More Macclesfield Locks

Wednesday, 19 May 2010 17:19

Not a problem when you have a willing crew - of two!

So, the 12 Bosley Locks were ahead of us. It was a perfect day for locking up and as we went up the views became more and more lovely. John had a few "mad" moments when he discovered that there are double gates top and bottom of all the locks and there are no walkways on the gates at all. This meant he had to walk around to use the footbridge until Epiphany was up in the lock.

John on footbridge at bottom lock 12

I was a bit jittery, as we had shiny new paint on both sides of the boat, but doing locks is never without a few bumps and scrapes and I managed to keep Epiphany looking as if she had just been painted: just a few scrapes and no bumps!

John thinks about crossing on the balance beam

However he had second thoughts! After the rather utilitarian bottom lock, the locks (note the large blocks the locks are all built of) became very attractive.

Leaving Lock 11 and looking back from Lock 10

Unlike the dried up side pond beside Lock 10, the one beside Lock 9 showed the reflections of clouds and the view across to The Cloud perfectly!

Side pond beside Lock 9

At times, the flight of locks reminded me of the Napton flight on the Oxford Canal; the views were spectacular and the pastoral scene, very tranquil. There were no buffaloes but these cows were very friendly and watched us through! However, by the time I took the photo they had gone back to doing what cows do best!

Lock 8 to 7

This one got greedy and then they all followed us up the next lock, or so I thought; but they were all making for their own, purpose-built drinking hole, as you can see!

We finally arrived at the top lock, to find a queue for the waterpoint and the locks! It is a little daft to have a water point effectively on the lock landing but we were able to reverse into the small arm above the lock, beside the BW sani-station, to use the elsan. BW did not think to put a drinking water tap here when this was built, so we still needed to cross the canal to the tap when the space was vacated.

Bosley Top Lock and sani-station

Epiphany on the water point

There is a line of permit-only moorings before and after the next bridge, Locketts Bridge (53). The water point just after the bridge is taped up and not in use, so when the canal is busy the queue for water and locks must be quite chaotic!

At the end of the permit moorings there are some "unofficial moorings" and there was an Epiphany-shaped gap at the beginning, so we slipped in. It was a lovely mooring that is very popular with narrowboats.

Epiphany moored up

Macclesfield Canal - Bosley Bottom Lock 12 to North of Locketts Bridge 53

2 hours 56 minutes, 1.09 miles, 12 locks