Chadderton

Thursday 03 July 2014 – Chadderton, Rochdale Canal

We are shattered, having started out at 06:55 and moored at 17:55, a nice tidy eleven hour day covering twenty locks and nine miles.  That sounds fine but….. there is always a but.  The pounds were empty, the locks difficult (all with anti vandal locks on and each one different) and the amount of rubbish chucked into the canal has to be seen to be believed.  Some of the locals obviously do not appreciate canals.  At every lock either Graham or I had to go down the weed-hatch to remove the accumulated rubbish, it wasn’t just at the locks either.  The majority was plastic shopping bags although we also got clothing and industrial banding tape.

There is an interesting ‘lift’ bridge where the BW key stops the traffic by dropping barriers as for powered swing bridges, but then a section of the roadway is lifted hydraulically by about ten feet to allow the boats to go underneath.  Any motorist hoping to beat the bridge would run into a lump of concrete, tarmac and machinery.

The weather has been pleasant with sunshine and a few light showers.