Eric and I love cruising, it fills us with a sense of peace, and a sense of joy as we enjoy the countryside around us. Most of the time I’m happy to share my photos, but occassionally I record a video as we travel. I’ve realised I can share these on our blog, however I’d like to know how you, the reader, receive them. We don’t have comments enabled, (we had a bad experience a few years ago). So I’m asking friends and family who have my private contact details to drop me a line with some feedback, letting me know if the quality and size etc works OK for you, and if it’s something you’d like to see more of.
Bridge 58 below the Bosley flight, Macclesfield Canal
we had made it down the Bosley Flight, and we both rejoicing and bemoaning to be heading south… straight into the morning sun.
We meandered our way into Congleton. I met up with one of my many knitting friends scattered around the country. Gilly introduced us to fantastic little place, called the Wonky Pear, wine bar/pub/coffee stop just up from the canal off Park Lane, they don’t usually do food, other than cake, but they had a pop up evening of Thai Street food. And if we were local, we’d definitely make if our local. But we were on a mission, so set off as soon as the sun rose, we ignored the dire warning from the red sky in the morning and the frost on the ground (it was still the end of february)
looking towards the railway from the Congleton Aqueduct moorings
And we set off, but it was cold cruising, so we stopped near the Ramsdell Railings and went for a brisk walk up to Mow Cop which certainly warmed us up.
Mow Cop
This old ruined castle is actually an 18th century folly where the gentry came for picnics. You can see for miles and it’s the intersection of the counties of Cheshire, Derbyshire and Staffordshire. It’s also the first meeting place of the Primative Methodists, a breakaway revivialist group wanting to refocus on the socialist aims of Christianity, caring for the community, being part of the trade union movement and taking an active role in women’s emancipation. I offered my prayers of thanks for such a place and we carried on journeying south. Where we also gave thanks that the culvert breach from Mid December had finally been fixed
And onto the Hall Green Stop Lock at Scholar’s Green
Before our travels came to an abrupt stop at Kidsgrove
Having got back into the swing of posting every few days, everything changed at the beginning of the month. When the phone rings in the middle of the night, it’s rarely good news. Sadly, I had lost my mum. It was sudden, unexpected, and thankfully peaceful.
We had a very close relationship, lots of love and laughter, she loved visiting our floating home
We are now cruising we should have been cruising 9 weeks ago when the culvert collapsed and stopped navigation. Better late than never. The change of scenery above and below Macclesfield is quite dramatic, We’re no longer in the Peak District, and we do miss the hills, but the view is made a lot better with the promise of 4 days of sunshine on the forecast.
Looking back towards Sutton, south Macclesfield
Although looking forward, those clouds ahead seemed a bit heavy
just above the Bosely flight
And sure enough 2 minutes after we’d moored up, the heavens opened
And we woke to the warning red sky in the morning and a heavy frost.
So much for 4 days of good weather
But the sunshine quickly warmed us up and we were ready to go down the Bosley Flight.
A promising start
12 locks over the next mile, not the longest flight but one of the prettiest, and all was going well until we got halfway down. The pound was sadly lacking in an essential element – water. We don’t know if a paddle hadnt been dropped, or it could simply have been a very leaky lock,
We reckoned it would take 3 or 4 locks worth to refill the pound. It took about 20 minutes
We managed to run through enough water to float our boat and I’d gone back to check all the paddles were down, when I heard an almighty bank on the bridge above me. Two cars had collided, thankfully there weren’t any serious injuries to the drivers, although I’m fairly sure both cars were written off.
Almost there, Lock 11
The rest of our journey down was uneventful, until lock 12 when we got chatting to a family out for a walk, of course we roped them in to work the lock for us and as a reward, we treated our young gongozeler to a ride. (If you’re reading this, thankyou for your help)
Emerging from lock 12 at the bottom.
All done in 2 hours and 5 minutes, roughly 10 minutes a lock
And Eric had his reward, better late than never, boaters breakfast for lunch.
