At last the day had arrived when we were to embark on our 6th canal barge adventure!
We left Settle about 7.30am in drizzly rain, hurtled down the M6, and in no time saw our turn off.
Groceries and grog bought, said items and bags dropped at the Marina, hire car returned to those gorgeous people at AFFORD Car Rental (did I mention how wonderful they were?), Uber back to the Marina, and hey presto!
Our appointed meeting time with Jen and Grahame was pretty spot on. With a ‘Cooee’ or two, we found them having breakfast at Toby’s.
The Awesome Foursome were a team again! But not before we had reunited with our 5th team member, Ellie, our trusted barge companion from 2019.
Jen and Grahame had promised to bring good weather, and they were true to their word. It was a fabulous afternoon.
Our debriefing session with Steve over, we were off!
We drifted by those old familiar derelict bottle shaped buildings, testament to the heyday of pottery magnificence.
An engineering masterpiece, the Harecastle Tunnel at nearly 2 miles long, is actually the second of three tunnels built through Harecastle Hill. It is the only tunnel of the three still operational and dates from 1823, designed and constructed by Thomas Telford, a canal engineer hero of massive proportions.
The tunnel is one way, and as such, passage through has to be booked in advance. An obligatory orientation talk regarding tunnel safety was delivered by volunteers…interesting that the last time we came through in 2019, the staff were permanent employees.
It takes about 40 minutes to travel through, and is cold, wet and very dark!
Having been told that there was an issue with a lock gate up ahead at Middlewich that wouldn’t be resolved until Monday, we had a bit of time to kill. The Macclesfield canal beckoned. Last time we were in this neck of the woods, there was no water in the Macclesfield canal, so we were excited to get at least a taster of what it was like.
The access point to the Macclesfield loops around over the Trent and Mersey, another engineering marvel.
We didn’t have to go far before the beauty of the Macclesfield Canal showed its glory. It was a gorgeous evening.
A mooring for the night secured, we headed off for Saturday night victuals at the Rising Sun Pub.
But we were 3 weeks early…. no food until the end of October!
Kanga And Wombats Adventures 