Busy weekend.

For us and on the water. The fine weather brought out the boaters, walkers and cyclists on Saturday and Sunday, a steady stream of all three passing our windows.

I convinced Ann that she wanted to see the view from White Nancy, the monument on top of the ridge above Bollington that looks like a pimple from the aqueduct, so off we trotted on Saturday morning.

Baz and Ali getting a early-ish start as we walked by.

It’s quite a steep climb up from the town, but the views on a clear day like Saturday make the effort worthwhile.

Looking west across the Cheshire Plain.

East into the Peak District

The structure was built in 1817 to commemorate Wellington’s victory at Waterloo, and is hollow, although the entrance has long been bricked up.

Recently it has had a facelift, and now sports a Royal Crown for the Queen’s jubilee on one side,

and the Olympic Rings on the other.
The green ring above Ann contains the number 29 on a gold disc, the number of gold medals Team GB won in last year’s Olympic Games.

It was a fairly quick visit, George and Carol from NB Rock’n’Roll were visiting us at lunchtime.

Ann on the way downThe dogs still had plenty of energy, you can see them chasing around bottom right.

We dropped down into the town past Adelphi Mill, the canal aspect is pretty bland, just a flat wall with windows, but the other side is altogether more ornate.

Better view of Adelphi Mill

We got down again nicely in time for me to finish off the lunchtime soup for us all, then George kindly took Chas and Ann and I off to Tesco’s to top up the food cupboards.
They were moored in Lyme View Marina, and had hired a car to take them up to Cumbria for a family get-together.

Sunday we joined the Lifers for an excellent Sunday lunch, and one of the main topics of conversation was NB No Problem’s trip across The Wash. It was underway as we ate. The weather forecast had predicted swells of up to 3 metres, so we thought they wouldn’t be enjoying a sit down meal….

Today we set off about 11:15, no rush as we weren’t going far. After the calm, sunny weekend it was a bit of a shock to find that those easterly winds had returned. At least they’re now just easterly rather than north-easterly, so they’re not quite as cold.

Good, quiet moorings near Bridge 20


Tufted Duck? Or just a bad hair down day?

Maybe she’d been to Royal Ascot’s Lady’s Day….







There’s a very compact narrowboat moored near Lyme View Marina, all the way from March on the Middle Levels

Moored on the marina linear moorings is our sister boat, No 59. We’re No 60. Both boats were for sale from Orchard Marina, ours was bought first so a few items (cooker, engine fittings) were “borrowed” from 59 to get Seyella finished.

OML No 59, not sure what it’s called

This is also where George and Carol’s NB Rock’n’Roll has spent the last few days. I sent George a text, asking if they were out yet….
That'll be a no, then!
In fact when they tried to pull out later the wind gave them all kinds of grief.

We moored just around the corner from Hagg Farm footbridge

Hagg Footbridge The masonry for the original swing bridge can still be seen.

There were quite a few swing bridges when the canal was built, I guess a cheaper alternative than a stone arch. Most are now removed, leaving just the chicanes at the crossing points.

We pulled in in front of another boat, I didn’t realise which until Baz came out to give me a hand to moor, followed by Ali. They’d taken NB Mickey Jay up to Marple and back since we saw them on Saturday morning.
They’d not met Mags, so joined us for tea and cake as soon as we’d sorted out.
George and Carol, having finally successfully negotiated the entrance to the marina, pulled in behind the Lifers, so now we’ve four bloggers in a row.

I spoke to Sue of NB No Problem earlier today, to find out how they’d done with their coastal crossing of The Wash. She was full of it, the superlatives just kept on coming. Super, terrific, fantastic. They’re planning to do it again, and this time we’re NOT going to miss out!

And finally, the best known and most controversial Prime Minister of the last century has died. Margaret Thatcher didn’t recover from a stroke earlier today.
There doesn’t seem to be anyone who has a neutral opinion of her. Love her or loathe her, there’s no denying that she was a massive figure on the world stage, respected and admired if not agreed with by most of the world’s leaders. The “Iron Lady” was 87 years old.

We’ll be staying here tomorrow, moving on up to the Upper Peak Forest on Wednesday.

Locks 0, miles 3