Rochdale Canal - Day 1 - Rose of Lancaster

We left the Picadilly moorings to arrive at the bottom lock for 8 o'clock and await the arrival of the BW guys to unlock the gates. We then learned that they had first gone to the top to start boats coming down so it was 9:25 before we got moving. We could leave top gates open for the boats coming down. Lick and Pilgrim went first as the deeper drafted boats and they raised a bottom paddle for us on exit so that locks were already emptied by the time we got there as the single. There were some difficult locks and some shallow sections which gave the lead boats some trouble, but by far and away the worst was the amount of rubbish in the cut. We had 4 visits to the weed hatch, fleece being the most common objects causing total propulsion failure, and a wig. Otherwise the floating rubbish just looks horrible. The best moorings (for depth) seem to be past the pub and other side of the aqueduct.