One of my first jobs on Wednesday morning was to clean up
the barbeque. Whilst doing this I
inadvertently dropped three of the four racks into the water so had to get my
trustee magnet out.
I managed to fish out two of the racks so not a bad spot of fishing.
Many people have been asking about the orange/red colour of the
canal in recent days. It is due to the
iron oxide that is leached out of Harecastle Hill into the Harecastle tunnel
which is only a few miles away from here.
We set off about ten to get through the last six locks
before hitting the junction with the Macclesfield canal which we will be
heading up to get to the Peak Forest canal.
We need to find out what this implement/aid is that we saw at one lock.
We need to find out what this implement/aid is that we saw at one lock.
These are the old wharf buildings at Kidsgrove that are now CRT offices.
The junction with the Macclesfield is really unusual as the
Trent & Mersey passes underneath it, up two more locks and then you turn
onto the Macclesfield and double back on yourself to cross the Trent &
Mersey on the aqueduct - like an
olden days’ gyratory road system.
As we went under the aqueduct Karen ran up to the top to see if a boat was crossing as a picture of a boat going over us would be quite unusual. Unfortunately a boat had just passed through.
The junction is called Hardings Wood junction and is in an area of Kidsgrove with the odd name of Red Bull. The junction had nice detailed signposts - we are only 37 miles from Whaley Bridge in the Peak District..
As we went under the aqueduct Karen ran up to the top to see if a boat was crossing as a picture of a boat going over us would be quite unusual. Unfortunately a boat had just passed through.
The junction is called Hardings Wood junction and is in an area of Kidsgrove with the odd name of Red Bull. The junction had nice detailed signposts - we are only 37 miles from Whaley Bridge in the Peak District..
Here we are leaving the Trent & Mersey to make a 180
degree turn back on ourselves on the 'gyratory' to start our journey up the Macclesfield.
The first bridge on the Macclesfield gave us the name and
date it was opened – 1829. Like the
Shropshire Union this was a late canal and built straight like a railway with
embankments and cuttings. It was lucky
not to have been converted into a railway a few years after opening.
Karen felt happier about my shoddy workmanship when we
passed this boat.
Passing another boat, a man lent out and said, "Afternoon - ah you've had your haircut". We hadn't seen him since we were down in London last year!
This is approaching the aqueduct over the Trent & Mersey. We had already noticed the water was no longer deeply coloured as we had risen up a couple of locks.
This is looking down from the aqueduct - Karen had to stand on the roof to take this.
After a mile on the Macclesfield we went through Hall Green
lock which only has a drop of 12 inches as it used to be a stop lock to enable
the collection of tolls as boats passed between the Macclesfield and Trent &
Mersey canals.
The milestones on this canal are made of stone rather than
the usual iron. During World War II they were buried so as not to aid invading forces. They have since been recovered and restored by the Macclesfield canal society.
The bridges are made of a lighter sandstone than the red we
have been used to for the last few weeks.
We passed Ramsdell Hall house which was built around 1750
and, surprisingly to us, is still in private ownership.
The tow path along its borders has this ornate iron fence
which has recently been nicely restored after nearly 200 years.
After we moored for the day we went for a walk to the top of
Mow Cop – a 1,100 foot high hill in the middle of the Cheshire plain. It was hazy but we could just make out the
Peak District where we are headed next.
The dish in the distance here is one of the Jodrell Bank
radio telescope dishes.
At the top of Mow Cop stands the old man of Mow. This is made of millstone grit like the tops
of many of the hills in the Peak District and Pennines; millstone grit is used to make
querns – the round stones used to grind grain into flour. I assume that this was deliberately left like this during the quarrying period.
Also at the top is a folly built in 1754 to look like a
ruined castle.
The houses at the top of the hill formed a pretty village and each must have fantastic views whichever direction it faces.
These are the six locks we went through before leaving the Trent & Mersey.
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