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Peak Forest canal


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I just stumbled upon this video of a cycle ride along the Marple locks . Nice countryside, but I noticed not one boat throughout the whole clip. Is this normal or is it perhaps in mid winter ? Have not seen too much of the Peak forest / Macclesfield canal , I am guessing it is quite scenic ? Keen to know more . Thanks

 

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Whilst this film was no doubt during a stoppage it would not be at all unusual to walk down the flight and not see a boat moving. The flight is used but never by huge numbers, mainly because it leads to either the Ashton into Manchester or the Huddersfield and both are not for many boaters (although I think they’re both really interesting routes.

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We’ve just got back from a return trip from Streethay to Bugsworth Basin. The Macclesfield and Peak Forest are very scenic and feel very different from the Southern Trent and Mersey and the Coventry - slower paced and quieter. The slower pace may be because they both seem to have less depth than the T & M but we didn’t have any trouble mooring up anywhere. We noticed that there are some very popular mooring spots and others, which we thought were more scenic/quieter, that seem hardly used. We spent 3 nights near bridge 24 on the Peak Forest and had no close neighbours at any time. We went all the way to Bugsworth Basin but, contrary to just about everyone else’s opinion, we didn’t like it! Too busy for us. Highlights for us during the trip were using the fuel boat for the first time, the chip shop in Congleton and meeting Rob the Lock in Stoke. Low point was being asked by a Bosley vlockie whether we needed help down the flight - our answer of ‘Yes, please’ had the magical effect of making the chap completely disappear - never to be seen again ?

Edited by Beo
Forgot the chip shop!
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2 hours ago, Beo said:

We’ve just got back from a return trip from Streethay to Bugsworth Basin. The Macclesfield and Peak Forest are very scenic and feel very different from the Southern Trent and Mersey and the Coventry - slower paced and quieter. The slower pace may be because they both seem to have less depth than the T & M but we didn’t have any trouble mooring up anywhere. We noticed that there are some very popular mooring spots and others, which we thought were more scenic/quieter, that seem hardly used. We spent 3 nights near bridge 24 on the Peak Forest and had no close neighbours at any time. We went all the way to Bugsworth Basin but, contrary to just about everyone else’s opinion, we didn’t like it! Too busy for us. Highlights for us during the trip were using the fuel boat for the first time, the chip shop in Congleton and meeting Rob the Lock in Stoke. Low point was being asked by a Bosley vlockie whether we needed help down the flight - our answer of ‘Yes, please’ had the magical effect of making the chap completely disappear - never to be seen again ?

That's very typical of the Bosley lockies, I'm afraid. I had the joy of one of them walking up the locks as I worked up singlehanded, ignoring me completely until I got to the top one, where he put down his coffee and wound me up, and then gave me a lecture on what I was doing wrong and how I should have done them all! I retained my temper, thanked him nicely, and muttered "pillock" as I sailed off. Only once have they been more use than a chocolate teapot, and I've been on the Macc fifteen years now.

 

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Please don’t take this the wrong way @Arthur Marshall but I was glad to read your experience. I haven’t recounted our whole encounter with them but I had taken it quite personally that we received no help either going up or coming down - they even turned a lock that was set for us. Interestingly, they said they usually gave priority to helping single handlers, although my observation was that hire boats full of able bodied people received the most help. ?

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3 hours ago, Beo said:

We’ve just got back from a return trip from Streethay to Bugsworth Basin. The Macclesfield and Peak Forest are very scenic and feel very different from the Southern Trent and Mersey and the Coventry - slower paced and quieter. The slower pace may be because they both seem to have less depth than the T & M but we didn’t have any trouble mooring up anywhere. We noticed that there are some very popular mooring spots and others, which we thought were more scenic/quieter, that seem hardly used. We spent 3 nights near bridge 24 on the Peak Forest and had no close neighbours at any time. We went all the way to Bugsworth Basin but, contrary to just about everyone else’s opinion, we didn’t like it! Too busy for us. Highlights for us during the trip were using the fuel boat for the first time, the chip shop in Congleton and meeting Rob the Lock in Stoke. Low point was being asked by a Bosley vlockie whether we needed help down the flight - our answer of ‘Yes, please’ had the magical effect of making the chap completely disappear - never to be seen again ?

The Macc and Peak Forest are lovely. 

Very special. 
I’m yet to find Bugsworth  Busy. 

The Bosley Lockies are a bit....different. 
I’ve always found them helpful but once they were quite insistent that I should notify in advance of going down the locks single handed. 
I couldn’t work out why, because you don’t have to book and I’d happily do them on my own anyway. 
But after going around in circles with our discussion I fathomed in the end he meant we (lockies) might be busy with boats and you’d slow every one else  down, so they’d prefer to know in advance. 
I wrote it off, I know I can traverse those locks either quicker or equally on me jack than an average crew. 


