I’d just like to point out that it was a very cold week, so I was wearing at least 5 layers of thermals, jumpers and coats in all photos!
We enjoyed our mooring spot so much that we had quite a late start, it was 9.50 before we set off up the Macclesfield towards Bosley Locks and onwards. We had decided as the weather forecast was good, that we should push on as far as possible so we’d have less to do in the morning before meeting my Mum and family friend Alastair.
The Macclesfield up to Macclesfield is the prettiest canal I’ve been on so far, even nicer then the Shropshire Union. There are some very tight width restrictions which make for interesting driving, but on the whole we enjoyed a morning’s gentle cruising in the fine weather.
We arrived at the bottom of the Bosley flight at 12.45 and had a brief pause to get ready for the activity ahead. The flight was unusual in that there were double gates at the top of the locks as well as the bottom and no gate boards, so to raise the boat I resorted to opening the paddle on 1 side and then waiting until the roof was level with the lock side before striding over to finish the job. Undoubtedly slower than walking round, but less tiring overall.
The scenery round Bosley Locks was lovely
Thanks to a little help from some passing and interested walkers, we got through the lock flight without incident in 2.5 hours. We didn’t have to turn many locks fully which helped although a lot of them were very leaky and filled up very quickly without help.
After the locks it was a straight push to Macclesfield and beyond. The journey from Macclesfield was difficult as the boat felt like it was going against the flow the whole time, and it was difficult to steer. The time taken for each section bears this out.
We finally stopped for the night at 8.10pm.
Time Taken: 10 hours (3 + 2 1/2 + 4 1/2 hours)
No Locks: 12
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