Mind you, it all went a bit faster than expected. We'd allowed 3 hours for the 12 locks in the Bosley flight, being deliberately pessimistic in case there was a load of traffic. In the event, setting off at 6.45 meant that we went up the whole thing without seeing another boat moving, and did it in two hours almost exactly. That's ten minutes a lock for those without a calculator handy. We were clearly the first boat through, and around half the locks were against us. The last boat the evening before had come down, so in theory they should all have been with us, but leakage through the top gates (and in some cases the walls) meant that some had filled up completely.
It's about another three miles to the towpath moorings at Lyme Green, and we did it without too much grief. At the powered swing bridge at Royal Oak, there were a total of three boats coming the other way, but after the first one had gone through, the others held back for us, which was really nice of them. They were a small flotilla out of Lincoln, so a long way from home.
After relaxing for the rest of the morning, we caught the 13.11 99B from outside the Lyme Green retail park and in less than 10 minutes were in the centre of Macclesfield. I got my reading specs fixed at Boots, bought a new dressing gown (anniversary present) and pair of deck shoes (needed as my old ones are falling apart) from Marks and Sparks, and we did sundry other bits and pieces of shopping as well.
We then had to hang about Macc Bus Station for 30 minutes, as there's a gap in the 99 service mid afternoon, but we got a number 14 back at 15.05 and were drinking tea in Sanity Again by half three.
Tomorrow, we'll make another early start so as to be in Adlington in good time for lunch with Peter and Jan in the Miners Arms.
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