Whitely Green to Red Bull

Miles 20.1 locks 13
We set off in glorious sunshine and made our way south on the Macclesfield canal. the picture below was taken just north of the road running from Macclesfield to Leek. It was just after this we met Geoff and Maureen R who had given up boating several years ago but had just bought themselves a 23 ft springer
As we started down Bosley locks the weather changed and although it stayed warm the sun had gone in. The pic is of us entering lock No3 with the cloud in the background.

We were undecided where to moor overnight and finally settled for the spot below just as the canal crosses itself near to Red Bull basin We will be passing under this aqueduct about half an hour from when we set off in the morning.

Barleston to High Lane

We are home, but at the moment my broadband connection is faulty so I will update the last episode of our summer cruise when it is fixed. The plan is to upload lots of the photos that I have not used onto the internet with a link so that you can all see them. The Openreach engineer has just arrived so I will have to go. Keep watching it will all be sorted in a couple of days. The links to more photographs taken on this cruise
Purton Hulks Full set of Photos taken at Purton
Severn Valley Railway
Slimbridge

Finally got the log sorted so here goes for the last two days of the cruise

Miles 36.8 Locks 19 Days 2
Sunday 21/06/2009 Barleston to Dane Aqueduct at the bottom of Bosley Locks.
We were up early today to get ahead of the single hander that held everyone up yesterday but not early enough to be the first boat at Trentham lock and subsequently the Stone Flight. we followed the same boat waiting at most locks for it to clear the lock and on occasions waiting for another boat to come down. The timing for Harecastle tunnel was just about perfect we got there just as the southbound boats were making their exit from the tunnel. A 45 minute passage through and we were on the Macc with two boats in front who moored up at Red Bull for lunch. We continued on and stopped at Heritage boats for a Pump-out and then on to Bosley Bottom.
Monday 22/06/2009 Bosley bottom lock to High Lane.
Another early start and this time we were first up the locks, not that it mattered much as most of them were against us. We didn't meet another boat coming down until two from the top. We took on water at the top of the locks and carried on only to find the canal covered on large clumps of reeds that had broken off from the bank. I call these green icebergs as most of their mass is below water level. We finally secummed to the weed on the prop about 200yards in and I had to go down the weed hatch to clear the prop - we couldn't even get into the side, M had to hang on to some moored boats we were passing. After Fools Nook swing bridge things cleared up but the we noticed haw low the water was in the canal (about 4" lower than its normal level). The final run into High lane was uneventful until we went into our mooring and the boat took on a list as we grounded on the mud. I was quite disappointed as I had taken 7 wheelbarrow loads of mud out of the mooring only 6 weeks earlier. Two buses later and I was back with the car and we unload essentials and the laundry and we went home.

Upton to Stourport

Miles 23.3 Locks 9
There was a big crane going to Upton but not by road as I had been told. It went by water. Maybe the new pontoons were going by water.

Leaving Holt Lock the penultimate on the river Severn.
Our final landing on the River Severn as I wait for the first of the two sets of paired locks to take us up into Stourport Basin The View of the lock from the river.
We are now moored on the Staffs and Worcester canal at Stourport just above York Street lock.
Hopefully tomorrow we will manage a trip in the Severn Valley Railway

First Blog of the 2009 Cruise

Miles 18.8 Locks 12. Saturday 23 and Sunday 24 May 2009

Two days in one as we only travelled four and a half miles to Whiteley Green on Saturday. All the locks and most of the miles have been done today in blazing sunshine. There was an informal gathering at Whitely Green over the weekend and we had decided to use it as the springboard for our trip to Gloucester and Sharpness. The evening BBQ was great as was the chat in the marquee later. We set off at about 9.30 this morning and made our way through Macclesfield to Bosley Locks, where we took on water and did a pump-out. Just before the Astra Zeneca site at Macclesfield we spotted a Vixen and her cub in a nearby field.


Spot the Cub!













After Macclesfield the repairs to the retaining wall are coming on - over a year after the original collapse
















The trip down Bosley locks was one of the fastest we have done, after the first two which we did all by ourselves the remaining 10 locks were easy with an ascending boat coming out of each lock below as we got to it. I had intended to stop at the bottom of Bosley Locks this evening but our swift passage down the locks meant that we were there by 3.30 pm so we went on to the Aqueduct just before Congleton where there are some good deep moorings and some pleasant views too.