Towards Gathurst on Monday

So, carrying on...

The lock keeper's cottage at Dean Lock

This shows me what I am missing as a retiree, watching the traffic zoom along the motorway... That's right, absolutely nothing! I have swapped 80mph for around 3mph and am convinced I have done the right thing.
Once through this lock and our next stopping point is almost upon us, just beyond Bridge 46 at Gathurst.

This is an old shot and we are facing the wrong way!

Gathurst is a brilliant place to stop, for reasons related and not related to the canal. There's the canal side Indian restaurant (if you can't cope with really slow service, get a takeaway) plus the rail station is only a short walk away. There are lots of walks to do plus shops up the valley heading left as you look at the picture. Using the train, Wigan is one stop away at a couple of pounds for a return ticket, and we have availed ourselves of this service (plus the services of the very quaint pub on the station!) more than once.

Wigan bound by train

No sooner had we arrived than I received an email notification of the continued closure of Lock 1 of the Leigh Branch, with subsequent updates revealing the branch wouldn't be open before the weekend. This gave us a couple of days to kill (some exterior jobs were done and, internally, Lottie D is sparkling!) but we would be forced to move by Thursday at the latest to empty our cassettes. The choice was, either back to Burscough or risk a night or two in Wigan waiting for the lock repair to be completed.