What a gorgeous day, sun was out and off we went to Wigan! Leaving the flashes and thru an electrical swing bridge, Viv stopping the traffic!
A lovely turnover bridge
Nearing Wigan … what can all these moored boats be doing, everyone out in their deckchairs . . ? Waiting for the lock??
Yes, well, some Muppet had left some paddles up, the truth is uncertain, but the result means no one’s going anywhere:
Never seen a lock pound like this 🙁
What a welcome to Wigan this is. And try to get hold of any CRT staff? Tricky.
They’re busy spending our money on these and footpaths . .
Rather than maintenance. Meanwhile we walked into the town to find another of David’s superb research findings – the Wigan Central! Here’s the famous Wigan Pier … and a chap waiting for his lock to fill up. Nil points CRT.
We later discovered that the problem (ie vandalised) gates were not padlocked, they hadn’t got round to drilling the holes!
An amazing, rail orientated pub with lots of BEER, which was nice. After that he walked up the whole Wigan flight … and saw that they were indeed letting water down to solve our desiccated lock situation!
So with two dead rats lying on the towpath in town … our impressions of Wigan was – hmm, let me out! Meanwhile, we’re stuck here for the night.
It puts a squeeze on our schedule – meaning two 7 hour days ahead but the scurvy crew will cope. They’ll have to. Meanwhile, o look, it’s Gin O’Clock again. Tanqueray No 10 calls.