Day 10; Wigan to Burscough.

Thursday 16 july.

We left our hotel at 8am and went into Wigan town centre for breakfast. We also had to find, and then go to, an EE shop to top up our cell phone, otherwise there may have been no more blogs.  

For others planning a trip like ours I would suggest taking a day off in Wigan to see the sights. It seems an interesting town.

In my childhood Wigan was the butt of many comedian's jokes, particularly its Pier. It was radio though, not TV, in those days. We bumped into one of the radio stars  in the shopping mall we went to, to find EE. Do you recognize him?  (Clue - he's not "leaning on a lampost at the corner of the street in case a certain little lady goes by.")

Where we joined the canal today there was more litter than in rural areas, but things improved steadily as we left the city centre. We went past a dry dock, useful if you have hull problems, and then past the Wigan pier, made famous by George Orwell.

For those interested in the techicalities of canal construction you have probably wondered like me if annd by how much the water level changes during rain or drought. This guage, seen leaving Wigan, is probably to answer those questions.

We didn't notice the M6 on our approach, until we were almost beneath it, but its noise was clearly audible later. It was the most impressive bridge we've seen so far. In contrast, the decaying swing bridge we passed later, shows how human interaction with canals have changed.

We later passed what looked like the East/West German border fence, but a local assured us it was only to stop people getting to the railway line. We also passed what looked like a border pillbox, but the boundary with Yorkshire is a long way!  :) We don't yet have an explanation for its presence.

Today we passed the second person on our trip taking a dog for a walk in a push chair. This time however the person, a lady did not want photographing with her dogs but was only too happy to talk about them. The dog in the chair suffers from epilepsy. It is reassuring to see that for some animals at least the dog's best friend is its owner.

Approaching Burscough we came across a lot of fields growing nothing but turf. A first for me in the UK. They don't want dogs in their fields apparently, or perhaps its just a statement of fact. 

Just before we turned off to our B&B in Burscough a side arm of the Leeds and Liverpool branched off to the north. Only 24 miles left to go!