Marple to Macclesfield. Macclesfield Canal. 1

There was lots of boating activity on the Macclesfield Canal. It was much the busiest canal we've been on so far, with quite a few marinas.  In spite of this it was also the cleanest canal. Probably the fact that the surroundings were largely rural, rather than urban played a part. However the greater activity meant it was sometimes dififficult for helmsmen to navigate under bridges.

Although a largely rural aspect we did pass an old cotton mill, a remnant of a bygone age. It will probably be converted into flats.

They say you are never too old to learn, well yestetday we learnt something! For the past few days we've seen racks of wooden planks, with metal handles beside the canal. We didn't know what they were so we asked one of the guys on the charity boat. He told us they are dropped in slots in the stone wall of the canal, to block off small sections  of the canal, in order to allow them to be drained for repair work. The boots are there to provide a scale. Scarpa 9.5.☺

It was sunny and humid so we didn't (couldn't ?) hurry. After one hour and a half we got off the canal at a bridge, under the A6, where a local woman told us we would find a pub and tea rooms. We did find a pub but it was closed, so we walked along to a cafe to the left of the picture, crossing the canal. It was a U.S.A themed restaurant.  We thought they might be expecting a visit from Donald Trump, but they said not.