Huddersfield, Macclesfield and the Peak Forest's Fields

I didn't get a tv signal last Wednesday, so missed the final of Bake Off :(  Tho' I'd only seen about three of the series and knew that Nadiya would win, so it wasn't the end of the world.  The next couple of days however, saw the end of our cruise on the Huddersfield Narrow canal.  We worked our way down, spending a night at Roaches Lock (thankfully not getting cast off through the night as our friends Neil and Karen had been when they moored here!), then Stalybridge where we made use of the canalside Tesco.

Autumn colours can make even the most ugly sanitary station look nice!

 

An unusually placed pylon means you can look right up its bum as your cruise beneath it :)

Bit of a tight squeeze!

On Saturday morning we left Stalybridge having arranged to pick up Fran the Jam Man and Sally around Lock 3 for them to accompany us to Marple on the Macclesfield and assist us up the flight of 16 locks there.  Just a quick mention on water levels, which the Huddersfield is notorious for lack of..... There was actually plenty water when we came down, in fact, it was running over the path at one point under a bridge.  However, we still seemed to scrape along the bottom in places, so it looks like it's more a case of needing a good dredge than suffering from lack of water.

Not looking down as we cross an aqueduct over a river.

Now in Greater Manchester, it's much more industrial, but even the buildings seem to have their autumn colours on!!

And there we were - leaving the Huddersfield and joining the Ashton very briefly before turning onto the Macclesfield.

 At the junction on to the Macclesfield, there was an angler sitting with his great big long carbon pole thing out and he stared straight ahead refusing to budge, which meant poor Fran (who had volunteered to steer) had to not only navigate into the narrow turning but also miss the guys pole.  Mike asked him what the problem was, "You've spoiled my swim." snarled the @rsehole. "Well, we've all got to share the waterways." Mike replied.  Round the corner and away from his glowering face, the other anglers said, "Just ignore him, he's a miserable twat."  I have to say, this is the first time we've encountered an @rsey angler.  Normally presented with a smile and thank you for moving for us, they acknowledge us, and are sometimes quite chatty.  We must have met the bad apple that morning.
Anyway, onward down the Macc which was lovely and got prettier and prettier as we cruised along.  We still seemed to grind on the bottom in places and when we came across boats coming towards us, each time they pulled right in and stopped to let us pass, as it was too shallow to pass both boats in the middle of the canal - it made for quite slow going.

The Macc is famous for its Snake Bridges, where the towpath changes sides of the canal.  They were designed so the horses could go up and over the bridge and down the other side without having to unharness them from the boat - really beautiful structures.

Fran being photobombed by a heron (on his left shoulder)

The heron getting his own photo.

A tunnel doubling up as a picture frame.

As we neared Marple we picked up some more passengers; Sally's sister Janet and husband Chris, who live in Marple Bridge, and Graham, Emma and their little girls Eva and Sophia.  The latter are friends of Dave Gray, Mike's pal, but live nearby and were keen to have a shot on a narrowboat, so Dave put Mike and Graham in touch.  They stayed over the aqueduct and up the first couple of locks.  Janet and Chris stayed for the whole flight, which proved to be a f@ckin' nightmare.......

The impressive Marple Aqueduct

Mike bringing Quaintrelle through one of the pounds at Marple that actually had water in it......

This was the first time we'd ever seen gate paddles like this, where the water rushes straight in but is directed to go sideways by an iron panel in front of the water's entrance.  Very fiesty, but fortunately these are long locks (70ft), so we could sit well back.

I did the first few locks on the Marple flight, then swapped for Mike to do the next few.  I then took over at about lock 8 or 9.  Which is when the flight appeared to run out of water :(  The pounds started to get lower and lower and at one lock, I couldn't get out as it was too shallow to get over the gate cill.  Our substantial crew went on ahead to run water through, but I'd get so far then grind to a halt again, and with each lot of water being run down to me, I knew that was leaving even less further up.
By the time I was getting into lock 13, I was shattered and getting quite stressed and desperate for a drink of the fizz that Jan and Chris had brought....  Suddenly loads of water started appearing, the levels raised and I saw the blue sweatshirt uniform of my knights in shining armour :)  CRT!!!!  Someone had called them out to attend due to the low water levels and a boat stuck in a lock!  Thankfully we quickly made our way up the last few locks, reaching the top in the pitch black as it was now just after 7pm - it had taken us four hours!!  As we couldn't see where any moorings were, the CRT guys told us to moor on the lock mooring for the night, as it was lit from the street and had bollards.  We didn't need a second invitation ;)  I got my glass of bubbly and we had some cake as it was coming up for Fran's birthday.  We also remembered later, that Lock 7 on the flight was our 1500th lock - so the bubbly served a double purpose ;)

Happy Birthday Fran the Jam Man!!

