Leaving the Boat Near Wigan

[Mac of Cygnet]

I'll be heading along the Bridgewater soon, and intend spending the full week allowed with a CRT licence, exiting at Leigh.  Is there anywhere I could reasonably leave the boat soon after that for a few days?   I once left it with Crooke Boat Club, but their moorings are very small, and it depends on someone being away.  I've already booked a train from Wigan, so that has to be reachable.

Thanks

Mac

[dmr]

Leigh through to Wigan is not really the best area. Can't think of any convenient marinas other than the boat club. You could go on to Parbold and leave it just off the end of the visitor moorings and get the train back to Wigan.

 

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

[rgreg]

Parbold? Direct train to Wigan in 12 minutes.

 

Edit: DMR - Snap!

Edited May 28, 2018 by rgreg

[Pagefield]

The 'secure' moorings which were outside the then CRT office are now private land.

[JohnEW2912]

Dover lock on the Leigh branch is OK but you would need a bus, a taxi or a healthy walk into Wigan station. Appley Bridge is as good as Parbold and a bit nearer or Burscough a bit further - both with handy stations as well.

[Neil2]

Probably not much use to Mac but does anyone know if there are visitor moorings in the new marina at Plank Lane?

[rgreg]

4 minutes ago, John Wareing said:

Dover lock on the Leigh branch is OK but you would need a bus, a taxi or a healthy walk into Wigan station. Appley Bridge is as good as Parbold and a bit nearer or Burscough a bit further - both with handy stations as well.

I seem to recall a recent incident of vandalism to an unattended boat at Dover Lock so would probably opt for one of the other three places if leaving it for a few days.

Where are you heading after Wigan Mac?

[JohnEW2912]

That's interesting. I've left my boat at Dover lock a number of times, including earlier this year with no problems, but that of course is no guarantee of the future.

Edited May 28, 2018 by John Wareing
Typo

[rgreg]

18 minutes ago, John Wareing said:

That's interesting. I've left my boat at Dover lock a number of times, including earlier this year with no problems, but that of course is no guarantee of the future.

Yes, Dover Lock has historically been regarded as a safe mooring and, hopefully, this was just a one-off incident which can happen anywhere; it only takes one idiot. I guess if Mac is heading North up the Wigan flight on his return it would be well situated and, at this time of year, there should be plenty of boats about for that extra bit of security.

[dmr]

2 hours ago, John Wareing said:

Dover lock on the Leigh branch is OK but you would need a bus, a taxi or a healthy walk into Wigan station. Appley Bridge is as good as Parbold and a bit nearer or Burscough a bit further - both with handy stations as well.

I would go for Parbold as there will be lots of other boats plus lots of dog walkers etc. Appley Bridge (I assume you mean the lock not far from the station) is a bit more remote, but once OP is back on the boat its a lovely spot to spend a night or two, must be the most  scenic and spectacular "under a motorway" spot anywhere on the system.

 

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

[JohnEW2912]

RE Appley Bridge I meant near the road bridge and the station, not as far up as the lock, which is a bit more remote. Between the swing bridge and the road bridge there are offside permanent moorings and a pub and plenty of people about most of the time. Also it's nearer the station.

[Mac of Cygnet]

Thanks for the suggestions.  If I can't get in at Crooke I'll probably go on to Appley Bridge.   I'm heading towards Liverpool.

[StephenA]

9 hours ago, dmr said:

 Appley Bridge (I assume you mean the lock not far from the station) is a bit more remote, but once OP is back on the boat its a lovely spot to spend a night or two, must be the most  scenic and spectacular "under a motorway" spot anywhere on the system.

 

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

That's Dean Lock....

[TheBiscuits]

We often leave the boat opposite the dry dock in Wigan for up to a fortnight and have never had any problems. 

 

It is a few hundred yards from Wigan stations, and handy for Wigan Central (the bar!) 

 

All the suggestions made above are good moorings, but not necessarily handy for Wigan.  Check for connections to your train. 

