Bosley

Today's Canal : Macclesfield

The forecast for today was not great with the expectation of non-trivial rain later on. It was grey but not chilly as we set off. Ahead of us lay the Bosley Locks, a flight of 12. But first we had two swing bridges to negotiate.

The first bridge was manual but to our surprise when it came into view it was left open, A bit of a quandary: signs clearly tell boaters to close the bridge to boats as it carries a public footpath. On the other hand a number of bridges are now normally left open for various reasons. What to do? We fell back on our normal walking principle of leaving things as they were when we arrived.

It could have been three swing bridges today - this one was still on the OS map of 1910 but only to connect the towpath to the nearby main Leek New Road.

This splendid cottage calls itself Canal Cottage but we have not been able to find out what its original purpose was - perhaps a lengthsman's cottage? Or perhaps it only acquired its name in recent times.

The final bridge is called Royal Oak Bridge and is mechanised but has been the source of regular problems. This cottage is one of several making up this small hamlet on the main road. It has been extensively renovated and work is only now nearing completion.

Across the other side of the road is the pub that was originally built to satisfy the workers digging the canal. It was formerly known as Royal Oak but that changed at some point to Fool's Nook Inn. The building became ever more sub standard and closed as a pub many years ago. The is now planning permission to demolish and replace with 7 houses. However, as the site is for sale, we assume that no developer has yet been found to take it on.

And so to the bridge itself. We made it through but not until after Christine managed to enlist the help of a group of cyclists one of whom seemed to know the knack of persuading the lock to open!

On then to Bosley Locks where we first pulled into the short side arm to make good use of the facilities - we have not had a chance since leaving Bugsworth.

Once we had finished we reversed back to enter the top lock. We were helped through by a very pleasant and chatty volunteer lock keeper. (Alas we only met his two companions much later as they were making their way back tom the top for lunch)

All the locks are made to the same design with double gates at the top as well as the bottom, no footboard to cross at the top but a good level bridge at the tail.

We were fortunate for the top seven locks, meeting boats at just the right time all coming up. Alas, our luck then ran out and all the rest were against us. The top paddles were all  quite easy but most of the bottom gate paddles needed quite a bit of effort to open.

Before long the looming shape of The Cloud appeared and dominated the canal for some time ahead.  But it is one of those landmarks that sometimes seems to be to the left and at other times to the right as the canal changes direction.

The last lock is just under a bridge that was part of the Churnett Valley Line. In the nearby village of Bosley, two mills were constructed a long time ago, mainly to process copper and brass although other operations replaced that in later times. A tramway connected the works to the canal which, at first, was the main way of transporting the output to other parts pf the country.

Most recently the mills have been used for processing wood. A large explosion occurred in 2015 with the loss of four lives and the fire service were on site for about a month before it was finally extinguished. The exact cause has never been ascertained but seems likely to have been the result of large quantities of dust. The site had been cause for concern to safety experts for some time

 and the judge in a subsequent prosecution described the managing director as a "totally inadequate managing director".

We came out of the bottom lock 2 hrs 7 mins after entering at the top. The first time for which we have a record was in 1973 which probably was in a hire boat with another family and we completed in about 1.5 hours. Similarly since then we have managed something similar, but by 2016 and 2029 we were just about on the 2 hours. So we are definitely slowing down - but at least we are still completing it!

Immediately after the bottom lock are good armco moorings - just what we needed for a late lunch. They are adjacent to the Dane Aqueduct, solid and quite high above the river.

We then looked at the time it will take us to get to Harecastle Tunnel and, in the light of that, we opted to stay put for he rest of the day (light rain did then eventually make an appearance) and we booked a tunnel passage for Tuesday 2 pm.

4.3 Miles - 12 Locks