On the beautiful Peak Forest Canal

There wasn't much of the Maccie to finish today before we hit the junction at Marple, just past the mighty Goyt Mill then the boats moored below the junction, some of them giving off fragrant wood smoke as the less hardy are now keeping their fires in all day

A quick right turn beyond the bridge and we were heading towards Whaley Bridge and Bugsworth Basin with Kinder Scout glowering in the distance 

The scenery up here is amazing and my puny iPhone camera does it scant justice. Still, I snapped away as best I could

Some of the spots for mooring are so picturesque too

 plus the canal on the far bank was plenty shallow enough to allow some hunting and water edge grazing

There were 3 bridges for Elaine to open today, with this being the most difficult requiring 84 turns of the windlass each way

Work 'till you're muscle bound!

We thought we were in luck with the next one as an oncoming boat had just come through. However, the ignorant git closed it in our face! What a tool!
Anyway, we are on rings at Disley, looking forward to a meal at the Italian restaurant Sasso. It was going to be the Amici which, according to my iPhone Maps app, is closer to our mooring. Unfortunately, it's actually at 59-61 Buxton Rd Stockport, not Buxton Road, Disley. Apologies to the owner of the electrical goods store at that address who caught me skulking suspiciously on his CCTV cameras! Once he realised I wasn't casing the joint he told me where Amici really was then said Sasso was better, so no harm done!

Low revs to High Lane

Just a couple of hours on the move today to charge the batteries, and we were expecting a belter in terms of weather

Quiet reflections in the morning

However, as the morning progressed the hazy cloud thickened somewhat and the weather turned slightly chilly, though things did improve in the afternoon.
Even more boats on the move today, as we set off line astern behind a couple of boats. Also, many of the Broken Cross mob were returning from Bugsworth Basin and we did have to stop at a couple of bridge holes due to oncoming traffic. Moving over to the far side to let them through resulted in us grinding our bum on the bottom again - my word, this canal is so much shallower than we are used to!
Still, a pleasant time was had as we made our way past Lyme View Marina

Then the wide pool at Higher Poynton

And all the moored boats at Lord Vernon's Wharf

With The Cage at Lyme Park visible in the haze to our right

We are tied up on the 48hr moorings at High Lane, getting used to the buffeting as the holiday boaters surge by in total ignorance - did we really behave that badly when we were hirers? I honestly don't think so.
As usual I planned a walk for us, just less than 2 miles would be my guess. Elaine has no clue as to where we are going or for how long, but she is beginning to have a greater input! Yesterday, I was mildly chastised because the 3.5 miles we did wasn't enough for her and today, as we approached the place where we would leave the Middlewood Way to take the A6 back home, she told me straight it wasn't far enough. We therefore ended up following the path all the way to Marple then rejoined the canal at Goyt Mill to walk back to the boat. I didn't use my nerdy app to record it because I was expecting us to just cover a couple of miles but I reckon we did closer to 7 in total as we were out for 2hrs 45 mins including the obligatory pi(n)t stop and we were setting a good pace. Anyway, we're back now and the roast beef is in the oven so replacing the calories will not be a problem!

Bollington Aqueduct....

....was the target today but, unfortunately, there was no room for us so we had to proceed a little further on to this spot near Clark Green which suits us just fine

We actually came across lots of boats today, both moving and occupying moorings. The problem we are finding is that if you want to simply stop and knock some pins in it's a toss up as to whether you can get to the towpath without grounding. Perhaps C&RT have the answer with the floating moorings being trialled at Macclesfield. These looked superb but, of course, were fully occupied.
There were some beautiful properties to be seen today plus the views of the countryside continue to leave you stunned as the weather gets even better

Nice place but...

...not sure about the family pet!

After tying up we walked back to Bollington via the Middlewood Way which, until its closure in 1970 was the route of the Macclesfield to Marple railway. Initially, we were a little disappointed with Bollington but we eventually warmed to it after having a good stroll around the place. There are actually quite a few places to eat and drink, it's just that Bollington doesn't have a central area so the available facilities are scattered about somewhat.
Having sussed out the area to the east of the canal (the west will have to wait until next time) we returned to the boat down the towpath, taking the path that runs up behind the aqueduct.

The canal in the sky

Finally, let me thank Charlotte, Louise and Tony for coming to see us yesterday. As much as we love this life we love staying in touch with friends and family too so it really was great to have spent yesterday afternoon together. I imagine we'll be back close to home before the end of the month when a repeat performance would be most welcome.

The Bosley Flight and more

We started the upward journey on the Bosley flight yesterday morning, leaving The Cloud (and the clouds) behind us

We made excellent speed up the flight of 12 with Elaine, as usual, doing virtually all of the work. These locks have a pair of gates at both ends but only have a crossing point at one end, meaning Elaine had to walk the length of the lock a couple of times to close the gates as I exited. I closed the sluice and opened the gate on my side when we had filled a lock, but it was meagre assistance when you consider Elaine had to move gates a total of 7 times plus operate sluices or gates up to 7 times on all 12 locks (I did manage to nudge the gates open with Lottie's bow on 2 occasions, actually).

Bottom

Middle(ish)

Top

As I said, we had no problems for the most part but there were more than a couple of gate paddles that were extremely stiff. To make matters worse, when I tried to go to help I found I couldn't get Lottie to the bank as we kept grounding in the shallow pounds.
The final pound between locks 1 & 2 was extremely shallow - and I mean virtually empty! I suppose it shouldn't have been a surprise since, after lock 12 we never saw another boat coming down until we left lock 2, meaning we had drained 11 locks on the way up with no-one moving in the opposite direction and bringing water down with them.

If only these were still in use!

