Wednesday 19th October - After a lovely stay in Bugworth Basin we headed back towards Marple. The day wasn't looking that cheerful, how far would we get before the heavens opened..? The answers to that question was, Marple. We ended up staying in Marple for another night. The weather got very wet and windy. It was a bit of a restless night listening to things being blown around and the trees creaking all around us. The following morning wasn't looking that good either but we decided to move just to get away from the high trees we were moored near. As it goes the day got better and we had some quite long spells of sunshine with only just a couple of light showers in between.

As we left Marple we pasted the now restored Goyt Mill, towering way above us, this marked the end of Marple. We were now out into the countryside. We needed countryside to reassure ourselves we were away from Manchester. At this point the canal sits at 500ft above sea level winding through the countryside, crossing several valleys. After a few hours cruising we passed through Bollington, with the White Nancy Monument high on a hillside to our left hand side.

The White Nancy Monument was erected by the Gaskell Family in the 19th century to commemorate the Battle of Waterloo and was used by the family as a summerhouse.

Following the tree lined canal we passed through lovely countryside with views of hills all around us, we then came to Macclesfield. The canal became very wide, as we came under the town bridge there was the old Hovis Mill in front of us.

The mill was built in the 1820's and was the birthplace of the famous flour. The word  Hovis comes from the Latin 'hominisunvis' meaning 'power to the man'. The mill has now been fully restored and converted into up-market apartments.

After leaving Macclesfield we cruised for a short time then that was us for the day. We stopped at a small village called Gurnett. Due to the bad weather we ended up staying there for a couple of days, Yes there was a pub. 

Saturday 22nd September we carried on our way passing the mountains of the Pennines. We had about 3miles to go before we came to the next flight of locks, The Bosley 12 Flight taking us down a total of 118ft. Through the locks with no problems and on to Congleton, this is where our journey ended for another day. Due to the bad weather again we stayed near Congleton for two days.

Monday 24th September the weather wasn't looking to bad so we made a break for if. We wanted to get to the end of the Macclesfield Canal today. The junction with the Trent & Mersey Canal was only about 6miles away. Would we make it before the rain started again? Surprisingly we just made it. As we approach the junction the heavens opened and being fair weather boater, hehe! we stopped and moored for the day.