Clarence Mill to Bancroft Bridge 8

Damp and windy and cold. Padded waterproof trousers are back in fashion on NB Oleanna. The stove is lit and has been kept in over night for the last couple of days. If we didn’t have places to be we wouldn’t have moved today. Well that isn’t strictly true as we were moored under trees and with big winds that’s not such a good idea.

We pootled along under Sugar Lane Bridge that is a very skew. I checked that the Christmas tree near by hadn’t already got it’s Christmas hat on and I’m glad to report it hasn’t yet.

Along the straight from Bridge 24 to 21 I kept an eye out for the view of White Nancy, high above Bollington. Today she was hard to photograph as she melded into the grey white cloud. A local focal point and place of celebration for Bollington which on a clear day has fantastic views to the west, and to the east.

With the wind came the humming and whistling of power lines above. The fox gloves that last year filled wooded areas with purple of course are nowhere to be seen.

The occasional moving boat battled against the wind, at least we had it behind us for much of the morning. Speed helps you to keep on course in the wind, which was slightly alarming as we came through Bridge 20 where we could only manage to crawl due to depth as a zooming boat headed for us round a bend. They of course had to slow right down, we couldn’t get out of the way with any speed as we had none.

By Lyme View Marina the shiny side of NB Blanche glinted at us moored just off the end of the visitor moorings. NB Pukeko, a Narrowcraft boat sat on it’s moorings as did the boat at the end of the line with it’s 746 Ivory telephone.

On a little ledge near their bow an array of pots all surrounded with muscle shells. Are there muscles around here and if so, what creature likes to eat them?

At the aqueduct following Bridge 17 there was a long line of C&RT work boats. Today we’d seen patches of towpath reinforced with sandbags, but here there was far more than a patch. The whole bend is having sandbag reinforcing added.

At Higher Poynton we pulled in at the water point. A pair of flippers left alongside it, how random! The thought that someone had even considered snorkelling in the canal was mind boggling. We filled our tank, disposed of rubbish and looked over the bridge at the new Braidbar Boats all in grey awaiting fitout.

Mick gave Oleanna’s cabin side a hose down, our mooring last night had been a gritty one and with bouncing rain we’d got a good spattering from the towpath. Then we were on our way again.

A wave to NB Cleddau and NB Bethany May whom we’ve been leapfrogging for the last few days. I wonder what proportion of moored boats at Poynton were made by Braidbar?

Past The Cage at Lyme Park, the tractors and great collection of all sorts of things at Bridge 13. The chap here said ‘people just keep giving me stuff!’

Onwards though our first real leaf porridge of autumn.

We decided to stop before Marple, views through the hedge over towards Stockport and armco to tie to. No big trees to blow onto us and here would be a better place for Tilly. The morning was meant to have been a wet one, but the rain had held off until we were moored up, just in time for Tilly to enjoy!

This afternoon as well as getting more accurate prices for black flooring for #unit21 I also baked a rather chocolatey pudding for tomorrow. I’d not had a 9 inch round cake tin with a solid base, so reduced the quantities by a third and used a bread tin instead. I suspect the amount of chocolate, sugar, butter and eggs that went into it guarantee it to be very rich. So there should be enough for 5.

0 locks, 6.21 miles,1 gritty boat, 0 foxgloves, 1 white nancy, 0 hats, 2 flippers, 1 full water tank, 0 rubbish, 1 cleddau, 3 tractors, 52 horse shoes, 1 wizard, 4 chums, 16 or 18m? 1 very wet afternoon, 1 baked mass of chocolate.

Recipe

Several people have asked me for the recipe for Apple Crumble Flapjack. We find it’s much easier to eat with a fork, but maybe that’s because I add quite a lot of apple. Enjoy!

Maybe I should add a page to the blog with recipes?!