The cache is a magnetic nano and can be reached by foot if you find your way up to where it is located. No climbing or going off track is needed. From the cache location you look down onto the magnificent Barton Swing Aqueduct.
The Barton Swing Aqueduct is a moveable navigable aqueduct. It is an amazing piece of engineering which carries the Bridgewater canal over the Manchester Ship Canal. The swinging action allows large vessels using the ship canal to pass underneath and smaller narrowboats to cross over the top. The aqueduct was the first and only swing aqueduct in the world and is a Grade II listed building which is considered a major feat of Victorian engineering. It was designed by Sir Edward Leader Williams The Swing aqueduct opened in 1894 and remains in regular use today.
The aqueduct is a form of swing bridge. When closed, it allows canal traffic to pass along the Bridgewater Canal. When large vessels need to pass along the ship canal underneath, the 1,450-tonne (1,430-long-ton; 1,600-short-ton) and 330-foot (100 m) long iron trough is rotated 90 degrees on a pivot mounted on a small purpose-built island. Gates at each end of the trough retain about 800 tonnes of water; additional gates on each bank retain water in their adjacent stretches of canal.
The structure is adjacent to, the Barton Road Swing Bridge. Both bridges are operated from the brick control tower on the island in the centre of the ship canal. When in the open position, the aqueduct and road bridge line up along the length of the island, allowing ships to traverse each side. To avoid the risk of collision, the aqueduct is opened half an hour before traffic on the Manchester Ship Canal is scheduled to pass.
As a young kid in the late 1970's I used to come down here with my dad and older brothers taking the dog for a walk on Sunday afternoons. This was years before the nearby Trafford Centre was planned and as such the area was much quieter than you see it today. The walk aong the Bridgewater canal often ended with a wait at the Swing Aqueduct waiting and hoping for a boat to come along so we could watch the Bridge master close the gates and swing the bridge out of its normal position.
We were lucky enough to see this happen on a number of occasions and loved it every time. Hopefully, if you are lucky and you wait a short while you may get to see this engineering marvel in action too!!