Having spent the last four days at Parbold we are now moving on again. There are a number of objectives. 1. Shopping at ASDA Wigan. 2. Get water. 3. Dump rubbish. 4. Get to Poolstock Locks between 2 and 3 pm. All 4 were achieved except rubbish disposal. It seems there is nowhere (other than perhaps boatyards) of disposing of rubbish until Preston Brook. Appley Deep Lock was very slow to fill as one ground paddle is U/S. Thereafter no problems. We were on our own until Wigan Bottom Lock when another boat joined us for the next 4. Poolstock Locks were not locked as per the advisory notice, so the 2 - 3 pm opening was not extant and we passed straight through. Actually the pair of us picked up an extra boat (One Eyed City) at lock 2. This one went through with our partner and luckily I spotted that he had tied up his centre line to the lock ladder and just as the boat descended his free line ran out. Fortunately caught in time because a few seconds later the knot would have tightened beyond being undone and most likely the lock ladder would have been torn off the wall. It seems that this single hander was shall we say "inexperienced". We are now on the Leigh Branch at Dover Locks.
The locks are no longer in existence, just the narrows. I guess they were once functioning as stop locks or safety locks in case of breach.
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