Egypt4u

After taking the earlier pictures of the daffodils on the village green myself and Annie set off along the Macclesfield canal for a few hours walk which covered about 5 miles all told. The weather had improved no end and I didn’t need a coat, but I slipped on a gillet just in case it got a bit cooler as the sun went lower in the afternoon. I had packed a few things in my rucksack, water for Annie and a Scotch egg and some fruit for myself, although I was sure that I would not see much of the sausage meat from the Scotch egg so would have to content myself with just the egg and an orange. We parked the car at this local marina and set off along the Macclesfield canal in the direction of Congleton.


Although it had dried up somewhat in the last few days the towpath was still very muddy in places and I was glad I had my walking boots on. Annie on the other hand is in total disregard of any mud and just sees it as an opportunity to get herself all scummy, she is not very ladylike when it comes to keeping clean and in typical terrier fashion is into everything going.


Once we had passed the more frequented sections the path became a bit drier with just the odd muddy section where the water tended to pool after the heavy rain. The countryside is really starting to green up and everything looks fresher after the grime of Winter. This is a lovely time of year with buds bursting anew from the bare branches of trees and soon everything will be clothed in a fresh coat of green, there is every shade imaginable from the lightest tint that lets the suns rays shine right through them, to the densely puckered darker leaves of the big deciduous trees that will soon block out the sunlight from the woodland floor. It is at this brief time that woodland flowers such as early Wood Anemone appear in large swathes of whitish pink to carpet the open spaces. Here and there clumps of Lesser Celandine give a yellow smile back towards the sunlight, both will soon be replaced by a sea of blue as ubiquitous Bluebells burst forth before the green canopy closes over and returns them to shade until the Autumn begins the cycle all over again.


All around are the signs of Spring, cattle out on the fresh pastures and water fowl pairing up and ready to nest and sheep with their lambs grazing the new grass into well kept lawns.


Easter marks the start of the new boating season and a few lucky ones are already out with there boats and enjoying the Spring sunshine.


I must confess to talking to just about anyone when on my travels and usually find something of interest to chat about with an unwary traveller. Today I had a very interesting chat with a lady boat owner about her new array of solar panels that apparently on a good day supplied all of their electricity needs, canal barges and solar panels, now there is progress for you, a complete melding of both old and modern technology. I also noticed a few more permanent berths that had sprung up along this section, some having their own landing stage and some storage facilities alongside their boats.


At the moment there is very little in the way of wild flowers along the canal side, even the Rushes are still brown. The odd patch of bright yellow Gorse and the occasional stone marker help to break the monotony and near to any habitation the odd clump of naturalised Daffodils dance in the breeze.


We finished the outward leg based more on available time than distance travelled as I had to get back before 5 p.m. or the car park would be closed after that time. We stopped in a small wood just off the canal and took our break sitting on this nicely convenient tree stump and yes, Annie did get all the sausage meat from the Scotch egg.


We kept up a good pace on the way back and reached the marina in good time and the sun was still shining, all in all a lovely day out even if it was a bit muddy in places.

Wonder how they managed to get planning permission for those awful sheds in the field . . . what an eyesore. What a nice blue sky you had today, as we did here. Those boat people must get very wet, not one has a shelter over the steering place .

Jay, its because the land on that side is owned by farmers, so anything adjoining the canal on the none towpath side is on their land and as they are only sheds of a sort then they do not need any sort of planning permission providing the landowner allows it and the barge owner has the canal authorities permit to dock the boat long term in that area. As to the open steering area well that is a common feature of all canal barges and as far as I know it has always been that way, those early 'Bargees' were a tough lot.

Gorgeous photos and a lovely shared walk H! Your pathways definitely are muddy. Look like some of them here as we've had tons and tons of rain.

Nice sharing photos!

Another lovely walk out for you & Annie, sadly for us up here no such thing to see as the canal boats etc

I'm probably wrong in thinking but you pic with stone marking reminded me of the stone mileage we used to see along side the roads, some still do exist here & there.

Lovely pics & couldn't help to end it with some singing as I noticed your last canal boat " Dilly Dally "

Thanks for reminding me about the stone markers, I had forgotten about them but always felt particularly close to the past when I saw them as a child.

Kiya, I took the picture of that boat especially for MD
Yes those old stone markers are rarely seen along the roadside anymore, but they can still be found along sections of the canal, most of the ones I pass still have lettering on them so I just happened to photograph a blank one.

