September Cruise - Day Fifteen

From one extreme to the other -- 43 locks over the past two days, but none today. We left Bugsworth at 9 and made the short journey to the junction where we moored for a re-stocking trip to Tesco, which is right next to the canal. We carried on to the basin at Whaley Bridge to turn. Our progress back to Marple seemed a little better than yesterday; we only ran aground a couple of times. One particularly problematic place is just south of Furness Vale marina, where a willow edging has been put in on the off side. It has burst into life, creating an unruly willow hedge.

At Marple Junction, we turned onto the Macclesfield Canal, had lunch on the visitor moorings and then moved to the other side of the canal to fill with water. Setting off again, progress down the Macc was very slow, with the bridge holes particularly shallow. We stopped for services at The Trading Post next to Braidbar boats, where we had a chat with Bruce and Sheila from Sanity.

We stopped for the night at Bollington, just past Clarence Mill.

We're moored right next to a very high aqueduct. From the canal level, the road looks a very long way down, but it's only from the road level that the real scale of the aqueduct becomes clear.

14 miles, 0 locks. (184, 145)