn
After the exertions of the Wigan Flight we could relax as there's a nine mile stretch before the next lock. Certainly, we did not stop at the Kirklees Hall Inn for lunch, so I assume we prepared and ate something while underway and that, in part, accounts for the lack of photographs as we passed by both Adlington and Chorley.
After the first five miles we stopped at the White Bear Marina in Adlington. It turned out to be a wasted fifteen minutes while we found out that they did mot have any Metalastic flexi engine mounts. We then covered the next four lock-free miles past Chorley to arrive at the bottom lock of the Johnson's Hill flight at 15:50. Although my photos don't show it Neil records that we completed the flight in company with a Pennine Cruisers hire boat.
It's an attractive junction where we enter the bottom lock of the Johnson's Hill flight.
One curiosity about this area is that while the text in Nicholson's Guide references the Walton Summit Branch, the mapping does not show it as part of the network. Google Maps, on the other hand, shows a car park at the end, some 350yds away, and a towpath that reaches to the bridge by the junction at the bottom lock.
There's a further gap in my photography, with nothing more shown of our ascent of the Johnson's Hill flight or of any part of the seven mile journey to the next flight of locks in Blackburn.
The weather was still holding up well. Neil reported "No trouble at all at Cherry Tree bridge", which I assume meant it did have a reputation for being a haunt of misbehaving youth, adding "Limited swimming going on in Blackburn Locks, but kids friendly, especially as we were leaving the locks full". He recorded that we started up the flight at 19:00.
Neil is on the helm and, at 19:39, is just about to take us the few yards to Lock 52, the top lock of the flight.
The research I'm having to do as I write this twenty years after the event reveals that much has changed around the canal in Blackburn. The strange tower is now gone from the derelict buildings alongside Lock 53. Similarly, the mill that stood beside Lock 52 is also gone, replaced by a huge B&Q store.
Looking back towards Lock 52. It seems the mill beside the lock is long gone.
I'll leave the rest of the report of the day by quoting Neil's report posted on u.r.w.
Onwards we trundled to arrive at the first deep, TNC approved moorings, out of Blackburn by the now somewhat popular Bridge 106 (20:50). Well timed meal from courtesy of Molly - a rather nice, prepared from scratch chicken casserole had been scoffed by the crew, while the captain attempted his at the same time as steering and missing the rather large Blackburn trolley shoals. Rather knackered, so early to bed.
The story continues with my report for Thursday 17 July 2003. It covers our run between Blackburn and Skipton.