Windy Tales

This week we have done … Higher Poynton, Bollington, Bosley Locks on Macclesfield Canal; then turned northwards on the Trent and Mersey where we moored near the Red Bull pub on Tues and Wed evenings.

Last week I wondered if we were having Part Two of Summer ….. Well, the hot and sunny weather continued until Sunday when the wind started which got worser and worser until a full torrential storm on Monday evening and through the night. But at least this blew the wind away and Tues and Wed returned to hot and sunny with no wind.

During this windy session we were coming down Bosley Locks on the Mac and steerers needed all their skill and concentration - this didn’t apply to one chappie on a hire boat who obviously thought the wind was just raging round his boat and no-one else was getting it, as he refused point blank to come out of one lock despite me going from “you need to come out now please” through various more encouraging comments right up to “a***hole” until the coast was clear for him to belt across the pound straight into the next one (he was going up). Needless to say it was a good job I was doing the locks not Dai else as well as the wind he would have been very wet too as he was knocked unceremoniously into the canal. At one stage I thought Dai was going to reverse back into the lock we had just vacated and then we’d have had impasse !! You can just picture the scene can’t you !!! Arrr well - its been ages since Dai had a rant !

We also got held up on the Mac just after Congleton cos of the wind as a huge tree had come down blocking the canal - but you have to hand it to BW when something like that happens …. They were chainsawing as fast as they could to get the waterway open again.

Spent a couple of pleasant days again at Bollington on the Mac including a few beers at The Vale same as when we went up the Mac a few weeks ago - it was still as good !!!

Since last blog we have done … 25 miles and 14 locks
This makes total since Setting Off ….. 696 miles and 731 locks.

bit of a blockage

t'was no more !