This year's destination is a moveable feast. We plan to visit the Macclesfield and Peak Forest Canals but water shortages due to a reservoir problem up there means (probably) shallower than normal canals. It's an area we really want to see, but constantly going aground or having difficulty mooring is a problem so we'll ask people coming down as we approach and take a decision nearer the time.
Planned route from our base at Willington (between Shardlow and Fradley Junction on the map) west along the red route of the Trent & Mersey Canal to Harding's Wood Junction, then north up the Macclesfied, then south east on the Peak Forest
Other options are to continue up the T&M to its terminus at Preston Brook, or to turn west at Middlewich and visit Chester and Ellesmere Port. The Llangollen Canal is also on the bucket list, but it's late to really do it justice. For another year!
We've done the T&M to Great Haywood several times and Jan did the T&M from there to Middlewich in reverse with Pete - so we're starting the blog from Stone, Staffordshire as that'll be somewhere we'll definitely be mooring for a day or two. Meanwhile, a few pics of the journey so far...
Leaving our mooring at our new home at Mercia Marina next to 'Anne'
Still in the marina (it's big!), passing the Boardwalk shops and restaurant
Approaching the marina boatyard, with cooling towers
of the now defunct Willington power station in the background
Exiting the marina under two bridges before the right turn onto
the westbound Trent & Mersey Canal
NB Eagle at Egginton. Egginton Brook is soon to be home to the first beavers in the area for several hundred years
Denis working the lock before Alrewas, one of our favourite villages on the canal
At Fradley Junction CRT services - it's also a bug hotel!
Denis closing lock gate above Fradley
Nudging through weeping willow The Armitage Shanks factory
Site of the collapsed Armitage Tunnel - only wide enough for one boat to pass through
Crossing Brindley Bank, an aquaduct carrying the canal over the Trent
Lovingly restored cottage at Colwich Lock
Looking back at the junction with the Staffs and Worcs Canal at Great Haywood Fields alongside our mooring
Planks used when the lock is emptied for repairs (the roof keeps them dry)
Beehives in the garden of a care home
Mist after heavy rain during the day
Adding to our collection of quirky sheds
Tiny lockkeeper's hut with chimney
The half way mark along the Trent & Mersey. Some day, we must see Preston Brook
Working the lock at Aston
Brassworks Bridge, Little Stoke - with imitation Anglo Saxon arch
