Rookery moorings (again)

6 miles and 20 locks An eight o’clock start with the weather looking much better than yesterday. Almost the whole day was spent doing locks, but it was quite pleasant. The sun was out and we didnt have to wait at all. We met an upcoming bost at most locks. Several of the locks on

Above Church locks

A good day’s cruising today, though a bit cold at times. We set off at 7:30 and arrived at the top of Bosley locks about an hour later. Going down Bosley is a bit more time consuming than coming up. That’s because, unusually for narrow locks, there are double top gates. Also the top gates

Gurnett Aqueduct

Not such a good day weatherwise today, not wet but cold and overcast. We left Bugsworth at about 8:45, topped up with water and then set off down the Peak Forest back towards Marple. Andy Russell was working at Furness Vale so we stopped by to ask him about the touchup paint for the gunnels.

Bugsworth Basin

Last night we noticed that the boat seemed to have a list. The only explanation was that all the water from the spillage was still in the boat somewhere. We had mopped up quite a bit with towels etc, but the tap was full on for about 40 mins, so there must be some more.

Marple Junction

There were several boats moored with us last night who all said they were going up the flight today. There was a boat down late yesterday which meant that the locks should all be empty in our favour. This, and the weather forecast promissing rain, led to make the decision for and early start. So

River Dane Aqueduct

No locks today, just a short chug along the Macclesfield canal to the bottom of Bosley locks. We havent been this was for about 13 years, but we remembered how lovely the mooring here is. A short stop in Congleton for some shopping then we arrived here about 3 o’clock. We went a a walk

Red Bull Aqueduct

9 miles and 25 locks today. More or less all day doing locks as we climbed up through what is sometimes known sh “Heartbreak Hill”, though we rather enjoyed it. There were quite a lot of boats about. We were following an AngloWelsh hire boat. They were making resonable progress, though we did catch them

Rookery moorings

Our best trip ever up the M5/M6. As it was Saturday I expected it to be busy, but we made it in 2 hours 15 minutes. So a quick unload and we were off towards Middlewich. We shared Big Lock with a family who were then just going to turn and go back. When we