Macclesfield Canal + Middlewood Way

Another of those hot sunny days. Bluebottle Betty was purring outside. Thought I'd earned a rest after the other day. But, no. I put her in the back of the car. She doesn't like this. Bit of a squash in the back of the Yaris. Still, it was only up to Marple. Parked near the tip at the Railway and went up the hill to the canal locks.

"Excuse me, is this the Macclesfield Canal?"
"Um, might be. Ask the driver."
So, I did.
"Take first right off this canal." So I did. It was absolutely beautiful. Further than I thought and a lot bumpier and I'd want a real mountain bike in the wet or in winter but Betty managed it really well today.

The narrow boats were bumbling happily along, some owners were sitting on the towpath in the sun reading; others drinking fruit juice. It was so so quiet. Busy spots were the Poynton and Lyme View Marinas, but even there there was an atmosphere of deep relaxation.

The above is a strange stretch where someone has laid down a sort of rubber mat-like grid across the towpath. Betty didn't like it much but it must be much better for cars in winter. There are chunks bitten out of the towpath by greedy barges. You have to watch out for them. We saw a chap standing in the Ashton canal and it was no deeper than his waist, but even so we don't really want to swim. We want to ride.

Even the view landward is restful in a dappled sunlight kind of spectacular way.

Workyard near Poynton. Two on the left covered with primer. There seem to be so many more than there were ten years ago. Like a swarm of happy water bees.

Near Bollington

Some people live in lovely houses. Their manicured lawns drift and roll down to the brown canal. They have pandas in their garden and strimmers are always on standby. Some people clearly chose the house because of the canal, as they have a canal parked, or is it moored, at the end of the garden:

Jealous? Me? Course not. But.....

Harry the Heron sat on this sluice gate (or whatever) for at least thirty minutes. He wears wonderful camouflage for breeze block. Must be fish around. Betty and I saw two of his larges cousins on the Ashton Canal the other day, near Newton Heath. Seeing them take off is like a gift from nature. 

View of Bollington from the Viaduct.

We did go to Macc but came back to Bridge 30, as a young couple, eating their lunch time pasta told us the Middlewood Way was about a hundred yards down the lane. They were right.

The Bollington Labyrinth, 2009, on the Middlewood Way.