A considerable change in the weather - although mostly quite breezy there were plenty of sunny spells and it was much hotter than for some while.
Before leaving our overnight mooring, Mike popped to a nearby Co-Op shop for a paper, milk and a few other items. On the way back he had a better view of the building opposite the visitor mooring pontoons. It has been constructed since we ere last this way and some of the apartments - specifically for retired people - are still being sold.
Just after setting off we passed the former Hovis Mill, now converted into apartments. It was completed in 1831 for a canal carrying company but by 1898 it was sold to the bakers that were just starting to manufacture the Hovis loaf, specially aimed at ;poor working families. In 1914, the company had outgrown this site and moved into Manchester but retained these works for making packaging materials.
At the next bridge we could see the partially collapsed retaining wall which is the reason for an intermittent closure of the towpath.
Much of the canal through the Southerner part of the town has a substantial retaining wall.
This chap (chapess?) stayed still (unusually) long enough for its portrait to be taken , Guess this must be his/her 'best' side!
We just liked the starkness of this image - but notice that small shoots of new life have taken root in places.
There were two swing bridges to negotiate. The first carries just a footpath and is manually operated, but reasonably easy to move (once you have worked out how to get the key to release the lock!)
The second, at Royal Oak, carries a small but rather busy, road and so has to be much sturdier. As a result it has been mechanised - just a few years ago it was still manual kith a reputation for being difficult! The footbridge means that pedestrians - unlike car drivers - do not have to curb their impatience and can continue across the canal even during the few moments that it is open to let a boat through!
Before midday we arrived at the top of the twelve Bosley Locks. There is a service block here (with everything including showers and washing machines) There is a short arm just behind the block where we moored for the duration. Whilst the water tank was filling we made ourselves a lunch snack - it was early but we were not sure how long we might take and then end up with a very late lunch!
The was a volunteer helping at the top lock but the other two we met further down, helping a rather glum looking single hander (but with their lunch break also in mind for when they reached the top)
Whilst taking the boat down the locks, Mike particularly noticed the way in which the stones make the wall facing. They have been so well dressed that no mortar seems to have been needed to bed them together. The joints were at one time pointed but most of that has fallen out. We only saw a very few places in the flight where water seeps back behind the lock and then sprays out on the passing boat.
Here is a detail of one of the accommodation bridges where the stones look to have an even closer fit. We pass under so many of these bridges around Congelton in particular they seemed non-stop - so it is easy to forget the amazing skill that went into every single block on every bridge.
Sutton Hill BT mast comes into view quite often along this stretch - as the canal winds around, the mast appears to be one direction and then another! This mast dates back to 1950's when it was intended to form part of a survivable communications network in the event of a nuclear war. That is why is is mace from reinforced concrete, unlike most communications towers.
A little later, the Cloud takes over as a dominating landmark.
Part way down the flight we were watched through one of the locks buy this substantial and attentive - but seemingly critical- crowd of onlookers.
We left the bottom lock just a few minutes under two hours after we entered the top lock.Since all but two of the locks were set against us so needed filling before we could take the boat down, we thought that this was not a bad time.
It is level cruising now until almost the end of the Macclesfield Canal. At one farm there are some extensive conversions taking place to old buildings - but this smart watchkeeper makes sure that no-one moors (moos?) up on the private landing that should not be there.
The canal now runs through some very pleasant, green enclosed sections.
As we passed under the electrifier railway line we had to avoid some workboats that were manoeuvring around a site where the towpath has needed some maintenance work.
The towpath has for some while been on our right side but as we came to the former wharf at Congelton, it had to be moved across to the opposite bank. Each end has one of the snake bridges.
Alas, the canal does not run closer to the town centre, which is about a mile away, presumably because of the problems of crossing a valley. The wharf appears to have been a busy place where plenty of good were transhipped. Today the main warehouse has been converted to apartments and surrounded by similar modern blocks.
We continued out of the town for a couple of miles before we found a suitable empty space on one of the known moorings. This canal is general rather shallow and it is not possible, unlike many other canals, to take advantage of the right to moor almost anywhere along the towpath. It is just not possible to get close enough to the edge. Although most of the feasible places are not officially masked, they are given in some of the guides and are also said to be well known by those who come here regularly.
12.1 Miles - 12 Locks
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