We left our mooring on the Peak Forest Canal and turned into the Aston Canal which we had heard was not one of the best.  Our initial impression was “well this is actually quite nice”.

The towpath was well surfaced with pleasant grounds to the side and lights inset at regular intervals.  Unfortunately after an hour we came across our first hazard and it became clear that little was being done to keep the canal clear or to maintain the locks.  Several paddles were not working and some gates were extremely hard work.

And it became clear that people were getting concerned about security.

We then found ourselves in increasingly dull industrial surroundings.

A large tree had obviously been left across the canal for some time.

The industrial past begins to close in.

It becomes more and more gloomy and the crew begins to look as if the strain is telling as the trudge their weary way to the next lock.  How many more? Dunno but it’s 27 all told today!

We were not aware that there were temporary closures between locks 2 and 1 as the wall in the pound was being rebuilt so we had to wait for an hour or so which was not too bad.

The “underground” section at Ducie Street after the Piccadilly Basin was frankly awful.  It was dark,  inhabited by prostitutes and druggies and very intimidating.  The “anti vandal locks” had been vandalised and could not be released.  This made the paddles inoperable and the only reason we could get through was that the water was flooding over the top of the gates.  It took two people to open one gate and leaving the boat without anyone on board would have been very risky.  We all agreed that this area is not worth tackling  with only two people on board.  The whole area seems to have been left to decay after the end of the Olympics and the locks have had no maintenance since then.

Congratulations to all members of the crew for stalwart efforts throughout the day.

We were very relieved to reach Castlefield Quay where we found one of a very few empty spaces.  Only two boats got in during the next 24 hours and they both moored just behind us on what we understood to be private land.