Cast adrift in Roaches

At 3.30 on Monday morning we both became aware of the boat hull knocking on something and unless we sorted it out it was going to keep us awake.  I went outside to investigate and took a while to get my bearings as we were adrift and had been blown down the canal a way and across to the other side.  We were on proper moorings with bollards so we had obviously been cast adrift deliberately.  It’s such a shame when you hear about these things and we were particularly surprised as Roaches seems such a pleasant village.

In the morning we waited for the rain to stop and the sun to come out before setting off for Stalybridge.  

Not too many photos taken today as we are retracing our steps back down the Huddersfield Narrow canal.  We did get a picture of one of the rollers that used to be used when draining sections of the canal.  A large plug in the bottom of the canal would have a chain attached and the chain wound through the roller.

Karen thought it would be funny to get a picture of me getting soaked by this leak as I went back down the lock ladder.  Fortunately she didn’t time it right.

As recompense she got showered by a blow hole when raising a paddle at the next lock.  

We moored for lunch just past this bridge.  The towpath was flooded but fortunately for Karen and Buddy there was an alternative route.

There were lots of butterflies out today even though it was really windy.  Karen managed to capture the picture of a Peacock at the top of the page.

After going down eight locks we stopped for grocery shopping in Stalybridge and took advantage of the moorings right outside Tesco.  We then dropped down another couple of locks before mooring for the night in the southern edge of Stalybridge.