Another week, another set of new experiences, new views, new challenges and new knowledge. Life afloat may be many things, but boring isn’t one of them.
Last weekend we took ourselves part way up the Middlewich Branch off the Trent and Mersey, in part because we could, and we wanted to keep moving. We went far enough up to turn, and then headed back down, making our way slowly back up the Trent and Mersey to join the boats pausing at Wheelock waiting for Lock 57 to be repaired. It was good to meet up with other boaters, some of whom we’ve known online but not in person for some time, and others who we had met on the Ashby last winter. Convivial conversations in the Cheshire Cheese passed some time, and we enjoyed walks along the canal, strolls into historic Sandbach and took a bus to Crewe, but our poor internet connection pushed us into another move.
We took ourselves from Wheelock up to lock 59 and walked up to see the progress at the damaged lock. The original heel post was being braced with steel by a specialist team of two by the time we got there, but impatient boaters had circumvented the locks and chains over the weekend before the scaffolding was put in place, and caused more damage in the process. Engineers determined that the second heel post needed bracing, and a balance beam needed adjustments too. The weather wasn’t kind to those repairing but they soldiered on. One of the team said he had to tumble dry his clothes twice when he got home that night.
They worked solidly for two days to complete all the repairs, the scaffolding team came from Sheffield, and by Wednesday afternoon ahead of expected schedule, the lock was able to be tested by coalboat Halsall – keen to move on and keep to their promised schedule, delivering diesel, coal and gas to boaters across the T&M, Caldon and the Macclesfield. By early afternoon we too were moving through the lock in sunshine, assisted by Canal and River Trust staff checking the lock as we went.
Four hours, four miles and 12 locks later after negotiating some low pounds and blustery winds which buffeted the boat about, we were mooring for the night at Church Lawton. We were glad of Halsall’s company for much of the journey but they carried on as we stopped, keen to get to the Harecastle Tunnel for an early passage next day.
For us the next day brought sunshine and showers to join us through 7 miles and 7 locks, that took us onto the Macclesfield Canal to Congleton Wharf. The Macc is one of the most delightful canals, historic market towns and villages cluster along its route. It hosts beautifully crafted bridges and views to the Peak District never fail to lift the spirits.
My spirits needed lifting as before we turned on I was so busy concentrating on getting the boat safely into the lock through the wind and rain that I looked down not up and forgot the low bridge before Lock 41. I walloped both the internet aerial and our wonderful new chimney from The Little Chimney Company. Both are now in need of remedial work.
Still, we are now safely on the Macc where water restrictions have been lifted somewhat. Both Bosley and Marple flights of locks currently only open 2 mornings a week were due to be shut due a lack of water on 31 July but that has now been extended to 14 August which means we can take a more leisurely approach to travelling north.
We took time to moor up in Beartown aka Congleton. The story goes that the town, famed for bear baiting used money left to it to buy a town bible to buy a new bear when their previous one died just before a Wakes week in the 1660s – the holiday of the time commercially for tourists and townsfolk to flock to the town and its then ‘key attraction’.
More palatably, the town was home to Elizabeth Wolstenholme Elmy, who Emmeline Pankhurst called “the brains of the suffragist movement”. She was a determined but tiny woman if the lifesize statue to her really is lifesized.
Another of the town’s statues was created by sculptor Amy Goodman after local people raised thousands for its creation. Treo was a Labrador cross who saved countless lives sniffing out buried explosive in his work with the army in Afghanistan.
Congleton was a centre for leather work, lace making, cotton spinning and ribbon weaving. It also housed a silk mill built in 1752 that was once one of the largest textile mills in the country. When we move on we will pass through Macclesfield, Bollington and Marple, where more mills rise proudly alongside the canals reminders of the silk, corn, and cotton industries, which once thrived here.
We aim to pause at Bollington, heart of Happy Valley for a time as we like the place so much and which is good for a stop as we have other demands on our time apart from travelling. Once there we will be just 31 miles and 45 locks (about 20 hours journey time) from Ducie Street Junction, our connection to the Rochdale Canal.
Those travelling the way we originally intended, through the heart of Manchester from the Bridgewater Canal are expecting an update on August 1 about the damaged lock 87 which resulted in our lengthy 97 mile 83 lock absolutely delightful detour to access the Rochdale Canal. It’s not a race but even with our pauses we need to make along the way, will we arrive on the Rochdale waters before them?
Pickingupducks 