Thursday 27th May
We are moored in a lovely spot on the Gurnett Aquaduct near Macclesfield. Another place which we thought looked nice on the way past but couldn’t get in as it was full. We are being lucky on the way back it would appear, what with Marple, Higher Poynton and now here, all with available moorings.
The first thing we had to do today was get some diesel ……… I tell a lie, the first thing we had to do was get rid of ‘Donald Campbell’ who was right up behind us and obviously wanted to get up to water skiing speed! We were making our manouvre in to the diesel point at Lyme View Marina in Adlington Basin and he just couldn’t wait, he squeezed between us and a moored boat and never acknowledged us or them, prat!
The chap who runs Lyme View Marina comes from Blakeney, would you believe? He had his grandson with him who was about 4 or 5. He was very interested in our boat, got on the back and demanded the guided tour! He was full of questions like – Why didn’t we have a proper toilet? Where did I sleep? Where did Ken sleep? Did he have to squeeze in? (The bed wasn’t extended at the time so I explained how it worked.) How did we get past the bed when it was made up? Why hadn’t we got a proper table? Where did we sit? Then he met George and got flattened! Bless.
After we had got the diesel the next thing was a bit of shopping. We decided to get it in Macclesfield. Remembering the trouble we had mooring up there on the way through I had a brilliant idea. As we had accidentally moored in the water point before quite easily, I thought, even though we didn’t really need any water we could get some anyway and while we were one of us could sneak off to the shop! When we got to Macclesfield all the moorings were full ……………….. except the water point, so my plan worked like a charm, I’m a genius!
We then went on to Gurnett where we moored on the aquaduct. There is a fab view from here it is lovely. Nearby there is (you guessed it!) a couple of pubs. The Old King’s Head didn’t open until 3pm so we tried to find the Sutton Hall Pub. Now, had I have remembered what the sign I saw on the way past last week said we wouldn’t have had any trouble with this, but unfortunately I couldn’t remember what it said! I couldn’t even remember where I saw the sign. To cut a long story short we dragged our poor aged dog miles out of the way, in both directions, through the village until we came across Sutton Hall and it was just up the towpath from where we were moored! We could practically see our boat from the garden! Poor old George he is knackered!
It was worth the effort though, what a fabulous pub, with beautiful grounds, a terrace and a walled patio. Inside there are several different rooms to sit in, some had open fires burning (it wasn’t that warm today, although we did sit outside as the sun was out) and being an old hall there is a lot of polished wood. According to their website it used to belong to the Lucans (as in Lord Lucan, we didn’t see him though!) at one time.
We have decided to stay here tomorrow and I am steeling myself for Bosley locks on Saturday. I haven’t had to do locks for nearly 2 weeks!
