Wednesday 5th September 2007 Etruria to Hall Green Mike, Wendy, cats Tilly & Mandy
Tilly stayed out in the morning, so Wendy decided to do a wash while she didn't want her cave behind the machine. Meantime I caught up with some web-site work. Wendy went for a walk - seeing no sign of Tilly. With the help of a young passer-by, she found a basic shop (A Happy Shopper) some way across the canal (and the Caldon Canal). On Wendy's return we had a snack lunch, and feared that Tilly was out for the day, so settled down with some drinks. In accordance with Sod's Law, Tilly then came back, and as we'd only had a single drink each, we set off at 14:37. I steered because the tunnel was fairly close, and Wendy's eyes aren't good enough nowadays for steering in tunnels. Wendy was horrified by the height of some of the banks before the tunnel - not good places to get off the boat. It was sad to see the derelict land where once Shelton Steelworks used to be. As we approached the tunnel, we were able to join on the end of a convoy going in. The tunnel-keeper gave us written and oral instructions - that's new since we were last here. He also checked how many people and animals we had on board. It was a really difficult trip through the tunnel because the boat in front was going very slowly indeed, so we were on tick-over most of the way, and out of gear for the rest. We found out later that the boat in front of us had an even worse time - they were being slowed by the boat in front of them and caught up by bus behind them. At Harding's Wood junction we joined the Hall Green Branch, then stopped by Red Bull aqueduct for a few minutes for me to take some photos. Next came Hall Green junction and the Macclesfield Canal proper. We tied up at 17:57 on the visitor moorings just above the stop-lock, next to the boat which had been ahead of us in the tunnel, who told us their side of the story (see above). The cats leapt ashore with great eagerness, having both reacted badly earlier to the noise of the fans in the tunnel. They went to explore the hedge, but both came back for some supper and again afterwards, so we're not without hope for the morning. DAY'S RUN 7.1 miles, 1 lock in 3 hours 17 mins.
