Nearly at the tunnel

July 17^th; Rode Heath to Harding’s Wood

How lovely to wake to a glorious sunny morning at last!  Before we left, Jess had a frenetic five minutes playing zoomies with a young whippet – they were obviously having great fun, and it was hilarious for the owners to watch.

 We left a little earlier than usual today.  We were still going up Heartbreak Hill, but it was a much easier day lockwise than yesterday.  We were behind a boat which had passed us a while before we set off, but with most locks paired there was usually one side which was ready for us, or nearly so.  One good thing about the T&M is that all the locks have a footbridge at the bottom gates, so the crew does not have the dilemma, when closing them, of walking all the way round the lock via the top gate to close the opposite side or taking the risk of stepping across the gap to do it.

No need to step across the gap

The other good thing is the plentiful ridges or metal bars to brace your feet against when moving the heavy top gates.

Not sure why the dog's lead is there

We did meet a couple of boats coming down, which also helps.

Passing at Lawton Middle lock

Some of the non-functional locks still look as though they could be used, as they are chained to prevent use but otherwise look normal.  But some really are derelict.

As we climbed higher up the hill, we began to catch distant views of Mow Cop, the folly built on a hill the other side of the Macclesfield canal.

The distant Mow Cop high on its hill

We moored before the Red Bull services to dispose of rubbish and recycling.  At last there were some glass recycling bins with space in them!  Calveley bins were overflowing, and Wheelock had no glass recycling at all, so our empty bottles were beginning to become an embarrassment.  The toilets and showers here have been out of action for a while, and another boater told me he had heard that CRT were closing a lot of them completely, which would be a shame.  We had lunch, then moved on up Red Bull lock, where a family was enjoying a drink in the pub garden, dressed as though they had come from a funeral.  The older man grew up round here and used to help the working boats through, occasionally being allowed to steer between locks.  His nephew, probably around 12, had never worked a lock so I invited him to help with the top gate.  He was just at the age where they are a bit worried about looking cool, so it was good he enjoyed it.

We had noticed yesterday that the colour of the water was beginning to change to the vivid colour we expect at Harecastle tunnel.  It’s now that startling orange, caused by iron oxide from groundwater leaching into the canal.  Dave brought Bonjour under the Poole aqueduct, which carries the Macc over the T&M

and up Limekiln lock beyond, before we moored for the rest of the day on the long and pleasant mooring below the final lock before the tunnel.   That’s for tomorrow.  If you arrive after 12 noon and haven't booked to go through 24 hours earlier, you have to wait till the next morning.  I took my shopping trolley and went to both Lidl and Tesco while Dave and Jess went up the steps to the aqueduct and along the Macc for a bit.

There are few passers-by, no boats came past and apart from the occasional blare from the trains it was very peaceful.

3 miles, 11 locks