The Hodma'dod: There and back again

We are now back on the Maccesfield working our way down to the Trent and Mersey and then to go on to the Caldon.

The weather on the Monday I mentioned in the last post was good and I took the dogs for a walk into the hills and had some great views across into the Peak district.

The rest of the week has been mixed to say the least although we have been luckier than some with our timing and were usually moored before the deluges began.

We stopped near Lymes Marina for a couple of nights and on arrival had a great meal at a little cafe just by the canal and can highly recommend it. The following day we walked to Lyme Hall about 2 miles or so from the canal. A bit of a barn of a place but if it looks familiar think of Mr Darcy and a wet shirt as this is where they filmed "that scene" for Pride and Prejudice.

The following Day we stopped off at Clarence Mill at Bollington as we had thought it housed a selection of shops etc but on getting there found it was only a cafe that was open but a latte and a gooey cake was most welcome. In its heyday there were something like 30 similar mills around the town, the mind boggles as to the noise and pollution they caused.

We carried on in the sunshine and moored at Gurnett just before the heavens opened. Luckily it didn't last too long and we were able to walk to the pub for a meal and a glass (or two) without getting soaked. The snake bridge pictured below (sometimes called turnover bridges) are designed so that the horses could change to the towpath on the other side of the canal with having to be unhitched. There is a super example near where we are moored at the moment and if I remember I'll get a shot tomorrow before we leave.

On the next day and through the 12 locks on this canal and we moored at the bottom for a couple of nights. I had intended to polish the other side of the boat but only got a couple of sections done due to the rain.

On today to Congleton a fair sized town, a bit larger than Diss I should think and some interesting architecture and tomorrow we plan to revisit the mooring we stopped at on our way up when we climbed to the top of Mow Cop but don't think we will repeat that excursion!