Monday 13th June
After a night of broken sleep we set off to start the Manchester 19 locks at Failsworth arriving about 8-15am. It was raining quite hard by this time and we were looking forward to it immensely. As it happened we made it down to Piccadilly in 5 hours, exactly half the time it took us to go up! Barry had to make one trip down the weed hatch and we didn’t have to clear the prop at all. We only got grounded once too. Actually there was a lot of water in the canal today, a lot more than there was when we went up. We managed to flood the towpath several times and a children’s playground as well!
Halfway down we passed a boat coming the other way and met the most pompous, self opinionated twat I have ever met! This was at the lock where Barry was clearing his prop and we told this chap we wouldn’t be long. He said surely Barry could clear his prop while the lock was dropping. I said yes he could but he preferred to wait until he was finished before we dropped the lock. Anyway, I said he couldn’t control the boat if he was down the weed hatch. This chap said surely that was what a line was for and he should attatch one to the rail of the front gate or something, I didn’t really understand what he meant. By this time Barry was ready and we started dropping the lock. The conversation turned to where we had been etc and I said I would be glad to get off this canal as we had had a lot of problems. I bemoaned the lack of facilities, dearth of suitable moorings, the lack of water, the rubbish in the canal etc and everything I said he contracicted me.
He said ‘You don’t come on the Rochdale for an easy time.’ I said I had realised it could be a difficult canal but I wasn’t expecting to encounter the amount of problems that we had during the last 3 weeks.
He then said ‘If you want an easy time you should stick to the nice, cushy canals like the T and M or the Shroppie.’ By this time I was really riled and for two pins I could have smashed his pompous, fat face in with my windlass! Good job his Mum turned up with his tea and biscuits. Mind you she was nearly as bad. She asked me if we had done the circuit from the Huddersfield and when I said we had been up to Salter Hebble, had a look and as we were 60 ft decided not to. She started going on about how it was easy to do the Huddersfield and the Calder and Hebble in a 60 ft boat. Her two sons had done it a couple of years ago, you just have to take the fenders off. Another few minutes and they would have both been minus their teeth!
When we got to the last lock it was padlocked shut and we had to phone BW to get the lock keeper to come and let us through. He soon arrived and we moored up at Piccadilly where we did before we went up. No sign of the rent boy who got scared by Mac last time we were here! We went off to Wetherspoon’s for a celebratory beer (Abbott £1-90 a pint) and had a few actually. When we came out we were walking down the road when Barbara suddenly announced she had left the bag she had with her in the pub. We asked what was in there and it turned out it had some clothes in it and she had been looking for a charity shop to leave it at. Unable to find one she had to bring it to the pub. What sort of clothes? Two tops and a pack of six pairs of M&S drawers! So we were in the Spar shop saying Barbara had left her knickers in the Wetherspoon’s. You had to be there.
Hoping for a nice undisturbed night tonight and a nice easy trip down the Rochdale 9.
