What's That Noise in the Middle of the Night?

Sale shops were pretty handy to our mooring, we had a choice of several large supermarkets close by, Aldi was the choice this time to fill the cupboards. We weren't able to get into the designated moorings but the Bridgewater being nice and wide and the sides generally well kept we moored along the tow path.

We had big intentions on Tuesday as we headed off from Sale, first thing on the agenda was to get the holding tank pumped out since the gauge was in the red and while we were at Stretford Marine it made sense to fill the fuel tank too. The lady working at the marina was very thorough, on leaving I was absolutely sure the holding tank was empty! She also asked if I had seen the Bridgewater Enforcement Officer but no sighting from us at all, we were well within our seven day limit on the Bridgewater Canal anyway. We didn't even cruise for an hour when I saw the Trafford Shopping Centre and thought I should ask Rachael if she was interested in a visit. Rachael was ready to go in a flash as I was still mooring up the boat.

The Trafford Centre is huge covering several hectares, we didn't cover half of it! By the time we had emerged from the Centre to go back to the boat it was pouring rain...just for something different...not!

The dining area designed after a cruise boat deck

About 3am I could hear a clicking sound coming from the stern of the boat. I went to investigate and it turned out to be the inverter not having sufficient battery power to work. I switched it off, made sure there was nothing else draining the batteries and went back to bed to sort it in the morning. It turns out the Battery Management System had been giving a false reading and the domestic batteries were much lower than it had indicated. It was pouring rain again this morning so the batteries were given a good charge.

As we were eating our breakfast Sylvie and Michael in NB Chartwell arrived beside us, waved and reversed and tied up on the mooring behind us. A long chat ensued and then we all headed off in the rain to the shopping centre. Rachael and I stayed long enough to try out the Thai Buffet for lunch then it was back to the boat in the sunshine and off towards Leigh leaving behind NB Chartwell.

Crossing the Manchester Ship Canal

The rain started about Worsley and I was very tempted to stop, from the canal it looked like a nice little village. I slowed in the rain for a photo of The Packet House where people would catch a Packet Boat to be transported along the new Bridgewater Canal.

Instead I sought cover from a heavy downpour under the M60 bridge along with a walker and a cyclist. About an hour later I had to do the same again but by the time I got to Leigh I was mooring in bright sunshine.

Everything seemed to be going well yesterday (Thursday) as I dropped Rachael off to do a bit of walking along the tow path right up until I picked her up under Bridge 3 then there was a bang! bang! from underneath the boat and no forward or reverse without stalling. I wasn't prepared to go to the side again so with such little traffic it was engine off, key out, glove on and down the weed hatch in the middle of the canal. Within seconds I knew exactly what I was dealing with as I felt about the propeller unraveling a couple of metres of strap and finally pulling up a steel ratchet on the end. I guess a truckie had lost it? Sorry no photos, wasn't thinking of the camera at the time. Going through one of the first locks we had done for a few weeks, heading for Wigan Wharf.

We arrived in Parbold to showers and didn't move off the boat once tied up.

This morning (Friday) we left at the usual 9:30am in nice weather getting to Burscough in good time to finally make a rubbish drop, our first in about week. We couldn't find any rubbish disposal points anywhere along the Bridgewater! On arriving at Drummersdale we moored and headed the advertised 800 yards down to the farm shop. It was almost lunch time so we picked up a few things, some nice looking homemade black pudding, fresh eggs and some veges and sat down in the tea room for lunch at one of the few remaining tables.


I finished the day in pouring rain mooring just near Bridge 20, caught by the English weather again!

Did more miles than we needed to today so it is only a short run tomorrow down to Bridge 9 to wait for CART staff on Sunday morning to open it for us as we head into Liverpool.