Sorry it's been a while, communication black spot. Sheep don't need mobile broadband coverage.
Where were we, oh yes, moored up with Jens porcine pals. We didn't have far to go to Whaley bridge so there was no need to rush Saturday morning so we treated ourselves to a lie in and listened to the dawn chorus, with backing vocals from wild deer and something that screeched? En route we stopped at a handy canal side super market and stocked up on provisions. I shan't mention the captain testing the waters, I think she told you herself.
Another lazy morning in Whaley bridge while we waited for the good captain's parents to join us. Who brought us all kinds of useful stuff, licences, engine manuals, etc. The we set off for the Buxworth branch and Bugsworth basin. A very old wharf complex where limestone was brought down from the hills to be processed and loaded onto the barges. Where we met the narrowest bit of canal yet, a gauging stop.
I had to concentrate so hard on getting through clean I almost phase shifted into an alternate dimension. Interesting old place bugsworth, none of the buildings remain, except the pub " The Navigation " highly recommended, good grub. All the old workings and track ways for the trams can still be seen on the ground.
We dropped our guests off at the junction with the main canal and made our way back to the piggy mooring.
The next morning we set off for the Macclesfield canal, but on the way we passed through New Mills, home to the swizzle factory. I paid tribute with a drumstick lolly salute.
There was no time to dawdle though, we were facing a dead line. We were to meet up with Phil & Elaine just north of high lane. Then as we entered the Macc we met some old duffer doing a six million point turn in the canal, after quarter of an hour watching him prat about I just barged my way past, he may still be there yet. We met up with our dinner guests only to be cut short by a virulent attack of the raj's revenge on the good captain. Must have been a bad weevil in the ships biscuits. A mercifully short but unpleasant event, after a couple of hours rest the captain was something like back to normal. We carried on for a couple of miles to find a quiet mooring for the night.
Tuesday was a day of fettling the boat. We stopped at the " Trading Post " for a bottle of gas and filled the water tank.
The next stop was some what less glamorous, emptying the loo and refuelling at Lyme view marina. Then we headed off into the countryside once more to moor, erm yeah, play on words, that's it. It was still early in the day so after a spot of lunch and time to let the engine cool. Up came the deck panels over the engine and in I went spannered up. The wiring was a bit of a cob web affair, so everything was cut loose, rerouted and cable tied up neatly. A most pleasing job, we like a bit of order in the engine bay, but there are one or two awkward bits to reach. The good captain sacrificed her dignity and went in !
She has the bruises to prove it was her.
Flushed with success at our fine efforts we went on to cover the plank we use for sitting at the helm, with high density foam. So it can now be called a bench now it's upholstered.
And so to today,
We stopped off in Macclesfield, to visit the silk museum. The good captain insisted on hiking in. Must have been a mile there, a mile around the exhibition and around the town. Then a mile back to the boat, all up hill. She did it too, what a trooper !
The museum was fantastic and a floor of the old mill has been preserved as it was while it was still in use. Some of the original staff from the 1800's still work there.
There are 9,200 threads going into that loom, took two men two whole days to thread it. It then then takes two hundred passes of the shuttle to produce one inch of fabric. I have a new respect for silk, and the people who made it.
Until next time blog watchers, the lock keeper signing off.