Even though we are now heading south at a vast rate of knots, okay roughly 2 miles an hour, we still look up at the Mills with a sense of wonder. Goyt Mill in Hawk Green, Marple is the youngest of the three that stand out for me. Built originally in 1905 by the Goyt Spinning company to produce cotton fabric was a major source of employment in Marple until 1960. Nowadays it predominantly houses antique warehouses, fun to wander around reminiscing about all the junk you threw away when clearing great aunt maud’s house. There is a fascinating memoire in the Marple website worth browsing if you scroll down.
Approaching Goyt MillCan you imagine loading and unloading your wares here?
Once through Marple we were back to enjoying some rural tranquility
We wondered if that sunny day we had last week was summer and we’re already experiencing Autumn.
Before stopping for fuel at Baileys
Where we picked up a hitchhiker again, -remember the cat that came to say hello last month, we also popped in to say hello to James and Donna and the team at Braidbar.
Not sure this little newt was quite ready to emerge from hibernation, we pulled him up on our tyre fender, so I carefully returned him back into the bank.
Then on to the oldest surviving Mill on this route at Bollington,
Approaching Bollington and Clarence mill
Clarence Mill was built in 1834 and specialised in spinning sea island cotton, which, for those unfamiliar with the intricacies of cotton, is an extremely fine long stapled cotton variety used for making lace and muslin. It is infact supposed to be the rarest form of cotton and can make a luxurious (expensive) silk like fabric.
I missed the photo of the next Mill on our route south, the Adelphi Mill on the southern side of Bollington because I was in the galley cooking bacon butties. Aldelphi Mill began spinning cotton, it progressed to throwing silk, and finally spun man made fibres for Courtaulds until 1970s. Nowadays it houses offices for the nearby pharmaceutical company, Astrazennica
Which leads us nicely onto my third Mill, the Hovis Mill in Macclesfield itself.
The Old Hovis Mill
This is where grain was ground to make flour. The technique used produced a distinctive flavour and any baker using this flour is able to call the bread a Hovis loaf. Milling only took place here from 1898 to 1904 because demand grew and the company moved to bigger premises at Trafford Park, Manchester. They did however keep the building. It was renamed the Publicity Works, where they made the paper wrappers to wrap the bread in. Nowadays it’s a rather nice place to live. One interesting feature is the iron ballustrade along the eaves that survived being removed and smelted down during the second world war efforts. I don’t think I’d have liked climbing up there to remove it.
There were of course other mills, and industries along the canal and rivers that dominate this area, Macclesfield was known particularly for silk production, Bollington had a thriving hand made button industry, there was coal mining and sheep farming, to name but a few which helped make it a prosperous place to live. The Macclesfield canal society website if you want something to talk about.
With the culvert fully repaired we finally got the go ahead to travel south, and we’re facing the right direction
Leaving the middle arm at Bugsworth
But of course to get off the Peak Forest Canal back onto the Macc, we had to travel north. Confused? Yes, perhaps this is what happens when you hang around too long.
And this canal really gets its grip on you
Is this art? Or does someone just have too much time on their hands?
There’s definitely some odd characters on this canal
But we were happy to finally be cruising with a purpose, and it was mild enough not to need our thick coats on. No more sitting around, watching the world go by
There’s something very special about narrowboating in this area, we love seeing the industrial heritage of the our country. Bugsworth Basin is a prime example of how the canals were a significant structure for the communities they served. It’s now listed as a Scheduled Ancient Monument and the Bugsworth Heritage Trust oversees the area making it an interesting and informative place to visit.
Model of the basin back in its heyday
The Peak Forest Canal was completed in 1804 to transport limestone and gritstone from the Derbyshire quarries down to the Ashton Canal where it was probably went on to help build Manchester.
Looking towards Manchester, about 15 miles west of Bugsworth
It was hoped that the canal would go further into the peak district but alas building the necessary locks wasn’t economically viable. A terminus was created at Bugsworth which, when it was built, it was Britains largest inland port. (Aparently, Eric and I can’t agree what defines an “inland” port) Equally impressive was the 14 miles of gravity and horse powered Tramway system that was built to bring the stone down from the quarries. You can still walk the tramway, but it was too wet and muddy for us this week. Not only was the basin a storage and transhipment port, it was the hub of a thriving village where the lime was processed in huge kilns.
