16 miles on still water
At midday Friday I suddenly though that the weather wasn't going to be good for family stuff, so maybe it was a good day to exicute our planned trip on the Macclesfield canal. I sent a message to Dad, who agreed it would be a good day, if it wasn't going to be torrential all day.
I checked the web for forecasts, and found they all differed but generally it would be mixed.
So, we decided to do it. I went shopping for snacks and lunch late on Friday night, and by the time I returned it was too late to be rattling around the house gathering my kit together, so I decided to get up early, make my sandwiches, and chuck everything in the can.
So much for early, I was meeting Dad at 0700 and managed to not awaken until 10 past!
What followed was a blurr, of frenzied panick, and the constant thought I would forget something really important. I have noted this mentally, it wouldn't hurt to not have some item or other on an inlnad canal, but could make a life or death situation difficult or deadly at sea.
SET the ALARM, get EVERYTHING ready the NIGHT before.
So we arrived at the car park at Higher Poynton in glorious sunshine!
Getting on the water can be testing on a canal, some of the edges being quite high, we made it in without incedent. We hoped there wouldn't be too much traffic on the canal, as we thought we would be travelling at the same speed as the barges and boats. We noticed a boat backing out of a yard, waited but were called forwards by the guy at the helm, we paddled past and he came behind us in pursuit. Next time I looked back we had left him.
All along the canal the bridges are of a design that radius's back around into the water, there were 'stop' boards and their slots in the edge stones on every bridge.
These 'stop' boards are nescesary here as there are no locks for nearly 20miles, therefore if the canal needs to be drained for maintenance etc, it would require all the water draining without the boards. They are slotted into the edge stones and hold back the water enabling the section below to be drained.
There were also very deep rope grooves in all the bridges from the ponies that once towed the boats.
Further along the canal we found this overflow drain, it is designed so that if there is excess water in the system it slowly diverts into a drain and keeps the levels correct.
We had planned to stop and eat lunch at the old Clarance Mill just before Bollington, but when we arrived the landings were all taken, and in any case the step would have been amusing to say the least. Also the cafe appeared to be a trendy modern affair that we would have been way to over dressed for in the kayak gear!
We paddled on and soon found a little canal side cafe, the guys here were really welcoming, and even allowed us to eat our own food whilst sipping the fresh coffee they provided. A most civilised lunch stop!
On the return leg the weather held out, it had rained on and off all morning. We cruised back to Higher Poynton in no time at all, so we went straight past and on to the road bridge a mile and half further on.
Here we had a coffee stop, just as we were packing up to head on back, the heavens opened, and we had to get back in the boats and quickly head under the bridge for shelter.
It wasn't long before we were on our way, and the short run back into the wind was a bit of a strain on the body now.
All in all I really enjoyed this trip, no moving water at all had worried me initially, thinking it might be a little taxing but there are so many interesting things to see it is actually really good and eduacational.
The one thing that really stood out for me was at one point I looked out in a Westrly direction, and I could see a long way out towards Manchester airport, and the ground was dropping away from me. Not spectacular I know, but its not often that you get to look down at anything when your in a kayak, normally looking at sea cliffs or river banks.
We managed 16 plus miles all paddling and surprisingly my back held out very well, I had made some adjustments to the seat base since Anglesey and it seems to have done the trick.
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