The Captain writes a blog entry (by permission of Boatwif)

Poynton to Furness Vale (almost) 8.1 miles, 3 movable bridges

After 3 days aground with our granddaughter she was safely returned to Techno Son-in-Law and Cheshire Mum. Should we stay in our stationary home for the rest of the Easter break or escape once again into the hills of Derbyshire? It was a very easy decision! Back up the M1 and M6, cast off for Marple and the Upper Peak Forest Canal – a weekend in Bugsworth Basin is so much more attractive.

So we settled onto Cleddau for the night and then, oh dear, where are the walking maps? Luckily Bailey’s Trading Posthad the selection we needed. However, Bugsworth is in the extreme bottom easterly corner of Landranger sheet 110, so 4 sheets were needed to cover the ground we may wish to walk!  (In a past existence it was a well known fact that any low level target would require the cutting and pasting together of the maximum possible number of map sheets – today a simple function on the computer).  So Cleddau is now equipped with all the mapping needed for walking in any area from Stoke on Trent to Rochdale.

A gentle start

 got us to Marple by midday

 and moored on the Peak Forest by 3pm, the scenery never failing to startle on this canal.

    Eventually we passed the sweet smells of the Meltis factory at New Mills

and just before Furness Vale a view demanded a stop.

 We can hear bird song and bleating sheep and see the tops of the High Peak in the background. We may be between two railway lines, one close by and the other across the valley but trains are few and soon away.

Tomorrow on to the Basin and a chance to wash and polish Cleddauafter a very long and hard winter.  Time to chill in one of our favourite places on the system.