Day 36: Macclesfield canal

Distance: 13.5
Locks: 12

Today was a drizzly, cool day. The month that just finished was the warmest and driest March in the south and middle of England in the past 80 years. It's been great for us; perfect walking weather. So far, in 5 weeks, we've only needed our rain gear three times. But it looks like the weather gods are going to get back at us during the first week or two of April. The drizzle today is just a warm up for the cold and rain of next week. Scotland could see a half a foot of snow. North England, where we'll be, could also see some snow at high elevations. Three days from now we will be in North England, at high elevations, on the Penine Way. If we miss a blog entry, it means we're lost in a snowstorm up on the moor.



Today we followed the Macclesfield canal from Congleton to Bollington. Canal towpaths are nice and flat, and navigation could not be easier.


The only real climb was 118 feet at Bosley locks, a flight of 12 locks that are the only elevation change for the entire 26 miles of the canal. I really like that running the locks is a self serve operation on the canals here. In the old days, there would have been a lock master who ran the machinery. But now, if you are in a boat and need a lift, someone on the boat hops out and opens the gate, and you float your boat into the lock.


Once you're in, your boatmates close the door behind you, open the door on the other side, and up you go. They must do some kind of training for people on how to use the locks and not screw things up. It seemed to go smoothly for the people we watched.


It was very cool to see all the early nineteenth century engineering working perfectly. A mile later, we were past the locks and back to the level walking of the towpath. In the drizzle.


At just about exactly noon we made it to the Fools Nook, our lunch pub for today.


It is a great pub; Dawn rated their cheese and pickle sandwich as the best so far. They mix the cheese and Branston pickle stuff together, for a super tasty pickley cheesy taste explosion! Look how happy she is in the nook, checking for new blog comments!


After lunch, we were making nice progress when we came to a bridge where the towpath switched from one side to the other. When this happens there's a cool stone ramp, like a wheelchair ramp, that goes up on one side, and spirals down the other. This is for the benefit of the horses that actually did the work of towing the boats back before the boats had motors.


The problem here is that the bottom of the spiral looked like this:


They'd closed the path! There were no people around, but there was a piece of paper that showed it was closed for a half mile. I'm not sure why. We doubled back to the previous bridge, where we could pick up a road and make a detour. It cost us a half mile or so of distance - not appreciated late in the day! Or maps came to the rescue and a half hour later we were back on course.


It was nice to get to our B&B for a cup of tea and a hot shower. The window just outside our room is the Dutch window. The mother of the lady who runs the house was Flemish, born in Belgium in the 20s. She came to England after marrying one of the British liberation force. She brought back some of the pieces in the window, and scattered around the rest of the house, on trips back to Belgium and Holland.


Tomorrow is another short to medium length day. We will leave the canal and start making our way into the Peak District National park.

Location:Charter Rd,Bollington,United Kingdom