Monthly Archive: September 2012

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Clinging to the contour

Rosehill Cutting to Dukinfield Lift Bridge: 6.5 miles, 2 tunnels             A short cruise: no locks, but two short tunnels and a safe mooring achieved by lunch time. This stretch of the Peak Forest Canal had been navigated earlier this year during Cleddau’s Huddersfield Narrow expedition so it’s vaguely familiar territory. The canal twists and curves for much of the way through woodland, the tow path mostly edged by old stone walling or a protective fence. Perhaps it’s not the...

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Anti-clockwise

    Could there be time for a last cruise in 2012? How many days could be squeezed before Meetings filled up the diary again? 14 days… too few to get to Chester and back, too far to Llangollen and back… Then the Cheshire Mum chipped in: “But you’ve still not done the Cheshire Ring!”     True: four years of mooring on the Macclesfield Canal but never has Cleddau been to Manchester. To be accurate, the waters between Dukinfield Junction east...

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Basking in sunshine

Sutton to Higher Poynton:  8.8  miles             The world basked in sunshine today, the world, that is, of the Macclesfield Canal. It is such a joy to travel with gentle sun on the back of the neck, not the sniff of a rogue breeze and clear views into the hills. As if forecasting a still and calm day a heron perched motionlessly on an offside mooring at Sutton, unperturbed by an approaching boat. Twice more herons were posed, statue still,...

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Fairy tales

Still moored at Sutton on the Gurnett Aqueduct             “There it is!” Boatwif had searched fruitlessly yesterday for the commemorative plaque – and there it was, James Brindley, famous canal engineer, was once an apprentice just down the road, here in Sutton, near Macclesfield.  There is a statue of him at Etruria, at the junction of the Caldon and the Trent & Mersey Canals in Stoke-on-Trent and another one at Coventry Canal Basin. When spotted the Captain and Boatwif were...

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A fine day but forgive the cliché…

Bosley Bottom Lock to Gurnett Aqueduct: 5.1miles, 12 locks,  2 swing bridges Tucked up last night on the aqueduct below Bosley locks all was quiet, the skies dark. There was no urban orange glow, not even many other boating neighbours. By the time Cleddau drew away from the mooring at 0950 this morning just one other boat was left. The bottom lock was full of water, needing to be drained before the boat could enter. Steadily the boat climbed the...