Thursday 25th, Friday 26th and Saturday 27th August
Here we are back in the mooring outside Marple where we were on Wednesday. We have been down to Bugsworth and spent a couple of nights there. On Thursday the weather was really nice and we had a good trip.
When we arrived we took George for a little toddle round to The Navigation. After we got back from the pub Ken went off to Tesco’s for a few things so we would have less to get the next day. While he was doing this I touched up the paint work again. I think I’m bordering on obsessional about touching up the paint work now! It does look nice though.
It was a pleasant evening and Ken and Barry were both fishing, as was the chap behind us and another few blokes dotted around the basin. As far as I could tell the only person not catching anything (except one crayfish) was Ken, bless!
Friday the weather took a turn for the worse and it rained all day, sometimes lightly, sometimes hard and sometimes very hard! We walked in to Whaley Bridge as we had never been there in spite of having been to Bugsworth 4 times. It is a small town with several shops including a fishing tackle shop, which we had to go to, obviously. We also visited the famous ‘Red bakery’ (remember our Antipodean friend from last year?) where we just couldn’t resist the cakes. Ken had a huge custard slice and I had a very small (not) lemon frangipan. On the way back we went to Tesco’s and when we left to walk back, laden with shopping, it absolutely hammered down!
Today we had a rather eventful return journey to Marple. B and B left first and stopped at Furness Vale for a pump out. We passed them there while they were waiting for someone to come and do it. By the time I had opened the first swing bridge they had caught us up having got fed up with waiting for that someone!
Soon we were in a convoy with 2 day boats. One in front of B and B and one in front of us. The one in front of us was going so slowly we were in reverse a lot of the time. It had a group of youngsters (late teens/early twenties) on and the driver was already well oiled! Eventually they pulled over so we could go past but as we did so they veered across in front of us and we crashed right in to them! Anyway we managed to get past in the end.
Meanwhile B and B were having a similar problem as the one in front of them, with a family on, reversed into a winding hole in front of them as they came round the corner. When we caught up they were trying to pick up a little boy from the bank so we got past them as well. By the time we got to the next swing bridge they were well behind so we lost them.
We had moored up before they both came looming round the corner. There was a boat coming the other way as they passed us but they negotiated it pretty well we thought. Ken and I went off to town and found the one with the family on moored up for lunch and the one with the youngsters on trying to moor up to go to the pub, they asked us for directions to the nearest one. Ken gave them a hand to moor up and we directed them to The Ring O Bells. We didn’t think they needed to go to the pub judging by the number of empties on board!
As we had directed them to the Ring O Bells we decided to go to The Navigation and watch the football. Our direction giving prowess must be crap because we had no sooner sat down in The Navigation when all Hell broke loose and the day boaters appeared! They were a nice bunch of kids really, in fact one of them bought us a drink for helping them moor up but they were a bit loud, especially the driver. They weren’t there very long because they had to get the boat back to New Mills. When they left some of them hadn’t finished their drinks so they took them with them! The landlord was none to pleased.
When we were walking back we saw them trying to turn round, not in the winding hole, near a moored boat and of course they got grounded. The chap off this moored boat, probably anticipating a disaster, got on their boat and turned it round for them!
We will be tackling the Marple Flight of 16 locks tomorrow, hope my long windlass proves to be effective.
