there are quite a few two-day moorings - i think that's because most of this canal is
quite shallow so it's difficult to pull in otherwise - but i need to find out exactly
why it's known to be quite shallow because there must be a reason engineering-wise there
must have been a reason they made it to a certain depth
when the mud comes up from the bottom of the canal like this i know i'm in shallow water -
in fact in this case i've come to a standstill so without any crew to help me out i've got
to jump on top of my roof and whip out the old barge pole!
which is essentially just an 8 foot stick but using this as a lever i should be able
to free my boat up again and i'll be on my way but why is this canal so shallow i had
to find out according to the macclesfield canal society's website great canal engineer
thomas telford designed the canal as a way of saving time in construction by using this
tapered design (my drawing not to scale or anything)
it's got a very shallow and tapered bottom the macclesfield which allows commercial craft
like this one to go up and down the centre quite easily
they're just mooring up at the wharf so don't care about mooring anywhere else
unfortunately modern day boaters like myself find that to be the problem nowadays and especially
with lots of silt at the sides and the canal just needing regular dredging to keep it navigable
i love these and i've talked about these before but these are snake bridges where they were
created so that the horses -because all these canals were designed for use with horses - to
just go over the top there and on to the other side because the top crosses over and then
by doing that you don't have to uncouple the line so it saves work but i just think they're
beautiful
i've mowed in Congleton before and i love it - i love exploring the town, it's such
a beautiful medieval market town but this time i want to moor just around the corner
here at a spot which overlooks a beautiful valley
just got to get past this viaduct...
i really love this sign nice old sign i don't even know if it's still
accurate whether those shops exist still [they do] but I can certainly smell fish and chips
so that's definitely still a thing
unfortunately it turns out that only that mooring space that boat's got behind me is
the one with the actual view so you can't see anything if you're either side it's a
shame oh well not to worry i'm gonna moor up here anyway and explore this beautiful
valley but the rain is on and off at the moment and it's very cold i just don't want to get
soaked through!
ah this is not good that's freezing rain!! that's horrible! i don't even know where my
boat is at this point I'm lost
lost in the Bidulph Valley! luckily of course i've got my phone on me
filming this footage so i had a little look at the map and found my way back to the canal
this is a cut and fill canal so the engineers designed it - thomas telford - designed it
so he could just go straight as possible so that's why we've got embankments we've got
these straight bits where you can see almost for miles but i do quite like it on days like
this where you get to see the reflections of say bridges lying ahead of us people are
always joking about bridge 69, '69 dudes' and all that i don't understand i don't really
understand why they're doing that they're being rude is that is that it what's rude
about 69 i think when you get to 69 you're probably not thinking about being rude at
all you're thinking does my back still work i don't know! that's uh very ageist certainly
my parents and my aunt Frances will be ticking me off for that they're going to give me a
call after this and they'll be saying Robbie what's all this?!
some lovely pampas grass there should really be next to bridge 69 but you know perhaps
they didn't realise
right well all of a sudden i've got a water point here so i better take advantage of that
and pull in
the weird thing is though it's not listed on the map at all so we're over here, bridge
68, just gone past there it's not it's not there at all so yeah it might not even work
this is a brand new map so a bit weird let's have a look
hey it works!
just need to go on that side with the hose
there are a couple of ways of me actually telling whether or not i'm running out of
water one of which is outside i can see the level of which the water line is against the
the bow and that's where the water tank is so the less water inside it the more the boat's
going to tip up.
the other way i can tell is by checking a small pipe inside the boat which allows me
to view the exact level of the water that corresponds to the tank right next to it that
is again primitive but it works
and sometimes it might take me half an hour sometimes it might take me three quarters
of an hour 20 minutes to fill up it depends what the pressure's like from the tap that
i'm that i'm filling up from because every one seems to be slightly different
anyway just
goes to show how unreliable the maps and guides that we have on the canals they're not 100%
accurate and the only way of really finding out if something is there is physically go
there and check it out
oh i wondered why there weren't any boats coming down this way!!
With these locks out of action and even the towpath completely shut off i'm just... i've
got no choice but to reverse my boat now and just turn around and go a different route
up north which will be back onto the Trent of Mersey and the bridgewater canal canals
that i've done quite a number of times before so i'm a little bit disappointed i could have
avoided this had i been here earlier - two days earlier - I would have gotten through
all right and also if I'd have made sure I'd got the stoppage updates coming through to
my email oh well back we go!
all right well i'm turned around now and i'm heading back the way i came and that's it...
thanks for watching this vlog.
Sorry it didn't have a happy ending.
We can't end it like that can we?!!
No come on we've got to end it with a happy ending - pub of the week come on!!
well i'm literally right back where i started at the beginning of today on exactly the same
mooring on exactly the same aqueduct going over the river dane
i'm ready for the pub if there's one still open
At either side of this bridge here is a pub and we're going to pit them off against each
other never been in either of them before but i'm
going to try the railway inn first that's on this side and then hop over to the queen's
head let's go pub of the week competition
sorry excuse me i need to get to the pub i'm sorry
this one's got an ambulance outside i don't know if that's a good sign or not
but i like the sign on the edge of the building
right how do we get in
pretty standard pub that really - the railway inn it's like its name suggests - it's all
about the railway there's not a canal version of that but um there is another pub over the
road that i'm going to try and hopefully it's going to be a little bit more exciting it's
tough though because i'm not allowed to walk around i've got to sit down and be served
that pint and just get whatever i can from the position that i'm in so i've got a few
shots for you of just where i was sitting but yeah there could be more to that pub than
i realise but can't really explore it right now.
Right let's see what the queen's head's got to offer
And this one has direct access from the canal below so it's winning there straight away
that was the Queens - pretty good pub that because not only do they serve some interesting
beer but also the locals were there - i didn't expect it to be a locals pub because it seems
more like a gastropub [restaurant] but yeah they're all there in force and yeah i really
enjoyed talking to them and just yeah savouring the atmosphere of pub of the week!