Hall Green to Gurnett Aqueduct, Macclesfield.

Travelled 13.46 miles, worked 12 locks and 2 swing bridges in a time of 7 hours 15 minutes.

It was a cooler start to our day, but the sun did keep putting in an appearance, so it was not all bad. We left Hall Green at 8.05am and were hoping to get as far as possible.

Lovely old horse enjoying some carrots and apples, that were thrown to it by a walker, as we passed by Scholar Green.

Our first proper glimpse of Mow Cop.

Whilst passing Ramsdell Hall, which is absolutely stunning, a Ewe had just given birth to her first lamb and looked like she may have another one coming. Spring is all about new birth and this is nature in the raw. Despite seeing many births of livestock as a child I never get feed up with seeing it still.

Onward through Congleton.

A cow of a different breed at Bridge 60.

Approaching Bosley Cloud.

Onward to Bosley Locks and up through the first of them at 11.15am

Bosley Cloud in the clouds, as seen from Bosley locks.

Keith and I had a good routine going up the flight and we got to the top at 1.15pm.

At the top of Bosley locks we came across Brian & Anne-Marie on NB Alton, we hope to meet up with them for a pint whilst we are up this way. We also met up with NB Bide your time, who we usually see on the Leicester Line. We will see them again as they are heading to Whaley Bridge.

Royal Oak swingbridge, where you put in your C&RT key press the button and away it goes, unlike Broadhurst swingbridge.

 

I put the key in, turned it and tried to lift the bar, but it would not shift. A walker and his wife came and gave me a hand, but even between us we could not get the lifting bar to come up. Keith pulled into the mooring and managed to get it up with our big crowbar. Then I couldn’t get the bridge to open, so Keith nudged it with the bow, then it wouldn’t swing shut again to release our key, so he  had to reverse back and give me a hand. The couple that helped us are involved with the Macclesfield Society and had said that there had been reports of problems with the swingbridge, so Keith has sent a fault report to C&RT, because with the boating season now underway, it is going to cause big issues. I am not a weakling and I really did struggle, I am amazed I did not give myself a hernia.

Lambs playing like naughty children, it was wonderful to see.

We moored up not long afterwards at  Gurnett Aqueduct, Macclesfield. That was our cruising day done, but work does not stop. I did a hand wash and then made a Spagetti Bolognaise for dinner. Looking forward to putting my feet up for the evening. Keith has been on to Kuranda and they should be able to come and see us at Bugsworth Basin next week, so we will potter around for a few days.