Irritatingly, this flight was built with a system of side ponds into which you could drain half of the lock contents, saving a huge amount of water. Perhaps feeling we amateur boaters weren't up to it, this system has been discarded by the authorities, meaning the flight now uses twice so as much water as it should - madness!
At the top of the flight we were a heady 518ft above sea level. For comparison, the Bridgewater is at 80ft. The initial stretches were a little scruffy if truth be told. Narrow, overgrown and with lines of shabby looking boats clinging to the bank in places. Soon, however, things improved with beautiful wooded stretches which we enjoyed for the most part in solitude

As we got ever closer to Macclesfield the views opened up to reveal the hillsides in all their glory

We tied up at Gurnett Aqueduct but it wasn't straitforward due to the pitch of the rings and being unable to knock a pin through the concrete. Still, we managed, then walked 2 miles to do a Tesco big shop with a taxi ride back. Add another short walk to the Sutton Hall for a pint and we were done for the day, totally worn out!

Alone again

Our plan to hang back has worked a treat and we have travelled today to the foot of the Bosley flight in more or less glorious isolation. Before we set out this morning I took this picture

Er, some railings...

Actually, these railings form part of what is known as a ha-ha wall for the residents of Ramsdell Hall and run for some 500m. It was the addition of these railings that, in part, persuaded the then owners of the hall to accept the presence of the "new" canal running across the foot of their premises. The alternative was a one and a half mile detour including a tunnel so the railings, which were renovated in 2005, were certainly money well spent.
We set off this morning in bright sunshine but there is no escaping the chill in the air these days (we have had the fire lit for the last two nights) as we turn towards Autumn. The Macc would , I'm sure, look splendid as the trees start to change colour and, boy, are there a lot of trees to look at!

Bridges proliferate also, many of them not carrying a road but simply linking farm fields. Here's a rather special one called a roving bridge

These ingenious bridges allowed the towing horse to remain tied to its boat as the towpath changed from one side of the canal to the other. The horse would walk up the ramp to the left, cross the bridge, then walk back towards the boat before ducking back under the bridge, thereby transferring itself from left to right without unhitching.
We stopped briefly in Congleton for supplies, finding the perfect gap between moored boats

Got room for a small one?

Leaving Congleton behind us, the scenery improved dramatically, with hills and valleys opening up to us, we on aqueducts, the trains on viaducts, of course

A hill known as The Cloud next hove into view as there was no escaping the fact that we were getting ever closer to the southern foothills of the Pennines

From our mooring point we can see the quarry workings on The Cloud which produced the stone for the locks of the Bosley flight.
To stretch our legs, we walked the flight before heading back to discover our phones had no signal but our router had, which is a first let me tell you! So, up the flight tomorrow, overnight in Macclesfield then meet up with daughter Charlotte and friends Tony and Louise for a meal on Sunday. Sounds like a plan!

On the Macc at Scholar Green

Actually, we are just North of Scholar Green past Ramsdell Hall. We were all alone but have just been joined by a straggler from the Broken Cross Boat Club who will definitely be missing their shindig BBQ at the bottom of the Bosley flight!

Lottie beneath Mow Cop

Ramsdell Hall

Apologies if the photographs aren't up to scratch but I have just moved to Google Photos and chose the free, but lesser quality, storage option. Having seen today's pics I have changed settings to go for the top quality option, so things will be back to normal here on in. Of course, if you are viewing this by phone you might not notice the difference.
Today was just a short jaunt of 2 hrs, primarily to let the boat club get ahead of us and out of our hair plus we are now on a schedule to get to Gurnett on Sunday, which isn't very far away. Also, this mooring is convenient for a visit to Little Moreton Hall, just a mile or so away across the farmers' fields. Ramsdell Hall dates from c1760 but Little Moreton is more than 200 years older and is the most incredible sight.

Elaine and I have been before but this time there were people in costume playing various games of the period plus volunteers giving guided tours (we chose an ice cream instead!).
Finally, I will end by saying I will never chide Elaine again for her habit of walking with her head down, studying her feet. Me, I always walk head up so that I don't miss anything. Well, I certainly didn't miss the 2 cow pats I trod in, one of which was a particularly deep specimen - yuk.

Far from the madding boat club

If only! We have gradually realised that we have been travelling these last couple of days amongst 15 boats of the Broken Cross Boat Club. Little wonder we just about got a mooring at Rode Heath and Red Bull Services are full. Actually, we have a lovely spot just above the services, with the eponymous pub just opposite us. There was no interesting wildlife the speak of today, though I forgot to mention yesterday I spotted a common sandpiper skimming along and around the boat as we approached the M6.
Back to the boat clubbers, we were having a pre dinner pint yesterday at the Broughton Arms in Rode Heath when in they charged, a liver spotted phalanx in search of nourishment. I had pondered the supposition to Elaine earlier that they must have all booked the same time off work, whereupon she responded, "Work? Have you seen how old they are?"
Now, they are a sprightly bunch but I reckon I'd get a junior membership! Anyway, they all headed off before us this morning, a superannuated tsunami heading for Bugsworth Basin, which is also our destination. I think if we take our time they could all be leaving as we arrive.
We have been fortunate with the weather today, having stayed dry despite hearing from passers by of storms we had just missed. Eleven locks in all today, almost all duplicate pairs.

Take your pick

With all those boat club members in front of us, the water level at Church Lawton was down a good 18 inches but that didn't spoil the views, of course

Wilbraham's Folly atop Mow Cop

We will get a much better look at that when we get on the Macc tomorrow but, for now, we'll chill out here before making the 270 degree turn off the Trent and Mersey. Actually, the bridge in the photograph below is really the Macc crossing us by aqueduct. All clever stuff!

View from our mooring