Saturday 24 October 2015

Falling a Little Bit in Love - with The Caldon Canal

Well the lovely autumnal weather did hang around, until this morning....it's chucking it down, which is a good reason to sit tight and catch up with the blog.  It's also the first time we've had decent internet and mobile signals for a few days.  Still no tv though so we've worked through a few dvds this week.....
As planned we left Marple last Friday (seems like months ago!!) and headed down the Macclesfield.  (Note; there's going to be a lot of pics in this entry so I'll try and not blether on too much...)
The Macclesfield is a pretty canal and of course the autumn colours only enhanced it.  We still found it shallow in places so were grinding along at a fairly slow pace, passing more of the snake bridges, this one highlighted as a particularly pretty example.

The snake bridge enabled the horse to cross over as the towpath changed sides without unharnessing from the boat.
We carried on fairly uneventfully until we reached Macclesfield, where we saw Jane on Dawn Owl (we'd been neighbours in Liverpool), as they are moored there for the winter.  We exchanged greetings for as long as a cruise-by allows and then stopped for water.  Well, we nearly stopped for water, but as I steered Quaintrelle to come alongside, her prop hit something (the bottom of the canal I think) and I lost steerage and any ability to draw her to a halt, despite being fully in reverse.  Thankfully I was going very slowly and didn't do any damage to Quaintrelle or the CRT craft moored at the water point....(subtle point being made there CRT.....).  We took on some water and checked the prop, then continued, passing through a couple of swing bridges before reaching Bollington, where we moored for the evening.  
With a few events over the next month (dentist, wedding, holiday) we did some planning and booked Q into marinas where required.  This resulted in a slight change of plan as we'd now be on the wrong side of some stoppages on the north Stafford and Worcs canal.  We were also a day short on the Caldon, so decided to hoof it down the rest of the Macc to make up the difference.  We flew down the Bosley locks (a lovely flight, so pretty and lovely easy locks to work).
Stunning views on the Bosley flight

Someone else flying down the Bosley flight.....
The final lock on the Macc
 We stopped for the night at Congleton, visiting the local Morrisons for some pies.  We have discovered that their delirange do the best porkpies we've had in a long time.  We had a steak one for lunch yesterday and it was lovely - really lovely buttery pastry....
On Sunday we did a long day coming through the last lock on on the Macclesfield, then across the aqueduct that takes the Macc over the Trent & Mersey and then onto the Trent & Mersey for a brief soujourn on reasonably deep water before reaching Etruria Junction, which would take us on to the Caldon.
Crossing the Trent & Mersey
Waiting to go through the Harecastle tunnel, which seemed huge and unintimidating after the Standedge

Passing the Middleport Pottery where they've done some landscaping and put up some welcoming signs for boaters to moor, since we were there in the summer.
We spent the night at the junction, planning to head up the staircase locks that would take us onto the Caldon the next morning.  Having had a long day on Sunday we had a bit of a lie-in on Monday, and then I walked to Stoke station to collect our various train tickets for our various events.  The Trent & Mersey was going like a fair, with queues of boats at two of the locks I passed.  When I got back, a couple had already gone up the locks onto the Caldon and we reckoned our nice quiet week might end up being not so quiet in terms of boat traffic.  There is not much to say about the Caldon apart from it is one of the prettiest canals we've been on and I absolutely loved it.  It's gorgeous.  The scenery is varied and the locks are well maintained and easy to operate, the towpath in really good condition and plenty of lovely visitor moorings.  I will now let the pictures do the talking:
There were a couple of nice sculptures showing the history of the canal, highlighting the importance of it to the local potteries.

The Caldon splits at this junction, where we took a right onto the Leek branch.
The Leek Tunnel

Despite seeing a few boats coming onto the canal, we hardly passed anyone else on the move.  When we did, it was, of course, at a really narrow bit!
 Part of the Caldon's charm is the way it twists and weaves through so many different kinds of scenery;  one minute you're going through an enchanted wood, the next through sprawling fields.  We'd been warned it was narrow and shallow, but it was fine until yesterday.  Following some night rain a couple of days ago, they must have opened sluices somewhere as we were hitting the bottom coming off it yesterday where we'd been fine the day before.  There were some highlights; on the Monday as we headed through Bridge 14 I saw a movement in the water and was priviledged to see a water vole swimming at the edge of the reeds!!  Vince (we named him) was gorgeous, they are such shy animals it was a real treat to see one in real life :)  Like the snake on the Selby canal, he was too fast and I was too entranced to get a photo.
 Having been to Leek, we turned around and came back to the junction where we made our way down the locks.

The lock gate open revealing yet more beautiful countryside


The lovely Hazlehurst Aqueduct which we were on the day before on our way to Leek.
On Wednesday we made our way to Froghall, where the canal now terminates.  In days gone by, it went all the way to Uttoxeter.  There is a tunnel at Froghall which is so low, your boat has to be less than 5ft above the water.  We've not met anyone yet that has gone through it.
Flint Mill Lock has a template of the Froghall tunnel entrance to see if you will fit through.  As you can see, our handrails along the top of the cabin would have had their paint stripped :(

The Froghall Tunnel

If anyone DOES fit through the tunnel, they get the prize of using these wonderful moorings with boaters facilities right next door - what a waste :(
 It was frustrating to see the lovely basin at Froghall and it's facilities, completely empty :(
After a night at Froghall, we started our journey back, picking up Dave on the way, (it's okay Fran, he didn't stay the night, just for lunch, so only 1 point for Most Frequent Visitor).   An old railway line runs alongside the canal and has been restored at Consell Forge and Cheddleton, and they run steam and diesel trains during the summer months.
Approaching Consell station, where the canal is just a few feet from the rails.
Weir in fast flow from the canal under the railway.

Old limekilns at Consell Forge, where there is a water point with the strongest pressure ever!  So strong, we couldn't use it as it blew our hose apart :(

*sigh*.... so pretty, just love this canal...
 We stopped off at Cheddleton, lunching at the Boat Inn (and very nice it was too, great wee pub!).  James, this next lot of pictures is especially for you :)
Oooooo.....looook...... TRAINS!!

Lots of trains.......


The beautifully restored Cheddleton Station - with trains...

Name that gate...
 We stopped for our last night at the Flint Mill at Cheddleton, which still wasn't open unfortunately, and yesterday came back down the staircase locks to Etruria Junction.  
The Flint Mill at Cheddleton
 Today we're off to Festival Park marina where Quaintrelle will spend a week with other boats, Mike will do a few days work at Grantham, and I'm going to see my mum, get my hair done, see the dentist.  Meanwhile, for James, a couple more trains...







 

Thursday 15 October 2015

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!