The underground canals at the Delph

a canal mine portal

The flashing fridge light couldn’t spoil a lovely morning even though the Captain would have to replace the leisure batteries. At least they have lasted four years as they were last changed on our way to the river Lee. The Captain ran the engine for a while to charge them before we set off.

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We moored at Worsley visitor moorings 45 minutes later eager to explore the Delph where the underwater coal mine met the Bridgewater canal. If it wasn’t for the coal the canal would not have been built. There were workmen clearing the scrub around the basin as we went in to take a closer look but we kept out of their way.

Barges once came out of this portal

There were several mine entrances though one had no water in it. The bright rusty water was flowing out of another portal. It was more interesting than I had thought. What a dreadful job those miners had. The coal canals stretched for 46 miles in a branching pattern. Surprisingly the underground canals ran on four different levels. How did they manage such a feat of engineering with mainly picks and shovels? Sadly men died working in the mine – there were no unions or health and safety in those days.

houses above the Delph

As we left the basin we noticed the heavy padlock on the open gate.

“We’re not meant to be in here are we?” the Captain asked a man holding a strimmer.

“Not really,” the man replied, then went on to tell us how the Delph was going to have walks put through it so people could look at the basin. Normally that isn’t possible at the moment as the access path is slippery! I guess we were lucky to get to see it before it is all restored.

clean paws

Lottie however cut the conversation short as she wanted to explore the path through Worsley Woods. That also was interesting with pretty streams and steep wooded paths. All Lottie wanted to do was cool off in the water – but most of the streams had soft muddy approaches as if the levels had dropped.



lake above the mine workings



Dirty paws on a happy hound

Curiously there was a lake above the mine portals. Surely that wouldn’t have been there when they were mining as the men would have been afraid of water trapping them below ground.

view from Barton Lane underbridge

Back at the boat Lottie had a rare shampoo to get rid of the sticky mud but she soon dried off in the sun. We had a pleasant cruise back over the Barton swing bridge and back through Manchester.



View from the Barton swing aqueduct

The canal has long straight sections and I had just started one of these when a narrow boat closed up swiftly. He drove past me as if my boat were moored up. The speed on the canal is 4mph but we cruise at about 3mph. This guy had a huge bow wave and disappeared as quickly as he caught up. Surely he was doing 6 to 7 mph. When we turned onto the next long straight he had vanished. It takes all sorts and livened up a boring stretch.

is it a steam train?

The next entertainment came from observing the workforce improving the towpath. They had mini diggers and dumper trucks and rolling machines spread over several miles of canal. Most of them were working industriously at their own patch of path. Two cyclists speeded towards the closed path then dismounted and slung their bikes casually over the fence into the local park. Perhaps they have been using that diversion since the path closed.



barges supplying materials for the towpath construction

We moored in a quiet spot three miles from Lymm. It was just as well that we didn’t cruise at great speed for when the Captain went down the engine hole to turn the stern gland his batteries were very hot. One was fizzing angrily like a shaken coke bottle about to explode. He tried to call a local chandlers about buying new batteries but got cut off as he had a poor phone signal.



Church in Ashton upon Mersey



Frustrated he disconnected the fizzing battery to make it safer and to stop it discharging the second leisure battery. The fizzing soon stopped although it took a long time to cool down.

“We’ll see how much charge we have left in the morning,” he announced gloomily.



towering ship shaped flats