The Rochdale Nine - As They Were

When I posted about my day on the Rochdale Canal with Barry and Sandra on AreAndAre I deliberately didn't include any photos - there was no way they could compete with Barry's, even if I had taken any!

Instead, here are a few shots of what the Rochdale Nine - and the next few miles up the canal through Manchester -  looked like in  1973.  They are not particularly good quality - and have suffered the ravages of time in storage as 35mm transparencies - but they do, I hope, provide an interesting contrast with the present scene.

Compare this with Barry's shot of the same bridge

These restaurant boats plied their trade despite the ambience of the surroundings

The start of the Ashton Canal at Ducie Street

Beyond Ducie Street and through Ancoats and Miles Platting someone had the

 brilliant idea of reducing the depth to six inches and making a "water feature"!

Newton Heath, with one of Manchester's famous 1970s

 Orange-and-white buses in the distance. (Quite a sensation at the time)

The locks were made into "an attractive cascade feature"!

 (Sorry about the terrible quality of this one)

And this was Failsworth, where the money ran out! It is near

here that a supermarket had been built over the line of the canal

and which had to be removed as part of the restoration!

It sounds from their blog that Barry and Sandra encountered a few difficulties on this section, which I'm waiting to read about -  but they'd have found it a little harder in 1973!