Daily Archives: 24/03/2022

Monday 21st to Wednesday 23rd March 2022 Having received updates on the state of the canal from Martin the day before, Robert decided that he needed to check whether it was navigable before we left as we did not want to become stranded in “bandit country”. He set an alarm for 06:00 and set off on a reconnaissance mission down the towpath. There were so many empty cans and so much broken glass that Robert swiftly decided that it was not a suitable place for us to walk Ralf. Vandals had opened both the top and bottom paddles on Lock 77 so there were stretches that were almost totally devoid of water. Robert managed to close and lock the top paddles but without a windlass could not close the bottom ones. Robert walked down to Castlefield looking for suitable mooring spots then, having revived himself with a hot beverage, caught the tram back to Lock 77 to see whether his closing the top paddles had made any difference. Nothing had noticeably changed so we had to accept that we could not possibly travel any further until the Canal and River Trust staff managed to open sluice gates and send more […]