Probably the wettest drought ever recorded!
Why is it still a drought? Most riverside towns have the flood barriers up!
Canal Date 8th May 2012
Location Boothstown (Manchester)
Miles 15 Locks 0
Friday, 04 May 2012 Dunham Massey Hall
A dull but dry morning with just the odd bit of sunshine braking through. This is a very nice place to moor up, I can’t believe that it is so quiet here; I would have expected such a pleasant spot to be ruined by rows of moored boats. They are all at Lymm! We had a trip to Lymm on the bus. That’s the second time we have used the bus passes. It is becoming a bit of a habit. As soon as we got off the bus we walked into Pete & Liz. We had a coffee together; we dawdled around the town and ended up at a chip shop for lunch, very nice indeed. We then did a bit of shopping before catching the bus back to the boat. All very civilized stuff.
Saturday, 05 May 2012 Dunham Massey Hall I spent some time doing routine maintenance - I topped up all of the batteries. I don’t think that they needed it but At least I know there is some in there now. We meet up with Pete & Liz from Snowbaby to sort out the next few days of the trip. I don’t think we had any firm plan, just a sort of woolly idea of where we wanted to go. Pam & I went for an afternoons walk. We chose the circular walk through the village and the grounds of Dunham Massey and back. I did manage to fall asleep in the chair when we got back on board!
Sunday, 06 May 2012 Dunham Massey Hall The weather is looking much better this morning, less wind and cloud. I think it is warmer too. The batteries & solar panels are working well. We have not run the engine for 5 days and they are still showing 12.5volts. The weather has been predominantly cloudy with the odd bit of sunshine. We have been watching plenty of TV and have used the inverter for hair drying and sawing. We went to the Hall and had a good look round. Pete & I both had buggies and that made life a lot easier. We then went into the house. It is a well preserved piece of English history, well worth a visit. By the time I had walked round the house and its formal gardens I was knackered. We did have a rest in the café where we had a cream tea followed strangely enough by a Cornish pasty. The walk back to the boat was most painful. I managed to collapse on the settee and have a well earned nap! That was pretty much the day done.
Monday, 07 May 2012 Dunham Massey Hall A coudy and dull start to the day and the forecast is for heavy rain showers later. This must be a bank holiday then! As it is a holiday, we took things rather easy and did nothing other than read books. In the afternoon we walked to the hall and had a good look at the water mill in operation. It was a flour mill that has been converted into a saw mill and most of it is still there and operational. Most interesting. It has remained cold all day however; the heavy rain went by mid afternoon. By evening it was raining again. This rain lasted most of the night and was very heavy at times. Why is it still a drought? Most riverside towns have the flood barriers up!
Tuesday, 08 May 2012 Boothstown (Manchester) We got up at the rediculas hour of 7.00 to get moving as it was going to be a bit of a long day. We were moving by 8.00 and by 8.30 we had picked up Snowbaby again. We travelled in convoy all the way with us leading. We went nice and slowly. The canal through Sale on to Manchester was much nicer than I expected. We stopped at Altrincham and did some shopping at a large retail park. We eventually set off again some 2 hours later. We had not gone very far when we stopped for chips. A very welcome stop indeed. Form there we carried on through Sale, Stretford and Trafford Park. We missed out Manchester Town Centre altogether. After Trafford we went through Eccles and over the Manchester Ship Canal. It is huge, It makes the canals look like an insignificant little ditch. It is hardly used by commercial traffic these days. It seams such a pity that it is not opened up much more to boaters. From there we went to Worsley services where we stopped for water and we pumped out the poo tank. By now we were all feeling tired and we were looking for somewhere to moor up for the night. Just as soon as you leave Worsley the industry and housing stops and you are immediately out in the country side again. It is as if someone has just flicked a switch! We have travelled all the way through Manchester without being attacked, robbed, stoned, or killed to death in any way. In fact it was rather nice!
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