Went on a recce first thing to get a newspaper, but the place was dead. Just a few takeaways and obviously closed at 7:15 am. Seconds after starting out it was evident that the prop was badly fouled. It was shallow where we moored and the boat spent the night a couple of feet away from the bank, half aground. So we stopped and removed a bunch of plastic and fishing line (which cut my finger). We made good progress. There are nice plentiful moorings on the Wigan side of Riley Green bridge. Finally we reached the top of Johnson Hill Locks where we bought gas (£25) and took on water. Now full sunshine and getting hot we set down the 7 lock flight. No real problems although with the full length boat we still have to be careful with the leaking top gates where there is definitely the potential for flooding. To avaoid going right back in the lock to get the gate open we are using our Calder & Hebble experience to open the opposite side gate and then move the boat over. Easy enough with the bow thruster. Our aim was Botany bridge moorings, listed in the CRT internet canal guide. What a disappointment. There is space for one boat on the offside,
but is part of the CRT maintenence yard and piled high with sand & ballast.
Next is the water point (1 boat) and then a line of permanent moorings which appear only partly used. On the towpath side repeated attemts at mooring on a beautifully kept grass bank failed due to shallow water. So we went on and found excellent moorings just past the wiggle at the southern end of Chorley. This was original concrete bank, not piling. We have learnt by experience that metal piling seems to hide a lot of underwater rubble as if the contractors got rid of all their rubbish there. The older concrete is generally fine.
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