THE ROPEY ROUGH ROCHDALE & AWFUL ASSAULTING ASHTON?

Going ‘Up North’ this season? Will you have to pass through The Rochdale 9 and The Ashton Canal? Worried, concerned, is it hard, is there violence threatened? Relax, Mr David has just completed the journey early in the season in order to pin-point the pitfalls.
We arrive from Birmingham via the Bridgewater Canal which has some stunning views and superb mooring spots, but the junction at Waters Meeting is one of the most unpleasant, graffiti sprayed and litter-strewn areas on the canal system. Having avoided floating tyres, plastic bags and gas cylinders the trip into Manchester is easy, industrial and with little housing by the canal so your run should be uneventful.
One matter we need to address is Old Trafford Football Ground, which you pass shortly after Waters Meeting. Not only have I supported the team for fifty years, but I am a shareholder. I am therefore worthy to pass the home of Manchester United Football Club. But many of you will not be so heroic. There are two courses of action for you. One is to stop (moorings provided), buy a football shirt and be amazed at the amount of silver in the Trophy Room, or if you cannot manage this, the second course is to assemble all the crew on deck and have them bow from the waist as you pass by.
After Old Trafford there is little excitement, a view of The Manchester Ship Canal, cormorants sitting in a line on the lampposts looking like characters from a Dickens’ novel. You enter Castlefield Quays under railway arches, past Edgerton Narrowboats providing diesel, pumpout and repairs. Initially the area is confusing and unpromising but then the vista opens and you are surrounded by an old warehouse and wharves area, which has been renovated by The Bridgewater Canal Company. You sail under the new white footbridge, past the attractive wooden lift bridge and the British Waterways South Pennine Office sign. The offices are half-hidden to the rear of the warehouse behind a locked door and up a flight of stairs (you are not allowed to use the lift, yes I know your you are disabled, stop whinging and use the stairs!) It’s worth visiting the offices as they are extremely comfortable and warm, and the staff very helpful and friendly.
Beyond Castle Quays the waterway becomes a cul-de-sac, but there is plenty of room to turn at the far junction in front of The Quay restaurant and bar. The wharves on either side provide good mooring for many boats. The area on the right is a private car park and the nights we spent moored were very quiet (except music on Saturday until 2am), no drunks, vagrants or vandals , only some family visitors.
We spent several days at The Quays awaiting British Waterways permission to proceed. The stoppage listing stated you needed to give 48 hours notice to traverse Duke’s Lock but on ringing the BW office we were told that the lock was closed until 15 March. Further pushing changed the story to a wall falling into the canal at Portland Basin resulting in the entire canal having to be closed. No, we could not travel through the locks to be nearer Portland Basin ‘for health and safety reasons’. So we were patient and had a great time visiting the attractions of Manchester. With a tram stop just two minutes walk away, one can be in Manchester city shopping centre in 10 minutes.
It was difficult to understand why a wall-fall in Portland Basin would prevent us moving from Castlefields, but walking up the Rochdale canal we met a BW project engineer who explained that they had taken this opportunity to de-water some of the pounds and complete renovation work. Indeed a great deal has been done to improve the situation around the Rochdale and Ashton canals. In conjunction with the local council and building developers the whole canal length through Manchester is being developed. On our walk we met only one homeless dosser sleeping under a bridge arch and one abandoned, window smashed, presumably stolen, car in a garden at the side of the canal.
So we were patient and BW were very friendly. Initially it was Friday when we could move, then it was Saturday, and then Friday again, then on Friday we could get part way to Piccadilly Village as the Ashton was still blocked with scaffolding, then it was Saturday again. We decided that Sunday was probably the time to move off; the eager beavers could sail up on Saturday and make our journey easier on Sunday. Well, this was the cunning plan.
So at half past six on a Sunday morning we quietly slipped our mooring and moved parallel with the castellated railway line to the bottom lock of the ‘Rochdale Nine’. By common consent the Rochdale Nine are some of the most difficult locks on the system but each lock is a star in own right. Working up the nine locks took us three hours! There were just the two of us, but we do complete over 400 locks a year and tend to know what we are doing, and still it took us three hours. One problem is the amount of rubbish, which is strewn along the entire canal. This was brought home graphically to us when we had walked the canal earlier and viewed the bottom of the de-watered sections. The amount of rubbish was partly due to BW’s lavender boat being stranded during the winter whilst the pounds were de-watered but no attempt had been made to clear any long-term rubbish resting on the bottom of the pounds, this is disappointing. Amongst the rubbish we saw floating were hypodermic needles, so you may need to be careful when you clear the weed hatch.
