Another early start for Curly and we pulled pins from our mooring at 08.10 . With full Sun we soon started to put in the miles and the locks towards are destination of Uppermill . We have been told by several other boaters that it was worth spending a day or two here at this lovely town on Saddleworth Moor.
At least these sheep will keep the grass down in their garden.
We passed this burnt out Wheelie bin on route and where shocked to hear from a local lady that the local Scroates had some how got it in to their heads that if they burnt Blue wheelie bins they would get high on the smoke given off from it . She said it had become a real problem in the area with people having their blue bins stolen and then burnt. I did Google it and it seems to be a bit of a myth and a total load of rubbish (pardon the pun) that it gives you any sort of high.
Come on Curly , put your back in to it.
Entering the small tunnel that takes you under the road and in to the lock below Uppermill.
Now this is where disaster nearly struck . As you can see Inca is at a bit of a strange angle as we are going up in the lock and I snapped this picture just as total panic set in. We had somehow got caught up on the side of the lock and with the lock filling and Inca stuck we were a little bit close to sinking. I shouted at Carolyn to close all paddles which she immediately did . I scrambled off the boat and with the top gate paddles dropped we started lowering the level in the lock from the bottom gates. Eventually Inca somehow dropped off the side of the lock and we then started to fill the lock very slowly. Not a good experience and not one we would want again . It turned out after talking to some local boaters that this lock which is 21 West is well known for being narrow and causing problems . So why hasn’t Canal and River Trust done anything about it ? . At least some signage to warn boaters of the problem would help.
Above the lock there is a lovely long line of newly installed mooring bollards with signs stating 48 hour moorings. The only problem is that it is so shallow you can’t get within 4 feet of the edge . What a total waste !!!!!
We managed to pick up this mooring just before the next lock where it was just about deep enough for us to sit with out touching the bottom. After the shock at the last lock we decided to have a rest here before making our way up to the canal summit at Diggle where we are booked in to go through the Standedge tunnel.
Happy Days
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