The Middle arm is considered the prime mooring spot, and although it was originally all under cover, the stone sheds have long since been dismantled and repurposed and all that’s left is the short arm, a bit of wall with 2 arches and a base of concrete- where an enterprising local build a pigsty. The working life of Bugsworth Basin remained until the 1920s,
Nowadays it’s not trade that keeps the canals viable, but as with all waterways, natural or man-made, they need a constant supply of water. And whilst we might be getting a generous contribution from the heavens this week, direct rainfall isn’t sufficient without careful management. You’ll usually find a reservoir near the head of most canals with pumping stations along the route. Combes reservoir in the High Peaks was built to feed the Peak Forest canal, but it wasn’t sufficient and in 1838 the Victorians completed Toddbrook reservoir at Whaley Bridge. As with most reservoirs, Toddbrook suffered its fair share of leaks over the years but in August 2019, after a particularly wet summer, part of the modern concrete slipway collapsed. It was feared the whole structure would give way with catastrophic consequences. 1500 residents of Whaley Bridge, Furness Vale and New Mills were evacuated whilst Chinook helicopters dropped 400 tones of aggregate to help prevent a disaster. CRT has been working on the repair ever since, with some interesting modernisation, shown here.
(Images swiped from Internet search)
The project is supposed to be completed this year, so we took a walk up to see what was going on. Most of the dam is still fenced off from the general public so we weren’t able to get up close, but we chatted to a few of workmen and peer through the site gates. They aren’t so convinced the work will be finished this year. Neither are we.
There’s plenty of information online about the dam but I found this short little case study interesting.
Thankfully the effect of the of our current structural failure – the culvert collapse which had closed navigation on the Macclesfield has been repaired and reopened. We’re pointing in the right direction and ready to start cruising.
The past 2 months have been somewhat frustrating. Having the culvert collapse somewhere around Scholar’s Green just a few days before we about to cruise past, somewhat put a halt to our plans. Instead of spending the New Year in Stone, we were stuck on the Macc and our first cruise of 2024 was made heading north not south as planned.
Heading out of Bollington, past Clarence Mill,
New Year’s day 2024, going north past Clarence Mill
Stopping for fuel at Baileys trading post,
And we got more than we’d bargained for
And whilst Eric tried to stiffle his cat allergy sneezes, our new friend tried to work out how to get off Firecrest to return to their own ship
think you should get off port side
Not knowing how long the breach was going to take to repair we settled down to await the delivery of more updates from CRT
Hearing that the next update wouldn’t be until end of January, we packed up and went home to see the family for a belated Christmas
family time
We had to cut short our visit home because the forecast changed drastically and temperatures plummeted,
And the next day the snow arrived
One of the good things about a big freeze, is that Ice makes for some fascinating patterns
And the ground is solid so going for walks is a treat, not a muddy quagmire.
Heading up to Lyme Park
We thawed out eventually and made it up to Marple
Looking towards the junction onto the Peak Forest
We were getting quite annoyed now, updates from CRT telling us what they were doing to fix the breach, but nothing about how long they expected the work to take. Should we turn around here or go onto the Peak forest Canal. We emailed CRT and got quite an apologetic reply acknowledging their oversight in not giving a predicted completion – it should be done by END of March… oh my goodness, that would be over 3 months to fill the hole. At least we could pace our meanderings, Whaley Bridge, here we come.
Looking back towards New Mills from Furness Vale
Through the lifts bridges
Wood End lift bridge
Past the swizzles factory,
mmmmm parma violets and love hearts
We walked from Furness Vale back into New Mills, admiring the amazing skill of the people who built the bridges
and finally we cruised into Bugsworth Basin
One of our favourite destinations, Bugsworth Basin.
