The crowd's attention was soon enough justifiably diverted onto the appearance of Sue Day of horse drawn boating fame with one of her team pulling a riveted iron bulk carrier bearing a bridge beam recovered from one of the renovated bridges. Locks were clearly numbered. No cill markings on the renovated locks. No bollards for boats waiting to lock. Through Stalybridge the knobbly bits on the guard rails may be tested for serviceability.
Lighting is provided for pedestrian safety under all road bridges.
To avoid vandalism the lights are on the off-side and could catch an unwary boater's head. Maybe I'm being too anxious but felt they do present a risk. The gates in the guard rails have latches that are under engineered. The dredging pattern is making only the centre of the cut navigable to deeper drafted boats. To finish as I started, there is a brand new Tesco's, canal side in Stalybridge.