21st of July. The Wigan locks are better with help.

We set off early and arrived at the top of the Wigan flight at 8.30am. There were two boats there already, who said they were going down together when one had finished on the water point. We resigned ourselves to going down after them and on our own and put the kettle on. However, just then another boat came past. We hailed it and we agreed to go down together. They headed straight for the first lock, bypassing the waterers, and we scrambled to join them. Our heros turned out to be experienced and lovely boaters Pete and Brenda from narrow boat Meandrine. We got into a good routine and got down the main 21 lock flight in four and a half hours.

Harold and Meandrine going into the bottom lock.

We stopped at the bottom to walk Scooby. Robin cycled into Wigan town centre, a rather sad place, for milk and crisps. He also got hot sausage rolls by way of breakfast which we hadn't had time for at the top! Then we continued on out of Wigan, passing the pier on the way. Its basically old wharf buildings, now renovated and containing a pub.

Wigan Pier

After a further 4 locks, we arrived at Crooke moorings, next to a nice pub. We went there to eat (very tasty and good value) where we ran into Pete and Brenda again, finishing off the evening very sociably. It felt very good to have got the flight over and done with just a bit of a sore back and two new friends.