To Manchester's Castlefield Basin

Tuesday, 12 May 2009 09:14

Pretty soon after Bollington the Bridgewater Canal becomes urban. Now this is not necessarily a bad thing, as the town of Sale, now the outskirts of Manchester, keeps the canal away from too much housing development.

Sale towpath

However the industry, both old and new, is still evident in places.

The old Linotype factory

Modern ship-like block

The Robert Bolt Theatre and Arts Centre is clearly an attempt to bring culture to the waterside. After the Barfoot aqueduct, the canal enters Stretford and pretty soon we were at Watersmeet, the junction with the Manchester Arm.

Turning left under the bridge takes the canal on to the Leigh Arm, joining the Leeds and Liverpool Canal.

Watersmeet footbridge

We turned right towards Manchester. This arm leads to the Rochdale and Ashton Canals too. First it goes right into the heart of Manchester, passing a football icon.

Manchester United football ground

After Throstle Nest footbridge we came so close to the Manchester Ship Canal.

MSC from Bridgewater Canal

There is a lock down into the MSC - Pomona Lock

After the impressive railway bridge there are some derelict warehouses opposite a modern block of flats. Such contrasts continue on the canal system throughout Manchester.

The remains of another lock is sad to see - Hulme lock

A dizzying number of bridges herald the right turn into Castlefield Basin. Other basins are off to the left, some with moored boats in which looked pretty permanent!

Castlefield Basin deserves a blog of its own. Suffice it to say for the moment that it is full of photo opportunities! Most of the photos I took were after we moored, as I was looking out at the bows from now on!

There were quite a number of boats moored; both sides are available for mooring. The off-side was full of what looked like fairly long term moorers but there were a couple of spaces right at the end by Grocer's' Warehouse. We winded and moored a few boats back.

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