Yesterday morning we set off from Marple, together with Olly on nb ‘Queen Maeve’, and made our way down the Peak Forest Canal. We’re delighted to be able to cruise with ‘Queen Maeve’ for a while – we haven’t been on the Peak Forest for quite a while ………….
………….. so sights like the enormous Goyt Mill, just outside Marple, are a pleasant reminder of the huge industrial contribution made by the north of England during the 19th century. It’s still in use today and, although needing a little TLC, it’s a magnificent sight on the canal side.
The temperature increased as the day went on and we had a short but relaxing hour or so’s cruise to Poynton where we moored up for the night to meet up with some dear boating friends - the male crew members of narrow boats ‘Eleventh Heaven’, ‘New Dawn’ and ‘Icebreaker’ were there to meet us ( the ladies were doing lunch or something).
After much deliberation as to where we should moor (due to the forthcoming Braidbar Boats Open Day there was a shortage of space) there was much enthusiastic pulling of ropes and grunting and shouting to get ‘Chance’ and ‘Queen Maeve’ securely breasted together.
At lunchtime we had a planned visit by fellow bloggers, Pawel and Lewis from nb ‘One Thing After Another’. We’ve looked forward for a long time to meet these guys, who brought with them a wonderful sponge cake baked by Lewis.
Olly, Pawel, Lewis and James having just had “lunch” of coffee and sponge cake. Thanks so much guys for walking along from your boat to spend time with us. It was great to meet you both at last.
During the afternoon James did an engine and gearbox oil change (sweating profusely as he sat on a hot engine in the hot afternoon), Doug spliced Olly’s ropes (with his Swedish Fid!) and Olly made the whole thing wonderful for us by playing his accordion.
At 4 o’ clock we were invited to meet up at the canal side Trading Post for afternoon tea. Sheila and Bruce (nb ‘Sanity Again’), Les, James, Olly, Martin in front of Bill, Chris, Eileen and Doug.
After the Trading Post closed at 5 o’ clock the three of us went back to ‘Chance’ and ‘Queen Maeve’ for drinks and nibbles before we all met up again and walked to the Boar’s Head for a meal ……….
……… James, Martin, Olly, Les, Eileen, Bill, Doug and Chris waiting for, what would be, a very good meal indeed. A real hoot of time we all had and then…………..
……… it was back to the super-luxury home of Les and Chris (nb ‘Eleventh Heaven’) for a nightcap. It was a great pleasure, as always, to spend time with you all – thanks for everything.
Footnote:- We forgot to include to mention, in the last blog, the most astonishing thing which happened to us on the Ashton lock flight. In one of the locks, after getting ‘Chance’ in and, just as the water level reached the top, a young fully grown fox climbed out of the water from between the boat and the lock wall, shook himself off and ran away! James initially couldn’t believe what he was seeing – we didn’t see the fox in the lock when we went in but we both heard a strange moaning sound as ‘Chance’ rose to the top but couldn’t understand where it was coming from. Thankfully the animal seemed unhurt as it jumped the spill weir and ran away but it was probably the strangest thing that’s ever happened to us. Happy ending hopefully!
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