"Marnin" Flight

Monday, 20 July 2009 16:34

Give me the Devizes flight of locks rather than the Wigan flight on the Leeds and Liverpool Canal any time!

We think we deserve a rest - it has been a bit of an adventure today! The Wigan flight was ahead of us - from the second lock (86) to the Top Lock (65), 22 locks in all for us to do!

We started from here at around 8 am

As we went up the flight everyone said "marnin" to us - hence the title! As the morning wore on, there were more and more walkers and cyclists, some going to work, some just out for a stroll.

We used to bank with this firm once upon a time - situated past the junction with the Leigh Branch

The first bit was familiar from our walk up to the bus on Sunday, Lock 85

Britannia Bridge with all the cars going into Wigan - we'd rather be boating!

There were a few threatening clouds but the sun continued to shine and it gradually become quite hot - particularly for John who was working the locks. I was having fun trying to keep Epiphany on the towpath side in locks as each lock behaved differently. This was partly due to the amount of water coming through some of the top gates, and some of the paddles were very leaky.

I have never seen handwriting on a lock gate before: lock 82

Looking back from 82, it looked almost rural!

Then I saw the fence around the Lock cottage and drew my own conclusions

The locks had been a little spaced out up until this point. The rest of the flight they came thick and fast with only short pounds between them, so John was able to go ahead and set the next lock and then come back and shut the gate behind me.

Lock 77 and the bridge before it - Peel Hall Bridge (55); note the graffiti on the bottom gates

The paddle gear was all locked using handcuff keys, but they were pretty easy to suss out! Some of the bottom gates were opened and shut with chains on drums with a fixed windlass. John found it easier to ignore this system and open and shut the gates with his back, as we normally do!

Gear and gate chain

We could see there were some people a few locks above and soon we knew that there were two boats coming down. We were surprised that we were the only boat going up and that there was no sign of the BW (British Waterways) crew that usually were around to help boaters through the flight.

Then I saw this ahead and chickened out of taking Epiphany into lock 74!

So I went on ahead to open the gate

The struts you can see are at a number of the locks and we think they are there to stop the bottom gates going past their closed position. Is this because of subsidence?

I was beginning to notice that there seemed to be a lack of water in the pounds - despite that rushing bywash!

When we got to Lock 72 it was very obvious in the pound above

In lock 71 we could see the holes where the water comes in when the ground paddles are opened and the sides of the lock sloped inwards at the bottom. This did not bode well for this lock experience!

Ground paddle channel in side of lock

However, we went up OK although the boat bounced around a fair bit! Looking back the view was fabulous

I am going to leave you here - in lock 72 waiting for the next instalment, contemplating the "leaving of Wigan".