We have not moved far since this morning. The weather has been terrible. We are now about 300 yards from the first lock of the Marple flight. (16 locks in 1 mile).
We walked into Marple at lunchtime, only to find lots of people dressed in fancy dress and costumes. On asking a local person, we were informed it was Carnival Day. So, we had a drink in a local pub and waited until 2.00pm. The Carnival start time.
We have not seen a carnival in years, so it was quite exciting to see the brass bands, bagpipes, local drummers and the carnival queen slowly pass us. Well it made you forget about the rain for half an hour.
The weather forecast for tomorrow looks brighter, so hopefully we can make an early start and complete the locks in the dry.

Peak Forest Canal

We had to leave Bugsworth Basin on Friday, as we are only allowed to moor for 48 hours.  We were both very sad to leave such a lovely location.   After filling up with water and stopping at Tesco's for our weekly shop, we were on our way again.  The weather is not good and we are hit by hail stones and strong winds.   I think everyone must have been in a hurry today, when approaching a foot bridge the previous passing boat had left the bridge open and a poor dog walker was stranded on the other side of the canal.  We came to the rescue and closed the bridge after passing through.  We decide to pull over about a mile from Marple, as the weather is not improving and we moor up for the rest of the day.   Pete spends the next hour trying to get a television signal, so we can watch the England game tonight.  His patience and perseverance pays off and we are rewarded with an England win.

Above pictures is the views from both sides of our current mooring.

We are still at Bugsworth Basin, because we have really fallen for the location and strongly recommend it, if you are passing.
We walked to Whaley Bridge this morning in glorious sunshine. The town is typical Derbyshire, very attractive with lots of local shops, including butchers, arts and crafts. We had breakfast in a small tea shop called Teazles, then walked back along the towpaths to Bugsworth. Followed by a lunchtime drink in The Navigation Inn.
Tonight we have lit the fire as it is very windy and looks like rain. And, guess where we are going to eat tonight??

The Navigation Inn Bugsworth Basin

Our current mooring at Bugsworth Basin. We are allowed to stay for 48 Hours

Canalside cottages at Bugsworth

We left the Macclesfield Canal at Marple today. We decided to take a detour, following other boaters advice, and headed down the Peak Forest Canal. This is a six mile stretch of canal taking you from Cheshire into Derbyshire.
The canal is very narrow but the views are spectacular.
We arrived at Bugsworth basin this afternoon.It has three arms in which to moor in. However being new to the area, we turned the boat around and reversed into the third arm. Only to find a turning circle near the end.
Just up from the canal is a pub called the Navigation, a very local pub serving good food. It once belonged to Pat Phoenix alias Elsie Tanner from Coronation Steet fame.
The weather has been very good, although a little cold for the time of year.
Below are some of the photographs Wendy took.

Swing Bridge on the Peak Forest Canal

Leaving the Macclesfield Canal

Very tight bridges especially if something is coming the other way

Today we travelled from Bollington to High Lane. We are now only 2 miles from Marple Junction, which is the end of the Macclesfield Canal.
Last night we had a meal at the Bay Leaf Indian Restaurant in Bollington. They had a special price for meals on Mon - Thurs  3 courses £7.95 each. Now you can't go wrong at that price, and the food was excellent. (Highly recommended)
We also stopped at the Trading Post chandlery today. A very friendly shop with an excellent stock of goods. We bought a new chimney because our old one fell to pieces as we removed it before entering Harecastle Tunnel.
The weather has been bright but cool. We had an e-mail from waterscape today telling us that Upper Lode Lock and Diglis Lock is closed until further notice because of the high waters on the River Severn. After being stuck in Gloucester for 2 weeks at the start of our trip, we feel sorry for anybody in the same predicament.
Tonight we are going to the Bull's Head for light refreshments.
The picture below was taken this morning of our mooring at Bollington. Can you spot the mistake we made? (the clue is security)

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.