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Best place to moor in Wigan


PeterCr

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We're taking our chances and going north in a few days, currently heading out of Liverpool.

 

We need to tackle the Wigan flight soon. Coming from our direction there are a few locks before getting to the junction. As it's an early morning start to go up the flight we'd rather not tackle all those locks before we even start the flight.

 

There's moorings with rings below the last lock before the junction, I'm just wondering how safe they are. Is it ok to moor there overnight or if not where is better? Thanks

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24 minutes ago, TheBiscuits said:

We usually moor at the dry dock visitor moorings, then go up Henhurst lock as part of doing the flight.

These being the pontoons near the water point? I did look at them as we went past the other way and thought they didn't look a whole lot more secure than just using the rings.

 

But if it's not an area known for being risky I suppose it doesn't matter. I'm just a little more security conscious at the moment after a CRT guy from Wigan warned us about kids throwing stones at boats (not in Wigan).

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2 minutes ago, PeterCr said:

These being the pontoons near the water point? I did look at them as we went past the other way and thought they didn't look a whole lot more secure than just using the rings.

 

But if it's not an area known for being risky I suppose it doesn't matter. I'm just a little more security conscious at the moment after a CRT guy from Wigan warned us about kids throwing stones at boats (not in Wigan).

No.  Just up one lock from the floating pontoon.  Rings all along there.

 

Having just re-read your post I now see that's where you meant originally! 

 

I thought you were talking about the moorings just below 85, which some people do use, but the junction water level goes up and down like a yoyo.

 

Canalplan has them as Wigan Dry Dock Visitor Moorings. 

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We've moored on the rings below Henhurst several times with no problems but there is a factory with a noisy extractor on all night near the lock but dry dock end ok. Have also moored on new pontoon with no hassle.

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If you intend to stay on the boat and not visit the town you may get away with mooring outside the Shearings office in the same pound as the dry dock.

 

This is the site where the Canal and River Trust had their local office until recently.

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I'd just  go through henhurst and moor up at cable junction at the bottom of the flight proper.  Good chance of pairing up with another boat to share the locks  in the morning - much better than doing them on your own (assuming your not a fat boat of course. )

 

not much to choose in terms of 'amenities' between any of the moorings suggested so far. There are limited facilities just near the junction.  (bog and shower IIRC)

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1 hour ago, jonathanA said:

I'd just  go through henhurst and moor up at cable junction at the bottom of the flight proper.  Good chance of pairing up with another boat to share the locks  in the morning - much better than doing them on your own (assuming your not a fat boat of course. )

 

not much to choose in terms of 'amenities' between any of the moorings suggested so far. There are limited facilities just near the junction.  (bog and shower IIRC)

If you decide on this option I would suggest that you do not leave the boat unattended.

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2 minutes ago, Pie Eater said:

If you decide on this option I would suggest that you do not leave the boat unattended.

Me too.  It's better than it used to be. .. less idiots because of the CCTV on the other side, but the junction pound is drained with alarming frequency, usually by boaters not working all the paddles on Poolstock.

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2 hours ago, Pie Eater said:

If you intend to stay on the boat and not visit the town you may get away with mooring outside the Shearings office in the same pound as the dry dock.

 

This is the site where the Canal and River Trust had their local office until recently.

That was where we moored when we passed through Wigan, no problems at all. The only rider I would make (and would probably make in regarding a lot of large towns) is that we didn't moor there on a Friday or Saturday night (when there seems a greater likelihood of some drunken idiot coming along).

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I noticed that the gangway down to the pontoon has a fence and a gate locked with a BW padlock so its obviously safe and secure, though I found it quicker to hop over the gate than to fumble about for my keys :).

 

Reminds me of Cambrian Wharf where there is a locked 8 foot high gate, and I have been told off by the residential boats there for leaving it briefly unlocked, Its such a fiddle to get it open that everybody hops over the 3 foot high fence right next to it.

 

.............Dave

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14 hours ago, Pie Eater said:

If you intend to stay on the boat and not visit the town you may get away with mooring outside the Shearings office in the same pound as the dry dock.

 

This is the site where the Canal and River Trust had their local office until recently.

Is this still an option? It was great before the offices were occupied, water tap an all! Locked gates. 

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11 hours ago, dmr said:

I noticed that the gangway down to the pontoon has a fence and a gate locked with a BW padlock so its obviously safe and secure, though I found it quicker to hop over the gate than to fumble about for my keys :).

Yes that's why I thought it might not be so safe and secure, if anyone had bad things in mind they could just jump over the gate.

 

We stayed on the secure moorings in Leicester last year. Now that's what I call secure. 

 

However if it's not an area where there are people with bad things in mind it's not an issue. We generally prefer to moor out of built up areas that we don't know unless we need to like this. We know there are some areas where we need to be careful, we just don't know which ones they are.

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9 hours ago, Pagefield said:

More info here, Peter -

 

Wigan Flight Crew (Facebook)

 

https://www.facebook.com/groups/WiganFlightCrew/

Thanks for that excellent tip Pagefield. We were planning on overnighting half way up but I joined the group and the advice is that doing so isn't advised, apparently the local kids aren't friendly around there. Invaluable advice from a local on the facebook page. Cheers

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After a delay on our way down a couple of years ago, (boat nearly sunk in lock) we moored about three or four locks from the bottom. We attracted some attention but no trouble, thankfully. We engaged the children, loose term for local mouths on legs, and they took there leave. 

 

 

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5 hours ago, PeterCr said:

Thanks for that excellent tip Pagefield. We were planning on overnighting half way up but I joined the group and the advice is that doing so isn't advised, apparently the local kids aren't friendly around there. Invaluable advice from a local on the facebook page. Cheers

You're welcome Peter.  It's a good group.  

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On 19/06/2019 at 15:49, TheBiscuits said:

No.  Just up one lock from the floating pontoon.  Rings all along there.

 

Having just re-read your post I now see that's where you meant originally! 

 

I thought you were talking about the moorings just below 85, which some people do use, but the junction water level goes up and down like a yoyo.

 

Canalplan has them as Wigan Dry Dock Visitor Moorings. 

We have moored on the rings too and we had no problems.

 

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On 19/06/2019 at 15:22, PeterCr said:

We're taking our chances and going north in a few days, currently heading out of Liverpool.

 

We need to tackle the Wigan flight soon. Coming from our direction there are a few locks before getting to the junction. As it's an early morning start to go up the flight we'd rather not tackle all those locks before we even start the flight.

 

There's moorings with rings below the last lock before the junction, I'm just wondering how safe they are. Is it ok to moor there overnight or if not where is better? Thanks

I have moored there a couple of times with no problem

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