I will try to give some idea of the problems and character of each of the nine locks as we ascend the flight. You will need an anti-vandal key as most of the windless drives are covered by a metal box whose handles are secured with a handcuff. If you are single-handing or the crew has left you to close the lock gates behind the boat each lock has a white-painted ‘Rhino Horn’ metal spike, which is very useful for securing the boat.
Lock 92, Dukes Lock. This appears to have a very old chamber built with large stone blocks and interspaced with brickwork, all covered in a black slime. The bottom gates have short beams and therefore capstans have been fitted with chains to open the gates. Lock 92 has gate paddles and no ground paddles, you therefore need to take care when filling the lock.
A straight run to the next lock, the tow path has mooring rings beside the backs of building on your right, car parks and some small community gardens are on the left. A small derelict factory with attractive chimney is looking for an owner to love it.
Lock 91, Deansgate Tunnel Lock. Under Deansgate tunnel, which is flat roofed, the walkway on the right is well lit, highlighting the fitting of very attractive bricks with reef-knot design Steps up to the lock or a gentle walkway on right. Short stubby gates. Under railway arches on your left is a refurbished development of bars and shops; flower boxes, tucked away from yobs in an attempt to make a café culture. The anti-vandal handcuff was broken on the lock, resulting in only one paddle gear working.
Lock 90, Albion Mills Lock. This lock had some attractive features but was completely covered with floating rubbish, the pound itself was quite low resulting in my gently easing the boat though the lock and pound trying not to reverse and force rubbish on the prop.
Lock 89, Tib Lock. With the previous pound low this lock appeared very deep. The gates were exceptionally heavy, so I took the opportunity of staying on the boat and advising Brenda to take care with the heavy gates.
Lock 88, Oxford Road Lock. A gentle turn and about the longest pound on this flight. This lock has a dossers sleeping station under a bridge arch on the right. A new footbridge constructed by building developers crosses the canal and from the left a junction to Fountains Marina joins. Access to the marina is blocked by a bolted swing bridge.
Lock 87, Princess Street Lock. A low narrow bridge on entrance. The main point of Lock 87 is that you have to take the crew onboard as there is no foot access to Lock 86. The famous Canal Street runs along the left, and with no access at the next lock it means you do not have to walk down the street and see anything that would frighten the horses. More sobering is the HIV/AIDS monument in a small park on your right. Above Lock 87 is a floating bar which produces a lot of the rubbish you are passing through.
Lock 86, Chorlton Street Lock. This lock is a pig. There is a long landing stage under the bridge which is only 3 planks wide and there are no obvious boat securing points. The fitting of a holding ring at the centre of the landing stage would be much appreciated. The left-hand gate (landing side) has a small gate beam, which the two of us could not budge. By crossing over the thin, slippery walkway across the gates we managed to open the right-hand gate. The right-hand area of the lock is moss-covered stone and very, very slippery. The bottom gates are new and the top paddle gear has a metal rectangle stop to jam into the paddle ratchet. You do, of course, have to take the crew back on board as there is no foot access from the lock.
Lock 85, Piccadilly Lock. 111 Piccadilly Office block rises above but you are now entering the Land of Mordor as you sail under huge offices and retails blocks. The tunnel is lit by spasmodic lighting on the left but no light on the right. The crew need to alight from the boat before entering the tunnel as there is a metal fence all the way to the lock. The towpath passes the lock and is raised by a wooden walkway towards the right. Round concrete building foundations greet you as you pass out of the lock. The lock area is similar to Farmers Locks in Birmingham where an office block has been built over the lock. This lock is even more depressing, being an area for rent boys. I was told to stay on the boat. Whether this was to protect the boat or my morals I was not sure. The towpath paddle gear could not be used due to a faulty hand-cuff and Brenda again had to traverse a narrow, slippery top gate. These bottom gates were very stiff.
