Bridgewater Canal:Castlefields

Philip catches some sun at Islington

This morning we got our pumpout and filled our water tank before setting off down the Rochdale 11 for Castlefields.  Water level between the two locks above Picadilly junction was 2 feet down and we were scraping the bottom, but from lock 9 down there was plenty of water with strong flows over the gates making opening a struggle.   With the expected problems by Canal Street of no towpath access to the lock we were ready.  There is a little gate in the glass railing to gain access to the lockside by climbing down if all else fails.   The whole flight took about 3 hours and there was a mooring in Castlefields.   RCR called with good news.    We are now booked into Lymm Marina on Friday for repairs.   From the start our bow thruster had been out of action due to a broken joystick.  I was going to source a replacement in Manchester so felt very foolish when by dismantling it  I discovered that it worked just as well, though not as easily, by manipulating the microswitches directly.