Dam busting and deer stalking?

Not either, really. The dam at Lock1 of the Leigh Branch was removed early yesterday and traffic recommenced immediately. The level at the junction of the L&L main line and the Leigh branch was quite low so we decided to wait until the afternoon to see if it would improve. When no such improvement was forthcoming we had to choose between staying until today or cautiously proceeding, sticking doggedly to the centre of the canal.
Our thoughts being that the levels wouldn't improve greatly overnight, plus more traffic to come on Sunday, we decided to set off for Plank Lane around 3pm. Naturally, the heavens opened as we left and by the time we cleared the locks we were thoroughly drenched. Still, the rain had stopped as we passed Scotsman's Flash and we settled down for an uneventful trip back to Leigh. We should have known better!
Whilst living on the canal we have been fortunate to spot an abundance of wildlife, including deer, fox, barn owl, terrapin, heron, kingfisher, water vole, hare and mink. With regard to deer, we had been told of their presence around the Pennington Flash/Plank Lane area over a year ago and, indeed, came very close to one on a dusky evening a few months ago as we walked out of Pennington Country Park. Apparently, their numbers are running unchecked at around two million in the UK so to spot another one shouldn't have been a surprise. However, we didn't expect this

This poor creature was in quite a frantic state, presumably having fallen into the canal between Lily Lane and Dover Lock. As you can see, the high sides meant it was trapped and we simply couldn't see how it would be able to escape. As we approached it was swimming back and forth trying to both evade us and get out of the canal. With another boat approaching us and cutting off further forward movement the deer turned and swam right by us, hence the hurried snapshot.
Luckily, as we coasted by in neutral the deer, now being forced along by the other boat (they too were just drifting along, wondering, like us, what we were going to do) managed to find a slightly lower section of bank and sprang free, doubtless badly shaken but otherwise none the worse for the experience. All's well that ends well!
So, here we are and here we'll stay for a few days as we have a few jobs and things to attend to. Our plan was to go to Manchester but emergency demolition works on the canal side mean the Bridgewater is closed to Manchester for 3 weeks. Oh well, Lymm it shall be then onwards to the Trent & Mersey.