[rgreg]

5 minutes ago, TheBiscuits said:

We often leave the boat opposite the dry dock in Wigan for up to a fortnight and have never had any problems. 

 

It is a few hundred yards from Wigan stations, and handy for Wigan Central (the bar!) 

 

All the suggestions made above are good moorings, but not necessarily handy for Wigan.  Check for connections to your train. 

That's good to hear because they are quite decent moorings. I imagine now with the office side being private there are more boats moored that side too.

[JohnEW2912]

2 hours ago, StephenA said:

That's Dean Lock....

No - Dean lock is almost under the M6. Appley lock (the last lock before Liverpool) is about 1/4 mile on from the road bridge in Appley Bridge.

[dmr]

Yes, sorry I was jumping to conclusions and assuming an incorrect use of names.

Deans lock is under the motorway, its actually a lovely spot and a short walk to the train station (that is also a pub). Fairly quiet and remote

 

Next off is Appley Bridge, a small town with offside private moorings, but no train station.

 

Then a shortish walk to the deep lock. I have seen a boat left long term in the side channel. Also a lovely spot and I am happy to moor there but I personally would not leave a boat unattended overnight. But again no train station.

 

A little further on is Parbold with good popular moorings, lots of walkers and a train station. Only down side is that its difficult to get the pins knocked in securely and a lot of boats go past.

 

I would not leave a boat in Wigan though chances are it would be ok. I do suspect Wigan has improved a lot in the last couple of years Search this forum for boat vandalised in Wigan thread. Near dry dock is indeed probably best, gets worse and worse the closer you get to Poolstock locks though with housing development even this might improve.

 

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

[JohnEW2912]

There most certainly is a train station in Appley Bridge. In fact it's a bigger station than Gathurst, which is the one near Dean lock. Pretty much all trains stop at Appley Bridge but only some at Gathurst.

My suggestion was to moor on the towpath opposite the private moorings and pub, quite busy with people and close to the station. Mooring either in the side channel at Appley lock or on the main line below the lock are options, but further from the station and also less passing foot traffic.

[dmr]

1 minute ago, John Wareing said:

There most certainly is a train station in Appley Bridge. In fact it's a bigger station than Gathurst, which is the one near Dean lock. Pretty much all trains stop at Appley Bridge but only some at Gathurst.

My suggestion was to moor on the towpath opposite the private moorings and pub, quite busy with people and close to the station. Mooring either in the side channel at Appley lock or on the main line below the lock are options, but further from the station and also less passing foot traffic.

You are correct, I now remember walking towards it on the long trek from the lock to the local shop. I also remember extreme disappointment with both of the pubs. We have spent quite a while in the lock side channel. Its a popular spot with locals of all ages (80 year old bloke walked there from Wigan for a sit on the bench). Did see a couple of lads showing interest in an unoccupied boat but moved on when they spotted me, but maybe it was just an interest in boats.

 

I think I also looked up the history of the station and think its big because Apply Bridge was a major industrial centre for many years which is also why the locks are doubled. Hard to believe now. 

 

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

[JohnEW2912]

Appley Bridge is a large village but most of it is on the hillside some way from the canal at the bottom of the valley. The nearest shop is indeed a trek. The pub on the road bridge was demolished some years ago but there is one by the canal on the offside which was little more than a shed but has now been tarted up into a formula food pub. All in all it's not a great place to overnight but fine to leave a boat for a while.

If you want pubs it's much better to press on to Parbold and Burscough. If you want countryside either side of Appley is lovely.

[dmr]

10 minutes ago, John Wareing said:

Appley Bridge is a large village but most of it is on the hillside some way from the canal at the bottom of the valley. The nearest shop is indeed a trek. The pub on the road bridge was demolished some years ago but there is one by the canal on the offside which was little more than a shed but has now been tarted up into a formula food pub. All in all it's not a great place to overnight but fine to leave a boat for a while.

If you want pubs it's much better to press on to Parbold and Burscough. If you want countryside either side of Appley is lovely.

