We liked the mooring at Furness Vale, in spite of the little trains trundling by. Macc asked to go out at about 5.45 this morning, and even though he was wide awake I put him back in his crate and he settled back down. That meant we could change our 6.30 alarm to 7.00! We set off at a bit after 9, once Macc was having another nap, and were soon going through New Mills and past the Swizzels factory. There was no smell of sweets today. Opposite, there are some rather odd new houses. Not only do they overlook the factory, but they have a big basement room which appears to be accessible only by an external staircase.
A bit further on there was a horse coming along the towpath. The rider said the horse had never seen a boat before, but we were the second this morning.
The boat ahead of us was going through the swing bridge as we approached, so the woman who’d opened it jumped back on board leaving it open. This meant Adrian had to be dropped off on the offside to close it again. As Macc was still asleep, Adrian walked on to the electric lift bridge, opening it for both boats. Then he carried on to the manual bridge to operate that one too; two boats that had been moored there pulled out between us, so all three boats went through ahead of us, and Adrian more than did his good deed quota for the day.
Adrian has been waiting for a parcel to collect from Marple Post Office, but there was no sign of it so we thought we’d stop short of the town. He later had a text to say it had been delivered, but the Post Office was already closed, so it was of limited use. It’ll have to wait until next week. We tried to moor in a couple of places but found the depth insufficient, but ended up just after Bridge 20, on some piling. After lunch I got the bucket out in order to try to get off all the Saharan sand that came down in the rain the other day. The solar panels were blotchy with it, and it was in the drain channels.
It all looks a lot better now, and hopefully the solars will benefit. Talking of which (and I know there are one of two people who like this sort of information) I was quite pleased with the charging from the engine this morning. We did a wash load before setting off, by which time the batteries were down to 86 per cent. We did about two hours travelling on diesel, but at the same time were running the tumble dryer. Even so, the batteries were up to almost 93 per cent by the time we stopped.
Later in the afternoon I took a walk, mostly to find a dog poo bin. I went over the footbridge behind us and up the hill to Hawk Green. The farm at the top of the path is not called Hill Top Farm for nothing — it was quite a climb. However, the views into the High Peak were really great, even on a dull day like today.
It’s a busy towpath here, which means Macc is often distracted when we take him out for the loo and we have to keep picking him up. Tomorrow we’ll try to find somewhere quieter. He’s learning lots of new things though; the latest include ‘Middle’ where he goes round and stands between our legs, which is apparently good if you’re out walking and perhaps see a horse coming, so you can get the dog into a safe position. He’s also learning ‘Tap’, where he will tap the palm of your hand in return for a treat; this teaches him that it’s ok for his face to be touched. He still has moments of madness, but we’re getting better at nipping them in the bud and encouraging him to go to sleep instead.
4 miles, 0 locks. (25 miles, 0 locks)