Horus wrote:Kiya, I took the picture of that boat especially for MD
Yes those old stone markers are rarely seen along the roadside anymore, but they can still be found along sections of the canal, most of the ones I pass still have lettering on them so I just happened to photograph a blank one.

Oh thank you! As Dilys isn't my name I'm afraid it didn't register, I'm so sorry.

Just got round to reading your latest excursion H. Lots of good pictures to support your very descriptive text. Thanks for going to the trouble of putting it all together for us, I know it is not just a five minute job.
I think there is something romantic about canals and canal boats. Relics of our glorious industrial revolution and now turned over to pleasure activities. The only canal near me is the Hythe Military canal but that is quite short, doesn't go anywhere, and was dug for purely defensive purposes at the time of a threatened invasion by Napoleon.
When visiting relatives in the midlands I do try to go to see some of the boats on the canals. In this case a bit further south from your Macclesfield, at Stone on the Trent Mersey, and further south at Fradley Junction where the Coventry canal joins the Trent Mersey.
The canal boats are lovely and so nicely decorated.
Thanks again.

@MD, of course we know that 'Mad Dilys' is not your real name, you are just as sane as the rest of us

@ Grandad, yes the Trent Mersey is a mainstay of a lot of my canal walking as so many others join it at some point so I know both of your locations you mentioned.

Thank you Horus for your kind words - you lie of course, but do it with such old world charm.

My children actually call me Mad, and my grandson says that I'm madder than a box of frogs, but still thank you.

madder than a box of frogs

such a beautifully descriptive choice of words

Not a stone canal mile marker but one I saw at STONE and have just found in my picture album.



I wonder how long it would take to navigate the 92 miles from Shardlow to Preston Brook, and how many locks to negotiate.?

Perhaps Horus's wisdom can enlighten me.

Grandad I pass many of those markers on my walks

I wonder how long it would take to navigate the 92 miles from Shardlow to Preston Brook, and how many locks to negotiate.?

Ooh Grandad, “How long is a piece of string?” I would not like to say how quickly it could be done as there are so many factors involved. Not only do you have to travel through the extremely long ‘Harecastle Tunnel’ at Kidsgrove and the ‘Anderton Boat Lift’ near Northwich and make your way through a series of locks which are often close together as in the infamous ‘Heartbreak Hill’ series as you descend onto the flatter part of the Cheshire plain after passing several more sets at the ‘Red Bull’ junction after the tunnel, all in the space of a few miles. Then you have the ‘Big Lock’ at Middlewich, and I have only listed a few on the Cheshire side of the Harecastle Tunnel, there are many more as you head back up into the Potteries and even more between Etruria and Shardlow itself. I believe that there are 76 locks in total before it finally meets the Bridgewater Canal, time wise, I would guess a few days maybe about six, but there are so many variables to be certain.

Thanks for that H and listing all those locks. When I posed the question i had in mind that the return trip could fill a two week canal holiday so probably not far off.

That is an awfully lot of locks. I had no idea personally and while I haven't lost sleep thinking about it I wouldn't have thought there were nearly that many.

In the USA I was somewhat close to the Ballard Locks http://www.seattle.gov/tour/locks.htm but they're quite small comparatively. As a child I lived close the Welland Canal http://www.infoniagara.com/attractions/ ... index.aspx and as a kid we were able to get super close to the ships. Almost reach out and touch them but then there were not nearly as many safety features in place as today.

LLL, your locks are certainly much larger than our which were only built to accomodate a smaller width, hence the name 'Narrow Boats'

Very few of our canals are what are called 'contour' canals which follow the landscape and meander along, thus avoiding the need for locks. The majority are fairly direct routes usually from industrial areas that by necessity were located in areas with a good water supply to drive the industrial age, these tended to be on the higher parts of the UK and linked to other industrial areas or ports that could transport goods overseas. This usually required that the canals would have to lose several hundred feet in height in order to reach their destinations, this loss of height was done quickly by means of canal locks.

In approximately 4 days will be going through the Panama canal (new one) which will be the first time I will actually be 'going through' vs looking at locks and canals from the outside.

It was always great fun as a child to go to the Welland Canal for a day and watch and see the big ships (not that big way back when) going up and down as they moved from one level to another.

That will be a great experience, so we need lots of piccies