The Marple volunteers are wonderful. 
And the flight is the prettiest flight I’ve ever done. 
 

 

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On 02/09/2020 at 17:19, David Mack said:

 

Doesn't it get used by hoards of hire boaters doing the Cheshire Ring?

I would hardly say that there are hordes of them. I imagine there are a few every week but a busy route it is not.

 

Having said that we just came up the Stourbridge 16 and Delph yesterday and we did not see another moving boat in either direction until we were 10 minutes from Windmill End and I'm fairly sure that the Stourport Ring is busier than the Cheshire Ring. Whereas the southern Staffs & Worcs had a steady flow of boats all day.

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On 02/09/2020 at 19:57, Goliath said:

The Macc and Peak Forest are lovely. 

Very special. 
I’m yet to find Bugsworth  Busy. 

The Bosley Lockies are a bit....different. 
I’ve always found them helpful but once they were quite insistent that I should notify in advance of going down the locks single handed. 
I couldn’t work out why, because you don’t have to book and I’d happily do them on my own anyway. 
But after going around in circles with our discussion I fathomed in the end he meant we (lockies) might be busy with boats and you’d slow every one else  down, so they’d prefer to know in advance. 
I wrote it off, I know I can traverse those locks either quicker or equally on me jack than an average crew. 


The Marple volunteers are wonderful. 
And the flight is the prettiest flight I’ve ever done. 
 

 

Bosley locks are also "different".  The lock tails are mostly inconvenient for single handers with few landing points.  A number of the shorter pounds also have poorly formed lock landings.  To top it all, double top gates mean a bit of skipping about over your own counter is required going uphill.  And all that is before any wind means stopping to close gates will see your bows in the mud.

 

I still love the flight though, especially if I am not single handing.

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1 hour ago, furnessvale said:

Bosley locks are also "different".  The lock tails are mostly inconvenient for single handers with few landing points.  A number of the shorter pounds also have poorly formed lock landings.  To top it all, double top gates mean a bit of skipping about over your own counter is required going uphill.  And all that is before any wind means stopping to close gates will see your bows in the mud.

 

I still love the flight though, especially if I am not single handing.

And it's *always* raining -- at least, in my experience...

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19 hours ago, Arthur Marshall said:

That's just Macclesfield weather. I'd never owned an umbrella in my life until I moved here.

 

Seems more specifically Bosley locks weather to me -- some decent weather every time we've done the Macc/PF except for rain at Bosley every single time... ?

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30 minutes ago, IanD said:

Seems more specifically Bosley locks weather to me -- some decent weather every time we've done the Macc/PF except for rain at Bosley every single time... ?

That's all due to the Cloud (the hill to the south of Bosley).

 

If you can see the Cloud ir's going to rain.  If you can't see the Cloud, it's raining.

  • Greenie 1
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On 05/09/2020 at 12:31, furnessvale said:

Bosley locks are also "different".  The lock tails are mostly inconvenient for single handers with few landing points.  A number of the shorter pounds also have poorly formed lock landings.  To top it all, double top gates mean a bit of skipping about over your own counter is required going uphill.  And all that is before any wind means stopping to close gates will see your bows in the mud.

 

I still love the flight though, especially if I am not single handing.

Completely agree. Went up last week. Even towed a guy on his broken down boat up to the services. Hard work but still a joy ?

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1 hour ago, IanD said:

Seems more specifically Bosley locks weather to me -- some decent weather every time we've done the Macc/PF except for rain at Bosley every single time... ?

 

You must be unlucky, I have been through them loads of times over the 47 years I have been boating and distinctly remember going through them in sunshine once. ?? 

  • Greenie 1
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On 05/09/2020 at 12:31, furnessvale said:

Bosley locks are also "different".  The lock tails are mostly inconvenient for single handers with few landing points.  A number of the shorter pounds also have poorly formed lock landings.  To top it all, double top gates mean a bit of skipping about over your own counter is required going uphill.  And all that is before any wind means stopping to close gates will see your bows in the mud.

 

I still love the flight though, especially if I am not single handing.

A small tip when going uphill; when you close the second top gate the first one always opens again, washed out by the water, unless you leave one top paddle open until after you have shut both gates.

  • Greenie 1
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20 hours ago, IanD said:

Seems more specifically Bosley locks weather to me -- some decent weather every time we've done the Macc/PF except for rain at Bosley every single time... ?

I commented to my better half the other week that it was the first time as far as i could remember that we had done the Bosley flight in the sun shine, and we've been up and down them many times in the last thirty or so years

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