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70 now and our five wonderful years aboard our narrowboat Skyy seem along time ago. Jacquie, allowed me to build my replica three wheeler kit car, which was a great success. Now it's time to start on a bigger project and that is to make a good Triumph Stag even better, here goes.

Wednesday, 1 June 2011

FORTIFIED

TUESDAY 24TH TO WEDNESDAY 25TH MAY 2011


In the morning we reversed out and tied up on line, but with an electric hookup. There is a convenient laundrette and an Asda store, which was very useful as, early Wednesday morning, out regular boating chums, Kim and John would be arriving and we needed to do a bit of stocking up, so Tuesday was a chore day.

Wednesday was going to start with a full English breakfast as Kim and John would have been on the road from about 5.30am and that would get them fuelled up and ready for the climb up the Marple flight of sixteen locks. We got under way mid morning, but first we filled with water in the Portland Basin beside the Industrial Museum, before turning and entering the Peak Forest Canal. The scenery was very reminiscent of the Langollen Canal, with distant view of hills the other side of the deep Goyt River valley, particularly at the Marple Aqueduct which was very similar to the Chirk Aqueduct with a railway viaduct running alongside.



We had been warned that the locks were stiff, but whether that good breakfast had paid off, we found them very easy, each one taking only ten minutes on average and they were all very picturesquely situated. At the top of locks we were in Marple and also the junction with the Macclesfield Canal, we chose to continue on The Peak Forest Canal towards Whaley Bridge. There being no pub for several miles we stopped for the night after just a few minutes in a lovely spot.

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