Thursday 20th may.
We spent yesterday (wed) at Four Lane Ends. Ken blacked the side of the boat and I did general cleaning. After this we went off, sans pooch, to Poynton in search of a shop. This proved to be a fairly long and ultimately unsuccessful mission. We subsequently found out that the shops were a further 2 miles from where we had got to! During our wanderings we were asked by a couple of gentlemen where the ‘Miner’s Arms’ was and you’ll be surprised to hear we actually knew, as we had passed it earlier on! They were impressed. One of these chaps came from Cromer, would you believe? He recognised my accent straight away. We met them again later – at the Miner’s Arms, surely not?
Today we have travelled 6 miles to Strines, on the Peak Forest Canal. Actually with all the reversing and manouvreing we have had to do to moor up and get ourselves ungrounded several times, it is probably more like 10 miles! While filling with water this morning we asked at the High Poynton chandlery about the shops and it was here we learned they were 2 miles away. The chap there suggested we try High Lane as the garage there sold papers. After some considerable difficulty mooring up in High Lane (shallow again!) we discovered that the garage did not sell papers. There were quite a few shops in the street and if you wanted a hair cut, false nails, bacon barms (I’ve only just got used to calling them cobs!), a false tan, a mortgage or a funeral you were well served. Anything useful and it was a no no. We returned to the boat with the idea of taking George to the pub we had seen open just up the tow path. However, when we returned with him, the pub was in fact shut! We supposed the door had been open earlier for a delivery or something.
We decided to move on to Marple and sample the delights of the hostelry there. Some hope! The town moorings looked lovely all beautifully done with new flag stone edgings and mooring rings but also no depth to the water! We couldn’t get anywhere near the bank and after 4 attempts in different places gave up, no wonder they were all free. There were some 48 hour moorings just on to the Peak Forest Canal but you could see some rocks that had fallen in from the edge so you wouldn’t be able to moor there either. Suffice to say, any moorings that were suitable already had a boat in them! We carried on and after several more groundings and failed attempts finally got moored, at a jaunty angle, it has to be said, but we had given up trying to get right in to the bank by this time, at Strines.
This is a very attractive canal with marvellous views but it is very shallow and mooring up to take advantage of those views can be very frustrating and difficult.
