Friday Night Fever

Friday saw us departing from Uppermill and heading south as fast as we could (4mph for those of you who have forgotten). 

First lock of the day - going down! The canal along here is really beautiful, and to think that it was abandoned in 1944, being opened again in 2000. 

It was Brigid's turn to close the gates today although I worked many of the tougher paddles with my big windlass. To work the locks going down, Brigid opens one of the ground paddles, I nudge the boat into the gate entry (so that I can get off) and open the other paddle. When the lock is full I reverse the boat away from the gate, Brigid opens it and I bring the boat in. With the boat drifting into the lock I jump off, close my ground paddle and move to the front of the lock ready to open the gate paddle. Brigid, meanwhile, has closed her paddle and now shuts the gate. We then open the gate paddles and I jump back on the boat as it drops down. Brigid then opens the gates, I sail out, she closes the gates and paddles and then, on to the next. Where the locks are close together one of us walks along the towpath. We have hand signals to show how far away the next lock is and whether we want to walk or get on the boat. I don't always get the right message but, for most of the time, it works. 

One of the locks was full when we arrived, all the others having been empty. I think I know the reason why, looking at the above. 

We made our way through Greenfield and Mossley and went through 15 locks in 5 1/2 miles until we arrived at Stalybridge. 

On the outskirts of Stalybridge there is a large electricity pylon straddling the canal - yes, the canal goes right between its legs! Before 2000 the canal was closed, don't forget. In the centre of town, what now resembles a Dutch town was, before then, a forgotten drain. But we found a good mooring outside Tesco and settled for the night. We settled but Stalybridge didn't! Around midnight we woke up to loud voices, boat rocking and bow mooring cast off for us. Much later, raised voices, shouting but no interference with the boat this time. If anything else happened, I slept through it and in the morning the boat was no worse for the experiences of the night before.