Day 68 - into Sale, Greater Manchester

---

---

0 locks, 306 in total.







A very humid day so disinclined to do more than merely stand still at the helm. The fates were not on our side however; please stop reading if you're having your breakfast Amanda! We had to queue for water and then the pumpout took an hour (no, I don't really know why either). The worst part was the slightly overweight pumpout man's attire – he was wearing an old, very tight pair of stretch swimming trunks that sadly had forgotten the true purpose of lycra – absolutely nothing was left to the imagination! And never before have I felt the need to wash coins received in change.







We set off again with a fortifying cup of tea, enjoying the last of the rural canal before we hit the Manchester suburbs. There were two things that I particularly wanted to photograph but they no longer exist so I'll just describe what we've all missed. There is a pub on the off-side of the canal and a long way from a bridge so the publican would supply a ferry service for walkers and boater from the towpath side. Apparently you clanged something and this was the signal for a rowing boat to be launched. Perhaps there were just too many false alarms, who knows. The second is a more important loss. It would seem that horses towing the old boats would sometimes fall in the canal, particularly around wharves, where it was often too deep for them to get out, with inevitable consequences. Wharves often had steps leading right down into the canal, to enable horses to get out again – these steps have now been airbrushed from history.







As we reached a more industrial section the canal suddenly became as straight as a die – as far as the eye could see, 2 miles in total. It was quite strange. We moored at Timperley, ate lunch, realised that the 2 small shops were no longer there and decided to move on to the Waterside Centre in Sale. Actually we stopped a little short as there was a pleasant mooring and walked to view this new development. Disappointing, compared to Birmingham; the canal runs though an area of several bars, a theatre and next to a fairly large shopping centre, but it is not integrated. Just one pub has seating overlooking the canal and it was busy – proves my point.







Dunlin was covered with a film of whitish dust and grit after our stay in Lymm – the towpath here was just loose gravel which was churned up by the cyclists. We mopped the boat down with plenty of canal water so that the paintwork didn't get too scratched.







Trying to decide whether to shop this evening or leave it till tomorrow, when it may be raining. I'll let you know if I make the right choice.

---

Photos

Gothic church at Oughtrington
Paid for by Mr Dewhurst of cotton fame.

For our younger grandchild,
with love.

Aqueduct over the R. Bollin
Not much to look at but there is a 30m embankment which breached in 1971. The water level in Manchester fell by over a foot before all the stop planks were in place. This may not seem much but narrowboats are only about 2' deep and the canals not much more. The breach created a vast ravine of sand and rubble all the way down to the Bollin. This aqueduct marks the end of Cheshire and beginning of Greater Manchester.

Marble factory
All the slabs carefully stacked.

Victorian Linotype factory
Supplied typeset for many printing presses.

Similar idea to flats in Birmingham....
... if I'd got the picture right you would see that they looked like an ocean liner.

Robert Bolt Theatre, Sale
I see the name but not sure what, if anything, is part of the theatre!

Waterside Centre, Sale
The canalside pub.