The mooring in Macclesfield was fine. Last night it rained heavily and blew a gale again, so much so that we had to keep turning up the tv because it was being drowned out by the noise of the rain on the roof. This morning, though, it was calm and dry so we thought we should move before the next lot of rain came through. Consequently we were off before 9, and were soon passing Hovis Mill.
I did the bit past all the moored boats on electric and then switched to diesel to give the batteries a bit of charge. On the way out of Macclesfield there are three narrows in quick succession, all the remains of swing bridges. You can see the curved stonework which the bridge deck would have swung into.
The industrial section has a chimney which is rather less appealing than the old mill chimneys round here.
Just before we reached Bollington we saw a familiar boat coming the other way. Kingdom of Rust is the Braidbar ahead of ours, and Emma and Greg are beginning their journey to the midlands.
We knew KofR had been moored on the aqueduct by Clarence Mill (because we passed them the other day) so decided that rather than stopping where we’d been a few days ago, we’d carry on and see if their space was still available. I switched back to electric propulsion as we went past Kerridge Dry Dock and then squeezed through all the boats at Bollington Wharf.
The mooring at the aqueduct was already filled, but we were able to tuck in on the end instead. The stern is quite a way out, and while the bow rope is on a mooring ring weave had to use a couple of stakes at the stern. We are about as close to the aqueduct as it’s possible to get though.
As it was still early and still dry we thought we’d better get a walk in, so headed straight off up the towpath. We passed Clarence Mill and continued a couple more bridges, before taking the lane for a hundred yards or so to join Middlewood Way. The lane is on a particularly impressive bridge.
We walked towards Bollington, and when we got the the viaduct we went down the steps we’d come up the other day. Then we walked through the Recreation Ground, where warnings of flying cricket balls seemed unnecessary today.
The River Dean flows along the rec, and had lots of water in it today. It comes under the canal (and apparently under quite a bit of the town) through a culvert. We took the steps up to the street level.
From the street there’s a set of very steep steps through a hole in the wall, up to the canal.
We got back just in time, because it’s been raining heavily most of the afternoon, but at least it hasn’t been windy. Tomorrow is forecast to be better; there might even be some sunshine which would be nice, because today feels as though it’s hardly got light.
3 miles, 0 locks. (23 miles, 0 locks)