We then all went for a curry, and more wine, but it wasn't a late night - we were all exhausted.  Thank you again Fran and Sally and Janet and Chris for your help, especially Sally for sitting on the boat with me and staying calm when I was getting really tired and stressed xx
The next day we saw our surroundings for the first time - really pretty, but as soon as our next passenger for the next few days arrived - we were off down the Peak Forest!!  My friend Angela had a few days off work so came to boat with us, which worked out great, as Mike was going to Grantham for a few days mid-week, so I had someone to help move the boat and keep me entertained :)

We moored at the wonderfully restored Bugsworth Basin

Our mooring at Bugsworth basin at the end of the Peak Forest canal.

Coming down the Peak Forest Canal was lovely. It's a pretty little canal and every so often there's a break in the trees on the towpath and you see out across the hills of the Peak District.  We skiffed along the bottom again in a few places, it seems to be becoming the norm!  The thing is, we know we have a deep draught (how much boat is beneath the water - the more there is, the more water she draws, which can mean problems in shallow water), at 2 ft 6", but our diesel tank was only 1/4 full and when the guys measured us to go through the Standedge Tunnel, they measured us at 2ft 3" - so heaven help us if our tanks had been full!
Anyway, we met Simon and Cara at Bugworth, where they watched me wind the boat and test the nose button was working properly (aka bumping into the side.......) and we had a couple of pints at the Navigation Inn before walking to The Old Hall Inn to have some dinner.  Simon is the chap who organises our annual ski trip (for a group of 30), so it was really nice to catch up with him and Cara aside from our annual gathering in January.

I was HUGELY excited to see two black swans on the way to the Old Hall Inn :)  I've never seen one in real life before.  In fact, truth be told, I didn't know there was such a thing!! :(

On Monday, we moved to Whaley Bridge as Mike would get the train on Tuesday morning.  There's not much to the town, but we had a wander, then, despite our lazy day, were all knackered and had a quiet night watching a film.
Mike was off at 6am on Tuesday, Angela and I got up just after 9am :)  We sat around in our jammies drinking coffee and putting the world to right for a couple of hours, then headed off back up the Peak Forest.  We stopped just north of Furness Vale and walked into New Mills.  We then continued our walk following a cycle route across the hills and fields until 6-7 miles later we arrived in Charlesworth.  We had a couple of pints, got a bus back to Marple then a train back to New Mills.  It was a great day, and I think me and Ange should rule the world, cos we can sort out everything over a couple of pints :)

Manchester in the distance in the sunlight.

Lovely scenery and curious cows!

Angela awaiting instruction to cast off from Furness Vale

On Wednesday we headed to the new marina at New Mills and filled up on diesel and had a pump out, then continued up to Marple.  We had two swing bridges and a newly-electrified lift bridge to navigate.  As we approached the first swing bridge, there was a solo boater already going through it.  He waved us through, but we had to stop at the other side as there was a construction raft working on the canal.  They moved aside, giving us about 6ft 10" to get through on the offside, which off course we stuck on, as they hadn't thought to dredge the bit they were getting the boats to pass through...... They shuffled the raft a bit and I reversed and used the bow thrusters to move us off.  We got to the electric lift bridge next, opened it, waved the solo guy through, then I went through, then Angela closed it.  Just as happened on our way down, the bridge wouldn't release our key.  There is clearly something wrong with a sensor, or the balance.  So, as we did on the way down, we got a passer-by to stand on it, and it closed properly and released the key.  We think the lady that kindly jumped on it for us was Edwina Currie - does anyone know if she lives round here??  If not, it was her twin sister ;)  That's my new claim to fame; Edwina Currie jumped on the bridge so Ange could get my key out.......
So, safely moored at Marple, well, I use the term moored loosely... we are sitting on the mud... but sitting flat, so it's okay....... A nice boat mechanic next door lent us his extra-long pins to secure us as the bank is like sponge and falling into the canal..... We grabbed a bite to eat at the EXCELLENT Cambodian cafe in Marple (go, go, go - the food is AMAZING!) then Angela headed home, leaving me home alone for a night before Mike gets back.  I've done the laundry, got the dinner started for tonight and phoned my mum.  And now I've also done this week's blog entry - woooooooooohooooooooooooooo!  Tomorrow we head off down the rest of the Macclesfield to join the Caldon on the Trent & Mersey - hope this lovely autumn weather holds out!