Day 47 started a bit overcast, the boat moored behind us moved off whilst we were having breakfast and didn’t come back so we were pretty certain the bridge had been fixed. D found a key in the lock of the bridge when we went through, as no boats had gone the other way we decided to try to find the other three boats we were moored with because of the stoppage as it must belong to one of them. Found two of them and both said it wasn’t theirs but we never found the third boat. Stopped early for lunch as rain got harder J on the tiller again, there is a pattern here! Later moved onto Marple and took a walk down to the locks to see some of the repairs which have gone on, fortunately we are not planning to go down these locks as there is still a restriction on the size of boats which will be allowed down the locks, we are too big to use them at the moment.
Day 48 and a “quick” trip down the highest part of the Peak Forest canal; we didn’t have time to do this last time we came here, and a new bit has opened since then.
It has no locks but a lot of lift / swing bridges, fortunately there are even more which are no longer in place. Fantastic views. We saw some giant hogweed which was only just getting going but is already huge.
Went down to Bugsworth basin ( the bit that has opened since we were last here), very shallow and poor sign posting of where the winding hole was meant D got into a bit of a problem turning and we had help from the local café owner who seems to have done this before. D already stressed from meeting canoeists near a shallow bit.
Swopped helmsman and J met canoeists on the way back, this time with another boat coming the other way. Went down to Whaley bridge to the services and shop. Text book winding by J with audience; whew…. Unfortunately slow progress meant we didn’t have time to take the train to Buxton. Returned the way we came, views which were hazy in the morning now clear and we could see into the peak district. Took several attempts to find mooring; we have marked up the boat hook so we can use it as a depth gauge and J had quite a long walk down the tow path testing the depth as she went.
Day 49 was a deliberate slow start to avoid a canoeing event nearer the end of our trip. Canal was busy, not surprising on a lovely summer weekend, despite starting late we still had to stop to ensure we didn’t meet the tail end of the event. Again finding mooring a bit difficult. Just as J was thinking some of the clouds looked a bit threatening the heavens opened, eased later when D took over. Moored near Gurnett aqueduct, a lovely setting with deep enough moorings but odd ring spacing and rock hard ground so really hard to get pins in (took about 10 minutes to find somewhere where the pin would go in).