Day 18 - 21 Kidsgrove to Bosley Locks

 

Silent Annie by Finbar Furey

He told me a story of long since past

 Of a sailing ship with its long grey mast

Of his captain's cap with its shining braid 

And the wonderful voyages that he'd made.

 

Trees so tall the canal seems to be at the bottom of a deep green well

The bridges are tall here, too and keyhole shaped

 

 

The Macclesfield Canal and a stop lock with pretty cottages

 

A group of canoists ahead and we slow down to almost a stop

 

...until they pass

The canalside Ramsdell Hall, built in 1760 by the Cartwright family

... and decorative railings bordering land owned by the Hall

Fine old brick built barn

Old farmyard machinery and ducks

Hungry calf, more ducks

Evening mooring and about to put the canopy up

Beautiful stone bridges

...some with quite narrow 'bridge holes'

...and some showing more bridges in sight 

The off side quite overgrown at this one

Keeping a sharp eye open for oncomers and

 

...yes, exactly

 

...that, too!

Billy Tight's footbridge.  It's not clear who Billy was, but he must have been memorable

There are many bases of old swing bridges here - you can see the crescent shape where the bridge end once fitted

...and 'snake bridges' like this one near Congleton with cobbled tracks to give horses grip as they passed over with the towing rope as the towpath transferred sides, here from left to right

Another 'snake'

 

This looks like an old dredger or similar hull, with an unusual curved top cabin added

A much younger boat, probably maximum length for the canals at around 72' and handsomely designed and painted.  We're rather glad ours is 'only' 62'

Views of wooded hills and moorland from the high canal embankment

Bottom lock of 12 at Bosley

...and we wait for the boat ahead to exit the lock and the lock to empty.  These locks raise the canal by 118' to over 500' above sea level, the highest we'll have been in Catnap

They're beautifully maintained although effort still needed to work the paddles

 

The lock's empty and the boat ahead waits for the next one.  Not much room to manouevre if another boat is descending at the same time

Dressed stone blocks line the lock walls instead of the brick we're used to

Lock 10 

Denis steers in

Lock 8

Canalside house

Yarrow and knapweed (we think)

 

Information by lock 5

Entering lock 5

Fine paddle gear on the bottom gates

The Wheatsheaf Inn, now a farmhouse

View down the flight

Waiting for a lock to empty 

A common sight on the Macclesfield, these milestones were taken down during WW2 in case they helped the enemy and reinstated by the Macclesfield Canal Society who care for this canal

Three hours later, nearly there!

The top lock, chatting with the friendly lockkeeper

Looking back at the CRT station, excellently fitted out for water, refuse and sanitary services and it's solar powered.  Next job, find a mooring quickly and have a cuppa!