Monday 22 August 2016

Back on the Macc

The weather's not been anything to write home about today (oh, hang on...) but perfectly manageable and a lot better than last weekend. We set off at eight and worked up the three locks to the service point, with the aid of a volocky on the middle lock.

Before he turned up, I witnessed one curiosity: a woman from what we later discovered to be a community boatload of members of the Trefoil Guild (what Girl Guides turn into when they ripen) wandered down to this lock as I was setting it. She had an armful of knitted stuffed toys, whom she arranged on one of the bottom balance beams. She then stepped back, got her phone out and took a picture, then gathered them all up again and walked back to her boat, which was tied above the lock.

Once we were sorted on the water point, Sheila was able to start a washload whilst I disposed of our rubbish and recycling. An Andersen boat crewed by three generations of a very pleasant family worked up behind us and tied on the other water point. We ended up following them up the rest of the flight, stopping to natter and exchange info as we went. The father had been to school near the tunnel and had known the Red Bull as his local.

"What was it like?" I asked.

"Rough," he said.

They carried on to the tunnel at the top whilst we made the turn onto the Macc. Sheila got us round with only one burst of reverse – it's a much trickier turn coming from the North than the South. We carried merrily on to Hall Green Stop, worked up it and tied on the visitor moorings above with a little difficulty. They were quite full, but most of the boats have gone now, with the exception of one of the local lurkers.

We've made an expedition to the local Co-op and restocked a bit. Tomorrow, a straightforward cruise to Congleton Aqueduct on what's promised to be a decent day, weatherwise.

2 comments:

Jo said...

"Decent" day??? You're being very British in your understatement Bruce. It's going to be a GORGEOUS day!

Bruce in Sanity said...

It's only going to be 25°C here. I thought you Antipodean types regarded that as "mild". Warm is over 39°! ;)

Bruce