Adlington to Bugsworth Basin.

Travelled 11 miles, worked 2 lift bridges and 2 swing bridges in a time of 5 hours 30 minutes.

After arriving at Adlington yesterday, I did not have the will to cook dinner, so we went and tried out the Miners Arms, which is a short walk from the canal. We had excellent meals, service as well as two pints of Caledonian beer. We spent a pleasant evening in this well turned out pub with a great atmosphere. It is well worth a visit.

This morning after a good nights sleep, we were awake early, so a brew was put on whilst we watched a bit of Challenge TV. After all the usual morning jobs, we were ready to set off at 9am for Bugsworth Basin.

Cute photo of the day, this cute duck with the natty hair do.

Having left our mooring, we crept past what seemed like miles of moored boats, but with the pleasure of seeing mainly unspoilt countryside, I tended to ignore the fact that we were in tick over for a lifetime. We passed the Deeps at High Poynton which was caused by subsidence from a coal mine many years ago. We then passed NB Sanity Again, with no sign of Bruce and Sheila. Having read their blog they are very busy at the moment with Braidbar Boats, so they may have been at the yard. Braidbars yard is in an old branch which used to lead to the coal mine.

After passing yet more and more moored boats, we came across NB Wilver, with Ginny and Bill onboard just before Barns Fold Bridge 5. We pulled alongside them for a natter, because it was to shallow to actually get into the bank. The wind was beginning to blow up and despite the fact that Bill was holding on to the centre line through his galley doors, the bow was getting blown across the canal, so we gave up on our chat, with a promise to catch up with again before we leave.

At Bridge 3 Eccles Bridge, is Goyt Mill, a huge but beautiful building. It was built in 1905 by Jonathan Partington ltd as a cotton spinning mill, these days it is used for more modern workshops and business, such as a saddlery and a climbing wall to name but two.

We arrived at the junction on to the Peak Forest Canal at 11.20am, it was amazing to think that we were 500 feet above sea level. To our left was Marple Locks, but we were going right on to the Upper Peak Forest.

We met up with Graham on NB Suits Us, who we have known for many years and had a quick chat in passing.

The views across the valley were stunning, this is why people come up here for the views and the walking.

I then had the job of working the lift and swing bridges.

The lift bridges are harder because you seem to be winding for ages and getting no where fast, which did not please my wrist to much.

At Bridge 28 you get the sweet smell of sweets.

It is where Swizzlers Matlow make there confectionary, the smell makes your mouth water.

We arrived at the junction for Bugsworth Basin at 2.10pm, with Tesco just to our right down the embankment.

We found the first available mooring at Bugsworth Basin, because we had two boats behind us, who had come off their marina moorings for the weekend at Furness Vale. Once moored up Keith went and asked about us staying for a few days, as we have Kuranda coming to pay us a visit and to hopefully sort out a problem we have. We were made very welcome and have a ticket for a weeks stay of we need it. I am so looking forward to getting to know the place again, because the last time we came here was in 2006.

Having settled in, I now have dinner to cook and pets to feed, so will chat soon x