A very interesting talk last night by John about Braunston past and present which answered a few things that I wondered about from my time in the area. Again a good meal in The Red Bull, I would say its the best sub £10 pub food I have had, quite amazing.They also have more expensive dishes.
Needles to say when we got up this morning the batteries were already down to 22 volts but they still seamed quite capable of supplying what we need including the inverter and fridge, but will need sorting before next trip. The water pump is only dripping slowly so I will order one of those for next trip as well.
We set off at 10-25 am in bright warm sunshine, it was like a spring day. After about 15 minutes we were at the start of the Macclesfield Canal at Hall Green locks.
There use to be two locks here, back to back, One belonged to the Trent and Mersey Canal Co. and the other to the Macclesfield Co. Now there is just the one with a rise of about 200mm to the Macclesfield, but the long chamber still exists.
Some years ago the Macclesfield canal was awarded Green Flag status, Only 5 navigabile canal have received this award and the flag is proudly flown in the Garden of Teapot Hall.
The canal also boasts some rather splendid mile stones, a large one about a meter high every mile and a small one every quarter of a mile. The large ones have the mileage to Marple on one side in whole miles and the mileage to Hall Green on the other which includes a quarter of a mile.
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The quarter mile markers have ¼ on one side and ½ on the other or ¾ and ½ on the other side.
Leaves are bit of a problem on the canal this time of the year, they collect around the propeller and take away all its efficiency to the point where it will not drive the boat along, momentarily selecting reverse blows these all off.
As well as the splendid mile stones there are some very handsome turnover bridges, these were built so that the horse towing a boat could change from one side of the canal to the other without the tow line being disconnected, something that is not possible with a standard bridge.
This one is also slightly unusual that it has a standard bridge, know as an accommodation bridge attached to it, but divided by a wall so the canal traffic and the local traffic crossing the canal never met.
There is another one a short way along the canal which serves both purposes but has a common span.
Today was also the day when I was able to photograph a flying Kingfisher which was just about in focus, even with the good light the shutter speed did freeze the wing beats. Maybe the next one.
Due to engineering works the Bosley lock flight is closed and as the winding hole (turning point) is above the first lock we don't think we can access it so have had to wind (turn round) about a mile and a half before the flight, so we were unable to moor on the visitor moorings by the Dane Aqueduct for the night.
Today's Journey
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