Back onto the Maccie.

Friday 18th September, 2015 at Fourlane-Ends.
A pretty sky at Bugsworth Basin in the early morning.

We set off past the remains of chutes down which limestone rock was once dropped ready to be loaded into narrowboats. Pictures taken when the site was in operation show piles of limestone several feet high on the grassy area on the right.

A rather huffy looking heron watched us as we left. They always look strange to be standing up in a tree, particularly so high up.

This site has been restored by volunteers of the Inland Waterways Protection Society and they have installed many descriptive boards around the site, but by the entrance is a blue plaque celebrating the original designers and builders.

A nearby cottage, originally built for workers, displays this "Weather Stone" in its front garden; we always stop and have a giggle as we pass. R used to have a small model horse whose tail worked in the same way. (If it's wet it's raining; if it casts a shadow it's sunny etc...).

It was a beautiful morning and the beech trees at the junction were just beginning to change colour - evidence that autumn is definitely round the corner.

There are two swing bridges and two lift bridges on the way back to Marple that M has to open. M has to do them because with every bridge we have met this summer (and we have met lots), the mechanism is on the non-towpath side - so once the bridge is open, you cannot get back on to the boat until the bridge is closed again. But, since we were here last year, one of these lift bridges has been fitted with a new electrical hydraulic system and - guess what? - the operating buttons are on the towpath side! Brilliant!

We moored up in Marple so that M could get a "few bits" while R paid his customary visit to Costa. Then we turned under the junction bridge, on to the Macclesfield Canal, one of our favourite canals.

Goyt Mill is a splendid example of a magnificent former cotton mill, now put to good use as industrial units. It used to have a very tall chimney alongside, but it was sadly demolished, deemed unsafe, in the 1980's.

This is a lovely waterway and the sunshine made our travels all the more enjoyable. The cloudscape was rather beautiful.

We moored at a place called Fourlane-Ends for the night. An unusual place in that it has a hyphen in its name!

It was still a lovely afternoon and Guy decided to take the rays while M cooked supper.

Today: 11 miles, 0 locks and 5.4 hours.
Trip: 321 miles, 263 locks and 252.6 hours.