Yesterday we set off hoping to visit Macclesfield. Unfortuntely the only visitors mooring was too shallow and we couldn't get near the bank to moor. This is a real shame, you would have thought that the people of Macclesfield would have done something about this to promote tourism.
So we carried on, finding good moorings at Bollington, next to the Adelphi Mill. We filled up with diesel at Bollington Wharf prior to mooring.
We have worked it out that we are currently using 5.3 litres of diesel per day. This includes our heating as well as travelling.
We are also 539ft above sea level.
The Macclesfield Canal is a lovely canal, shallow in places, but very scenic with lots of bridges and aqueducts, making the journey interesting. Especially when Wendy grounds the boat.
The Adelphi Mill was constructed in 1856 by Martin Swindells, a local cotton spinner. He built the Adelphi for his two sons, hence the name Adelphi which is the greek word for brothers.
The cotton mill was soon converted to silk production. Sadly the mill has now been converted to offices.

An unusual feature on the Macclefield Canal is its snake bridges (see above)
In the old days of horse pulling barges, as you can see the towpath is on the right approaching the bridge, just after the bride the towpath has changed to the left.
The snake bridges enabled a horse to walk up and over the bridge, cross the other side,, without having to be unhitched.

At last, weather has improved.
We left Congleton at 8.00am this morning, wishing to get a good start.
We climbed the 12 Boseley locks in around 3 hours. We are now moored approx 1-1/2 miles from Macclesfield.
The scenery is breathtaking see below

This is the train viaduct just outside Congleton

Going through one of the 96 bridges on a canal that is 27 miles long

Current mooring. Note satelite dish tuned in for F1

We are still at Congleton today. The weather has been terrible, rain,rain,rain.
It is now 17.15 and the rain has stopped. We have heard that the weather will improve tomorrow, but more rain forecast for Mon/Tues.
We are going to try and make it to Macclesfield tomorrow.
Approx 4 miles away a flight of 12 locks await us. So we are going to set off early and see how it goes.
In the meantime, it is Saturday night and the Queens Head hotel is only 200 yards away.

We have moved on today. We were moored near a hire boat company. By 11.00am you could see a lot of activity and hire boats returning. At one point there was 2 boats tied together taking up half the canal, and then us on the other side. A recipe for disaster.
The weather brightened up a little so we thought, lets go for it.
An epic journey of 3 miles.
We are now in Congleton. Had a meal in the Queens Hotel, which was basic but good. The people were very friendly, and it got us off the boat away from the rain.
It is now 21.50, wood burner is burning well, radio reception good, no television because we are in valley so no signal. Single light on to save batteries, Wendy has glass of wine and I have a beer. Very relaxing. Now you wouldn't do that at home would you?

Yesterday we went through the Harecastle Tunnel, which took around 40 minutes to complete.
The canal has changed to an orangery colour due to the minerals in the water.
Shortly after the tunnel we joined the Macclesfield Canal. This was a very unusual junction. The Trent and Mersey continued straight ahead with two locks taking it downhill. We turned left onto the Macclesfield, went around two right hand bends, and then crossed an aqueduct over the Trent and Mersey. After 2 miles we stopped at a small village called Scholar Green.
Shortly after mooring up, we had two visitors. Peter & Hazel Brook, Wendy's aunt & uncle. After coffee, they took Wendy up the Mow Cop. This is a hill 1100ft above sea level. On top is Mow Cop Castle. On this hill in 1807 Hugh Bourne a wheelwright created the Primitive Methodists.  In 1962 70,000 disciples climbed the hill, which is considered to them a Holy Mountain.
Peter & Hazel, then joined us for a very enjoyable evening at The Rising Sun. Can we thank them for a very enjoyable day.
Today the weather is horrible, with continuous rain. We will be having a clean up today and a visit to the village store.

Bit of a setback today. Pete has been having troubles with sinuses. He walked to the local Health Centre in Barlastone, only to be told he can get emergency treatment at Stone. So A quick Taxi trip to Stone and back, ensured he received a weeks supply of antibiotics. Hopefully that should cure the problem.
Back to our trip.
The weather has been very good, with only a few showers, which were very light.
We travelled from Barlastone through Stoke on Trent, a total of 8.19 miles including 6 very deep locks.
We are now moored 1 mile from Harecastle tunnel. Britains second longest tunnel at 2926 yards long.
A couple we met from Glastonbury(moored in front of us) recommended our current mooring which is by Westpoint Lakes.
(pictured below)