Lock 84, Dale Street Lock. The top lock; nice to be out in the sunshine and away from the dark practices. A large car park is located on the left and much attractive construction has been completed on the bank areas past the lock. An alley way leads from the right out into the street. Directly in front you have the continuation of the Rochdale Canal with a right turn The Aston canal through which we travel.
On sweeping round into the Ashton under two bridges you enter Piccadilly Villages, a modern development of houses. Mooring rings are provided here and I judged it a safe area to overnight should you wish to. For some reason the towpath was screened by temporary security grills. These will soon find their way into the canal via some drunk’s sense of humour. We swept into the welcoming arms of an Ashton narrow lock; a great sight after nine hard double locks. The pound by the old BW offices was completely flooded, new towpath construction work had been drowned by the water. We attempted to report the flood but the BW office did not even have an answer phone. So it was a Wellington boots job to complete the second lock.
Now comes a serious safety warning – the high water levels had made the bridges too low for the boat. The first of the problems was Bridge No 6. We took down the flower boxes, cleared the boat roof and we were still too high. I dismantled the Maxview TV aerial and we just managed to clear the bridge by a quarter of an inch. A railway bridge by the Commonwealth Games stadium and a lock walkway bridge also were only just cleared. So before you attempt the Ashton clear the roof and take care at the bridges. After rising through locks 11, 12, 13 we had no clearance problems. Even Bridge 21 which was reported as being ‘very low’ did not give us any problems compared with Bridge 6.
The two bugbears of the Ashton on this journey were the rubbish and lock gates off their hinges. The rubbish, much of it plastic bags, floating under the surface was of such quantities that after each lock I had to clear the propeller. By bridge 6, where we had to do several reverses to avoid hitting the bridge, it took me 20 minutes to clear the propeller. The lock gates on several occasions would not close no matter the number of people pushing. On one occasion we had four people pushing and the gates were still wedged three inches open. I am sure the gate was off its hinges but no matter how many times we opened and closed it the gate would not close completely. This happened to us on four separate occasions. There was nothing to do but hold the gate as tight as we could and put the maximum amount of water into the lock.
The area is urban: factories, many derelict, old mill terraced housing and a couple of community pubs (the type that I spent my childhood outside, clutching a bag of crisps and a bottle of pop). Serious attempts are being made to improve the area, on our right for a considerable stretch was an enormous building site constructing the various stadiums for the Commonwealth Games. Mooring rings have been placed by the main stadium and these will provide an excellent safe and secure off-side mooring should you have the time to split your journey.
Our trip from Castlefields to Portland Basin took us nine and a half hours, At about nine and a half miles, this was travelling at one mile an hour which is slower than I prefer.
We encountered several small groups of youths, but on a Sunday afternoon in March all were friendly. Attempts were made to scrounge a lift ‘Can we have a go, mate?’ but no attempt to climb aboard or to engage in the local hobby of stone throwing. We did carry a stock of chocolate bars to placate the natives and bribe our way through; yes I know it is cowardice, but its better to give a chocolate bar than to receive a stone.
So our general impressions are that we would not complete this journey for fun, merely to get to somewhere better. That said, Castlefield Quays are superb, quiet, well worth a visit, Manchester is ‘happening’ just off your bow deck and has something for all including stunning Victorian buildings of individual design. Lots of work has been completed, but in order to make the area safer and more agreeable to the boater rubbish needs to be cleared on a daily basis from the two canals and more lighting should be fitted along the ‘Rochdale Nine’. Every BW person we met was helpful and charming but their boat-customer relations were abysmal. Six boats were waiting to travel up the ‘Rochdale Nine’ and we did not see one BW employee come out and speak or brief on what was happening. The story of why the canal was closed appeared to change with each employee and when we gained Portland Basin we saw that the emergency stoppage did not affect the entrance to the Peak Forest Canal as we had been told at the BW Castlefield Office.
At no time whilst using the canals did we feel threatened or intimidated. The sight of rent boys was unpleasant but sadly unpleasant and not a threatening unpleasant and the youths along the Ashton were no worse than on any other urban canal. But can we have a clear-up? My tiny hand is still frozen from clearing the propeller!