Parbold

5 Locks, 7½ Miles 1 Swing bridge. Now moored at bridge 37.

Wigan Pier, now all shuttered up and closed

Despite there being 3 other boats in the basin that we were moored in none of the other boats showed any sign of wanting to move this morning so we had to lock down on our own. Still, looking on the bright side the weather was good with a clear blue sky. This clouded over during the morning but we didn’t get the forecasted rain.

At Dean lock we met up with an very elderly couple in a small cruiser. It transpired that she had just had an unintended dip in the canal. At first they were not too keen on sharing a lock with us but they eventually relented and locked down with us without any problems. However the same couldn’t be said about Appley lock which has a 12’ drop. We got into the lock OK and Dot and the guy off the other boat starting letting the water out. By the time we had dropped about 5’ I could see something was wrong because there was a real turbulent behind the boats and we were getting bounced around something wicked and I was concerned for the welfare of the cruiser and it’s crew. I called up that the sluice had been left open but was told that all sluices were closed.

Beautiful scenery on the Leeds and Liverpool Canal

As we were unable to empty the lock I tried to ring BW but we were so far down in the lock  I couldn’t get a phone signal.   In the end Dot said she would refill the lock and I could try ringing when she had refilled the lock. As soon as I was able to get off the boat I went and checked the sluice on their side of the lock and guess what? It was fully open. Once closed the lock emptying process was started  again, this time without any hassle. Their only comment was that they always have trouble at that lock. I’m not surprised if they go leaving sluices open. Once out of the lock we let them go first and get as far away from us as possible.

We are now safely moored up in Parbold which appears to be an interesting little village. We’re off to find out.

1722 locks, 3577½ miles, 66 Tunnels, 53 swing bridges and 53 lift bridges since Nov 2006