With all our commitments complete, it was time to consider our cruising plans. We’d like to explore East Anglia next summer, which means moving south. CRT”s planned winter maintenance on the locks around Etruria meant we needed to off the Macc and beyond that point by New Year. Or we’d get caught by the stoppage till end of January. Fate had other plans. Making good progress, we stopped off in Macclesfield on 13th December to pick up provisions, only to recieve the notification that same day that there was a leaking culvert at Kents Green Bridge, (South of Congleton). Stop planks had been installed to stop the leak and navigation was closed from the Bosley locks. But was it fate? If we had been one day earlier, we would have been stranded on a rural section with no facilities nearby to keep us fed and watered. Updates were promised on the 18th December so we sort permission to overstay on the Macclesfield pontoon. A friend sent us this image from a FB post, it didnt look good.
And that was just the surface…. who knows what lies below.
With some potentially some grim cold, wet and windy weather on its way, we already knew in our hearts that the likelihood of the repair being complete was slim. Although technically possible to cruise 20 or so miles in 2 days to reach Etruria, it wasn’t going to be a fun challenge. We braced ourselves for the worst scenario. We were stuck. Instead of feeling glum, we made the most of Macclesfield and set about decorating the boat for Christmas.
I think our lights were outshone by the sunset
And I took advantage of the quick train into Manchester to meet up with Mum and Aunty for the day.
What a pair of teenagers
The promised update arrived on the 18th and alas as we feared, the repair was still ongoing. Our decision was made: we’d turn around and stay put -OK not actually stay put, but stay north of Macclesfield on the Macc and Peak Forest canals until we were able to cruise freely at our own pace. Even if that wouldn’t be until February. We considered the practicality of buying ourselves a house, this one had a certain appeal.
Alas no mooring with this property
But first, Christmas in Bollington. A place we always enjoy returning to.
We were lucky to get a mooring on the aqueduct looking towards Clarence Mill. Although the view wasn’t always quite this tranquil as storms hit us and most of our 14 day stay was wet and windy, though thankfully not cold. And whilst we didn’t see that much sun, we did enjoy another spectacular moonbow
We enjoyed some good food at the Vale Inn, washed down with beer from their own brewery – well worth returning to.
that’s a Christmas dinner burger, yes it even included gravy in the bun.
We joined the community singing carols around the tree on Christmas eve.
the singing enhanced by mulled wine and a brass band
A scrumptious turkey for Christmas day thanks to Heathcotes butchers, -definitely a place we’ll return to
We decided to spend New Year’s Eve on the boat and thanks to the aqueducts elevation, thought we’d enjoy the towns fireworks at midnight. The weather got the better of us and it was just too wet to be outside although as the celebrations continued for over an our not everyone was bothered. Personally I prefer early mornings to late nights.
looking towards the White Nancy
New Year’s Day 2024 didn’t disappoint.
What better way to start a new year than a cruise.
The latest CRT update came through yesterday. The canal is still closed at Bridge 85 and the next update is on 10th January.
Autumn seemed to arrive late and disappear early this year, or at least we think so. But what we did see of it was worth it.
High Lane
With several more commitments off the boat we needed good access to public transport. Half way between Middlewood and High Lane provided us with good options, and a lovely walking route.
We couldn’t resist a cruise down memory lane either as we decided to go onto the Peak Forest canal for a week or two.
Turned right onto the Peak Forest
And we managed to get a perfect view of the Halo Moon
The Halo Moon
But of course clear skies make for a frosty morning
Disley
Our neice has just moved to the area so she came to see us and enjoyed the cruise into Bugsworth Basin
Aunty Cheryl, Laura and Uncle Eric
We took the opportunity to catch up with several friends that we made in 2017 when we’d moved onto Firecrest but weren’t able to leave the Braidbar
We said our goodbyes to Buggy and the Sunny,
And before we knew it winter had arrived
The canal was frozen for a week and the only boat daft enough to break the ice was a CRT work boat travelling at speed. We were livid, and wish we’d thought to take a number down to complain. The snow didn’t last long, unlike the snow that fell at mum’s up in the Lake District, they got 12 inches most of it falling in just an hour or two. No wonder it took them by surprise. I caught the train up a few days after and although most had gone, the views remained spectacular
The River Kent (in cumbria)
and going back to wake up to my favourite view from my teenage bedroom
