Tropical heat wave on the Macclesfield Canal

We are now moored on the Macclesfield Canal in the blazing sun shine, which is a contrast from my last blog at the beginning of the month saying we needed the fire on!!! It’s been too hot to venture into Poynton and we’ve just sat under the tree. We are outside the Braidbar boatyard and yesterday the lads assessed how long our bits and pieces would take to rectify. They envisage us being here for a couple of weeks. We left this canal April last year and it looks amazingly different in the summer.

Hissing Sid the hissing swan and the ever present Canada geese.

 

Bug hunting.

A bug

Edmund came to stay for last week, which was great to have an extra crew member to get up ‘heart break hill’, a nick name given to the 24 locks between Kidsgrove and Wheelock on the Trent & Mersey Canal. Heather & her family popped in to see Edmund while we were by the bread factory. Middlewich was VERY busy with the boat traders arriving for the Folk and Boat Festival. I think we’ll have to plan a visit to that festival in the future. As Edmund now lives and works in London he really enjoyed the tranquilly of cruising & mooring in the Cheshire countryside. He’s based at Kensington ambulance station and was, some what glad, he was with us with the huge fire at the block of flats. One evening he texted a request to Jo Whiley on radio 2, which she read out, saying we were moored in the middle of nowhere. 

Ed resting after a hard day locking

 

Bargus on it's way to Middlewich canal festival

Because the weather’s been so hot and we are just NOT hot weather types, we’ve got up really early to leave before 7am to get up the last few locks by Kidsgrove and Bosley flight of 12 locks. That way we’re moored by lunch time.

The view at the bottom of Bosley locks

This morning I’ve been to the dentist and had a temporary filling and have an appointment later in the week to have the tooth extracted as it’s caused me problems for a few months.