As long suffering residents of this soggy sceptered Isle we have learned that wasting sunny weather is akin to sacrilege. Second day of March found us throwing all the essentials like a few bottles of wine onto the boat and heading towards sunny Marple and the Upper Peak Forest for an extended weekend.
Sun Glasses.........check
Folding chairs (to lounge in the sun)......check
Side hatch open to catch the rays.......check
Remember to buy coal ( in the unlikely event it turns cold)....check
Sun tan cream ?.................now you are being silly !!!!!!!!
Standing bravely coat-less on the back of the boat in my (admittedly padded) shirt sleeves, I realised this was the first time I had been outside without a coat since winter had touched everything with it's icy claws in November. In fact most of the year had seen us festooned in coats of some kind.
Heading towards Marple from Higher Poynton we planned to join the Upper Peak Forest Canal and head towards Bugsworth Basin near the terminus of the canal at Whaley Bridge.
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| Nice drop 'o sunshine - nearing Marple |
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| Junction of Macclesfield Canal and The Peak Forest Canal - Marple. |
A long blast of the horn at the blind junction of Peak Forest and Macclesfield canals hopefully avoids a head-on collision as we negotiate this unsighted ninety-degree bend and onwards towards the Peak District with its hills still covered with patches of snow.
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| Looking back towards the Macclesfield Canal - Marple |
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| Blue sky cruising - Peak Forest Canal, Marple |
Surprisingly for such a beautiful day there is little traffic on the water as we pass moored boats at Marple and the panoramic views towards Mellor together with its companion upper moorland scenery begin to unfurl in the crisp clear sunlight.
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| Rooms with a view - houses situated above Marple Ridge. |
Upper Peak Forest canal is certainly worth a visit come rain or shine..........but like most things much better in the 'shine'
A slight disadvantage of this stretch of the Upper Peak Forest is the two 'lift' bridges and two 'swing' bridges before you arrive at Furness Vale. Both lift bridges are windlass operated and require more than a few strenuous turns to get into the 'lift' position. It is possible to get on and off your boat on the non-towpath side next to the lift mechanism avoiding mooring at the conventional bridge mooring and walking across and then moving your boat through to moor again at the other side to collect your crew.
This also makes life a lot easier if you are soloing.
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| Peak Forest Canal Lift Bridge |
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| Furness Vale swing bridge. Leaving bridge open for a following boat - first boat is waiting on bridge mooring (camera location) |
Approaching Whaley Bridge the canal enters a wooded area after Furness Vale Marina with the temperature dropping steeply as the trees hide the sun and I reach for my coat.......brrr!
But is nice to see the first signs of spring on the trees...........
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| 'Pussy Willow' buds herald spring. |
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| 'Suzy' keeps a watch for killer ducks - Furness Vale Marina |
Mooring in Bugsworth Basin on Saturday the temperature dropped so low in the early hours of Sunday that the basin froze over. Fortunately Sunday brought another nice day that soon thawed the ice cover. Our coal stocks were low and we had been using logs on the 'Morso' fire so we very pleased when 'Alton' the fuel boat appeared on Monday morning enabling us to purchase a bag of coal which should now last us until the weather starts to warm up.
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| Renaissance Canal Carrying Company - fuel boat 'Alton' |
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| Bugsworth Lower Basin with Braidbar boat 'Bosley' in the forground. |
Bugsworth Basin was was a hive of activity in the 19th Century with Limekilns producing burnt Lime to be moved by boat to Manchester and beyond. It is a fascinating place being one of the busiest inland 'ports' during its heyday with narrowboats moving burnt-Lime, Limestone and stone 'sets' to feed the frenzy of building that characterized that time.
Every time we visit Bugsworth I seem to notice something I have missed before.......like the set of exposed stone steps that lead down
the side of a bridge that is the entrance to the Upper Basin.....I assume this would enable the boatman ( or woman) to climb up and over the bridge enabling the boat to be 'bow-hauled' through with a rope as there is no tow-path access under the bridge for man nor' beast.
Certainly like all things at that time there was scant regard to safety.
I certainly would not like to run up and down it too many times especially carrying a long wet rope !!
Monday brought cloudy cold weather with more than a little wind as we crabbed in reverse out of the lower basin. Using the strong wind to turn the stern into the opening for the middle and upper basins we eventually pointed towards Whaley Bridge stopping at the water-point before leaving so that 'San Serriffe' would be ready to 'rock 'n roll' with a full tank of the H20 stuff for our next weekend sojourn into the
( fingers crossed) sun.
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| Best way to spend a cold Monday morning......discovering that heat rises !! |
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