New moorings for Wigan—for one boat!

Published: Wednesday, 06 December 2017

THE Canal & River Trust tells us that boaters are set to benefit from new £80,000 moorings at Wigan—for one boat!

This joint project is between the Trust and the Desmond Family Canoe Trail, for 99ft moorings, but that a third of these new moorings on the Leeds & Liverpool Canal will be for canoeists, leaving just 66ft that with ropes will take just a single narrowboat, whilst the 33ft will take many canoes, especially when breasted-up.

Canoes prime recipients

It seems though once again canoes are the prime recipients, with a 'token' space for a single narrowboat, the moorings costing £80,000, rather proven by the statement that the pontoon will offer canoeists paddling the trail a convenient point to disembark and take a break at Wigan and is next to the project’s canalside Wigan hub on Pottery Road, where the team run canoeing sessions and activities for young people aged 16 to 25 years old.

Greg Brookes, Programme Manager for Canal & River Trust’s Desmond Family Canoe Trail, exclaimed:

“We wanted to create a new hub on the 162 miles trail in Wigan on the Leeds & Liverpool Canal. Wigan’s perfectly positioned for canoeists to stop, stock up and relax in. We wanted a new pontoon here to enable canoeists easy access both onto, and getting out of, the water.

That rather proves a point...