Manchester here we are!

A very interesting day! Set off this morning and although very cloudy it was, at least, dry. An hour into the journey and we arrived at Waters Meeting.

Fork left onto the Leeds and Liverpool or right onto the Rochdale. Past the closest point to the Manchester Ship Canal,

....and on past towerscrapers of containers awaiting trans shipment....

Old Trafford was the next point of interest in what was turning out to be a very interesting little trip.

On to the city centre of Manchester where this was the welcome!

Finally arriving at the first of the 9 wide locks on the Rochdale at Castle Quay.

These locks are certainly very eventful to navigate! They rival the Kennet and Avon quite easily. Several of them have only one top paddle working, all have anti-vandal locks and some of them are so stiff to undo that it's an impossibility. The water pouring over meant that a nudge by the bows of the boat was the only way to get out of them and the lock beams where room is restricted have a very cumbersome and awkward chain and block system which requires the windlass to open or close them. Cursed hydraulic paddles abound on all of them and the area they pass through are, to say the least, dodgy! This turned out to be our standard lock operating kit:

One lock took us 36 minutes to navigate from arriving to closing the gates as we left!

Eventually we arrived at the top and moored in Picadilly Basin amongst the sumptious surroundings of building sites and tower blocks.

It was nice to get an email as we landed from someone who worked in the offices at the top of the locks to say they saw my boat pass. Apparently they have a boat in Ventnor Farm and it turns out that one of their neighbours is now safely ensconced at Brinklow - what a small world the boating world is!

Tomorrow morning at 8.30 we need to be meeting the BW official who will lock us through lock 83 for some reason and then we head on towards the summit locks where we are to be escorted through lock 44 on Saturday morning.