Going Down…

Tonight we’re moored up near the middle of Manchester

We were last here around ten years ago, and overnight then it felt like we were the only boat in the city centre – a bit lonely ! To confirm our fears we were set adrift during the night, so we cruised into the city this time with a little trepidation.  We needn’t have worried, as a bit of research on the net revealed a secure little basin in what’s called ‘Piccadilly Village’.

Entrance to the ‘Thomas Telford Basin (from the other side of the canal)

The sign at the entrance says ‘PRIVATE MOORINGS’ in big letters, underneath which was written in tiny letters: ‘Visitors welcome for 24 hours’. So in we went, and here we are :

This part of Manchester was once heavily populated with giant mills towering over grubby and unsavoury canal arms, however whilst one or two remain derelict and a number have been rejuvenated into offices, where they’ve been demolished in their place reside posh ‘waterside’ apartment complexes, such as Piccadilly Village :

Last night we were moored just outside a place called Portland Basin – where the Peak Forest, Huddersfield Narrow, and Ashton Canals meet. The River Tame runs through this part of the city, the area therefore being referred to as Tameside.

The view of the River Tame and a mill chimney from our mooring last night, makes it look a lot more desirable than it actually was !

Portland Basin is home to the (free to enter) Tameside Museum, which is a gem. They take a broad look at a selection of the local industries that employed many of the local population during the 19th Century; cotton spinning and weaving, and coal mining are obvious Lancashire industries, however there was glove making, hat making, as well as support industries for them such as hat-wire making, heavy engineering, shoe and clog making.

Portland Basin is also home to the Wooden Boat Preservation Society, one of whose ‘project’ boats is below :

To get from Portland Basin to Thomas Telford Basin today, meant dropping down a further eighteen locks (175 ft) – the ‘Ashton flight’. It has been notorious for decades as having the most ‘unfriendly natives’, and takes around five hours to work through.  Each lock has four paddles to let water in and out, and on the flight EVERY paddle has an anti-vandal lock on it – total of seventy odd. Each has to be unscrewed using a special ‘key’, and screwed locked after use – takes ages !

The Canal & River Trust reccomend starting the flight, up or down, well before 10:00 am as most of the locals don’t surface till later in the day !

Part way down the locks pass Manchester City FC football ground, the Etihad Stadium. You can just see it in the background of the photo below taken at Lock 11 –

Couple of other bits of interest on the way down included a sunken boat, and some clever murals on the back of an old factory building :