 

It should be kept quiet really but that stretch of canal along the Douglas Valley is stunningly pretty, from Crooke to the outskirts of Liverpool is all good but the bit between Deans Lock and Parbold is spectacular. Can still spot a few features on the river from the old navigable days.

 

The revamped food pub had closed early when we visited, maybe because its focus is food? The pub down the road on the towpath side was a bit of a building site and transforming itself into a music venue. Looks like it had a nice traditional interior at one time.

 

Railway in Parbold is a proper locals pub.

 

Middlewich festival soon, then will be heading to Liverpool again.

 

..........Dave

[StephenA]

9 hours ago, John Wareing said:

No - Dean lock is almost under the M6. Appley lock (the last lock before Liverpool) is about 1/4 mile on from the road bridge in Appley Bridge.

I was replying to:

 

Quote

I would go for Parbold as there will be lots of other boats plus lots of dog walkers etc. Appley Bridge (I assume you mean the lock not far from the station) is a bit more remote, but once OP is back on the boat its a lovely spot to spend a night or two, must be the most  scenic and spectacular "under a motorway" spot anywhere on the system.

 

So the "most  scenic and spectacular "under a motorway"" is Dean lock.... you can walk back up the canal and then cross the Douglas and go the station at Gathurst.

[Pluto]

On 29/05/2018 at 09:55, dmr said:

I think I also looked up the history of the station and think its big because Apply Bridge was a major industrial centre for many years which is also why the locks are doubled. Hard to believe now. 

 

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

The locks were initially doubled to reduce water usage by avoiding the deep lock. Originally the deep lock was the only one on the Liverpool end of the canal, and water was supplied by the lock into the river at Dean. When the canal was extended from Dean to Wigan, the locks were all fairly shallow, so the deep lock at Appley was a problem. As traffic developed, the locks at Dean and Hell Meadow were doubled, though I am not sure if the second lock at Hell Meadow was ever used. Pagefield was added later because of subsidence, and in effect replaced the lock at Crooke. It too was set to be doubled, but the work was never undertaken. A good percentage of the coal traffic on this section, over 1 million tons annually, came from the colliery near Crooke, so double locks were only really needed at Dean and Appley. Appley Bridge had two major industries, the glue works and the lino works. Many working boats on the canal had lino on their cabin floors and bench seats which came from the dump opposite the works. The canal company also had a stone quarry here, with a clay pit further up the valley towards Dean. If you stand on the towpath below Dean Lock and look towards the river, there is the remains of one of the old navigation weirs used to make the Douglas navigable. It is possibly the oldest navigation weir still in its original condition. The other weirs have been removed to improve flow in the river, and subsidence above Dean would have made those in that section a problem. The river at Dean is about five feet below its level when the river was navigable, as you can see from this photo of the old lock connecting canal and river.

[dmr]

Thanks, we did do quite a bit of reading about this history and some exploration both on Google Earth and on foot. We found some stuff on the www about the glue and lino factory. We failed to find the remains of the lock in your photo which must be very close to Deans Lock?

 

We found something in the river which we assumed to be the remains of a lock, but it was not obviously so. Could find surprisingly little on the www concerning the Douglas navigation. At Parbold it goes right under the canal, was this ever navigable after the canal was built? Not much air-draft so was the river bed lower????

 

Will be up that way again in a few weeks time. We had a little explore of the old mining area just behind Crooke but would like to explore that a bit more, the blokes working on the replica "pier" gave us a lot of verbal info.

 

It does concern me that canal/navigation history is a minority interest and that a whole load of knowledge will be lost when the current older generation has gone. Most youngsters have little interest in, or knowledge of, history and geography.

 

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

[StephenA]

1 hour ago, Pluto said:

The locks were initially doubled to reduce water usage by avoiding the deep lock. Originally the deep lock was the only one on the Liverpool end of the canal, and water was supplied by the lock into the river at Dean.

 

 

Which is very odd because in both directions the cut with the shallow locks would seem to be the natural course of the canal with the deep lock off to one side, i.e. as you come round the corners above and below the lock the natural curve of the canal takes you to the shallow locks.