It was dry first thing, so we decided to go for a walk while the going was good. We headed up the canal to Higher Poynton, passing a moss-covered half mile stone on the way, with a full size mile stone further on.
At Higher Poynton, there were lots of police vehicles on the bridge, although we’re still not sure why.
Some horse riders were coming along Middlewood Way, and they’d seen police about but said it wasn’t clear why they were there.
We returned via Middlewood Way, and the rain began almost as soon as we got back. We’d found that our hosepipe still has trouble reaching from the tap to the tank (well it reaches, but is so tight there’s very little water coming through) so we went to B&Q and got a 15m one to add to the 30m one. I guess that in most places the shorter one will be sufficient and will get used most. We also went to Tesco at Handforth Dean to stock up, and got a toaster in the nearby Next.
This afternoon, we’ve kept out of the rain and wind. I’ve put together the Christmas edition of The Water Road, which will be out on Friday. It was quite a complicated one so took a while. Now there’s a chicken in the oven, with roast potatoes, carrots, and parsnips.
The milestones on the Macc always impress me with their once-immaculate inscriptions in an up market typeface!
The were restored – or replaced – in 1980s (see https://a34.milestonesociety.co.uk/cheshire/macclesfield-canal/)
The main ones were removed in WW2 – too useful to an enemy (see https://macclesfieldcanal.org.uk/oldsite/milestones.htm) – down here on the K&A there are many reminders of how this canal was seen as a strategic defence line. Seems strange now to see it in such terms or that an enemy could be deterred by it, let alone know how to navigate by milestones!
Police / horses etc – possibly a training exercise? Getting the horses (or most probably the riders) used to real life muddy and mixed terrain?