Passing time on the Macclesfield Canal

We are off to London for a long weekend this weekend.  Originally I was going to go on my own to meet up for lunch with old school friends from Rhodesian days.  In other words it has been a while since I saw them :) It has now advanced to a 3 night trip leaving from Macclesfield by train to London.  While there we are also going to see a West End show.  We have booked the train, the hotel and the show, now I just need to put some money on my Oyster card and we are sorted.  Our boat home is going to be looked after in a marina here in Macclesfield, as we don't want it disappearing while we are not on board :)

So as the trip is only on Friday, we have a few days up our sleeve.  We were trying to take our time arriving in Macclesfield but each time we tried to stop in a place we liked, it was too shallow and we were not able to moor up.  Before we knew it we were already there.  So today we cruised up passed Macclesfield, took a peek at the marina and then on to Bollington.  A nice looking place but not a mooring spot to be found, they were all taken.  In the end we turned around and headed back and we are now back at the spot we stayed last night :)  Which is good because the side of the boat which was cleaned by Andrew the other day is now on the bank side, so that is a job for tomorrow.

My only other news is that the washing machine has packed a sad again and just will not switch on.  We have tried everything we can think of to no avail.  I tell you, when it first played up, if I was strong enough I would have ripped the bloody thing out and thrown it over the fence.  Not into the cut mind you, I wouldn't want it offending any other boaters :)  We will wait and see if it will work when connected up to the electricity in the marina and decide what to do with the bloody thing then.

So not to bore you all with too much in the writing side some pics from the last few days, because we all know that pictures are far more interesting:

These interesting milestones on this canal

and the other side

our first flowering Irises

Bridge 77 coming into Congleton

 These lovely 'turn over' bridges built in a spiral on one side allowed the horse to cross over the canal when the towpath changed sides, without having to unhitch the rope from the horse.

Mooring up in Congleton

Large hill in the distance - called The Cloud 

Art work on the canal side - not sure why she was there but very pretty

The Cloud from the other side two days later

Wrong side of the fence? Or keeping the swimmers away? Looking very lifelike :)

A totally unconcerned Grey Heron

Two more 'tuffted' ducks

Seems that there is a domestic breed of duck called a 'crested' duck.  I guess some of them have been fooling around outside with the wild ones :)