TRIP REPORTS

AFTER THE "NATIONAL"

August / September 2007

Part 4 — Hall Green to Marple

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We resume the story at a mooring at Hall Green junction, at the beginning of the Macclesfield Canal.

Both cats were in and eating, and the cat-flap was closed about 04:00, when Wendy woke up. Unfortunately, once she went back to sleep she overslept and we didn't get away until much later than we'd hoped, at 11:49. It was a long time since we'd been on the Macclesfield and we'd forgotten just how very beautiful it is. We saw foxgloves near Congleton. The scenery is very attractive, with really dramatic Peak District fells on the horizon.

We stopped briefly at the River Dane aqueduct for me to try to get a photo, but I was frustrated by not being able to find a footpath to go down and photograph it from ground level. We continued up Bosley locks, as lovely as ever, but some of the paddles were very stiff. We met a few boats coming down, so only had to set about four locks. We stopped at the top of the locks to use the water and rubbish points, then went on very slowly because of a lot of long-term moorings.

We tied up at 19:29 on the visitor moorings before Oak Grove swing-bridge and went for a meal in the Fools Nook, being lucky enough to get the last free table. The food was excellent, if rather expensive for a pub. Burt it had to be as our supplies on board are severely depleted until we shop next. On our way back to the boat, despite orange lights on the road, some stars were actually visible from the tow-path.

Tilly stayed out again, and in the afternoon Wendy found a bus into Macclesfield for some shopping. The town has a lot of town-centre shops but looks as though main food shopping is done out-of-town. Wendy found only a M&S and a Tesco Metro. She got back to the boat at about 17:00 - about the same time as Tilly. I closed the cat-flap and we hoped for an early start.

9:30 was a bit later start than we'd hoped. We planned to drop in to visit our friends Mark & Jean in Bollington (Mark was my boss at one time), but realised that we'd probably arrive there at lunchtime, so we stopped near Kerridge for some lunch on board in order to get there at a more convenient time. While we were mooring we met Stuart Barnes of the Macclesfield Canal Society, the host for my talk in Macclesfield next week.

We stopped at Mark & Jean's, but they weren't in. A neighbour told us they were at the Transport Extravaganza we'd been past earlier. So we went on to Marple, much of the way being very shallow, although there are bits where one can get up to 3 mph. The cats, especially Tilly, were frustrated at having two stops when they couldn't go out. On the visitor moorings before bridge 2 at Marple we had difficulty finding a spot with enough depth to moor, but managed in the end, at 17:50. I went for a stroll to see if there were any moorings for more than 48 hours in case we decide to stay here for me to travel to London. I didn't find any but did meet Arthur and Patty Hayes, who we remember from one of the Stafford GIGs. Whether we do the next bit of the journey before or after my trip to London (which depends on when the cats come back in the morning), to get to Ellesmere Port in time for my talk there, we'll have to do some fairly hard boating for some of the time.

The bronchial problem that had been dogging Wendy since the middle of August flared up badly in the early hours of Monday morning, so I looked on the Internet and found a local doctor for her to go to. Due to us both misreading the map, she had to wheeze her way round a rather devious route to the surgery that proved in reality to be very close to the mooring. She was prescribed some antibiotics and an inhaler, and told to come back in 48 hours if there was no improvement. She did a little shopping on her way to and from the pharmacy.

The Ring o' Bells, close to our mooring, doesn't do food on Mondays and Wendy didn't feel like walking far to find another pub for lunch, so she ate on board while I walked into the town for lunch (at a very pleasant pub called The Hatters) and some more shopping. Marple has independent greengrocers, bakers and a butcher as well as Iceland and a Co-op.

On Tuesday morning we lay in until quite late. Then, while we were about to start breakfast, still in our pyjamas, there was a hammering on the back of the boat, and Wendy found a friendly boater holding our back mooring rope & pin that had pulled out, I guess as a cumulative result of passing boats. Wendy replaced it temporarily while we finished breakfast. Then another boat managed to pull out both our pins. While we were throwing on some clothes, the boat had drifted to the other side of the cut, where a couple of residents had got hold of out ropes and tied us to their garden. Once we'd separated the mooring pins from their ropes, we found there was a space on the mooring beyond the bridge, where we could tie to rings. Fortunately both cats were on board.

I had to go to London for a couple of days, from Tuesday afternoon for a meeting at the museum that evening and a hospital appointment next morning to be fitted with a hearing aid. While I was away, Wendy got to know Joan and Michael, from Water Rat, moored behind us. They'd come past while we were drifting earlier. Their boat's name commemorates Joan's pet rats. According to their signwriting they are from Saul Junction.

On Wednesday I 'phoned to say I now had my hearing aid. I was going to another meeting that evening and would travel back next day. Wendy had a good lunch at the Ring o' Bells. At the next table were a group of ladies very like the coven in Last of the Summer Wine. One of them was suspicious because her husband had taken to hovering. This produced a chorus of "He's up to something!" Wendy was uncertain whether they were or weren't joking.

On Thursday afternoon, I returned, and had to 'phone Wendy to help me up the hill from the station with some heavy luggage (no relevant bus that I could find). Then Pete Neville gave me a lift to Macclesfield to give a talk to the Macclesfield Canal Society. We went the scenic route, "over the tops", and I was delighted with the views - this scenery makes that in Last of the Summer Wine look ordinary by comparison. It was a good meeting. Mark & Jean Stedman were there (Mark is my ex-boss, who retired to Bollington). Afterwards Pete brought me back again.