Scholar Green

We decided to eat at the Toby Carvery last night and as we were unable to moor right outside I went just through bridge 117. After eating we got back to the boat just as it started raining. This morning reminded me why I try to avoid mooring under trees. The drips are like a water torture and the birds roosting above make a right mess on the paintwork/roof.

We were up early and didn’t sleep well with the wind and rain last night. It was dead calm when we went to bed and 5 minutes latter we were bagging about with creaking ropes, a cycle which seemed to continue all night.
We were away by 8am heading for the tunnel in almost sunshine, but I had the mac on in case and a good job I did, about a quarter of a mile from the tunnel the sky’s opened. When we reached the tunnel there was no one waiting so we moored nearest the tunnel mouth. The tunnel keeper came out and said there was a boat in the tunnel going north, which I suspected, then the good news, you can follow through as soon as you are ready, so horn and light checked, safety briefing done and we were off into the darkness. I didn’t see any sign of the boat ahead but there were two waiting to come south as we exited the tunnel, so we must have arrived just in time.
Clear of the tunnel we turned left at Hardings Wood Junction towards the Macclesfield Canal, it doesn’t actually become the Macclesfield Canal until you pass through Hall green lock. After the junction its reasonably straight passed the long term moorings and then a 90° right hander and under the turn overbridge to cross the Trent and Mersey canal  on the aqueduct . We stopped here for a quick cup of tea and decide or next move, I had expected to wait for an hour at the tunnel, not go straight through.Plan for the day formulated we headed off, through Hall Green lock, there use to be two locks here back to back to prevent water flowing from one company to the other, but now there is a single lock with about a foot rise. The rain had stopped but it was still windy as we pushed on to the visitor moorings at Scholar Green, we tried getting in earlier by the long straight piling but there wasn’t enough depth.

Today’s Journey 7½ miles, 1 lock in 3 hours