Bartimaeus

We made an uncharacteristically fast trip from Leek back to the park in Hanley.  The weather forecast showed that there was only going to be one pleasant day in the week, so we used that to do most of the distance.  We were a mile from the park at sunset but at a convenient mooring.  We got the last mile done promptly the next morning before the weather deteriorated.

Yesterday was very blowy and quite chilly.  We made a relative early start, helped by the clock change.  The important part of the plan for the day was to reach the Harecastle Tunnel before the cut-off at midday.  The strong winds which were from one or other of the named storms passing either side of us made driving tricky at times.

As we arrived at the bollards for the tunnel, the tunnel keeper came to talk to me.  I was trying to pull the rear rope on to the dolly but it wasn't going.  I could see Clare was pulling the bow rope too, but I didn't want to break off the chat with the tunnel keeper to ask what was happening.  Once he'd left we got things sorted.  The wind had been blowing the boat away from the bank leaving both of us thinking the other was doing it wrong.

The tunnel keeper decided our horn was too feeble to summon help in an emergency and issued us with an air horn - to be handed over at the other end.  Then we had to wait for a boat coming the other way.  Despite being over a mile and a half long you can see the light at the other end the whole way through, though the roof is lower in the middle than at either end.

We emerged at the Kidsgrove end ready for lunch.  With the tunnel now closed behind us for the day, and the Macclesfield Canal closed, we figured we were safe enough to stop on some lock bollards to eat.

Suitably replenished, we headed through the lock to a convenient mooring a few boat lengths beyond. This is the top of Heartbreak Hill, a notoriously lock-heavy section of canal with twinned locks.  The lock that was ready involved driving a diagonal against the wind.  Clare would have been anxious about doing that the first time we came this way - not this time.

The weather forecast was for torrential rain this morning, giving way to a dry afternoon and a more pleasant week.  Bryn and Clare had gone to the nearby discount supermarket (other discount supermarkets are available) yesterday to stock up for a morning inside.  I made some bread while they made banana bread.  We ran the generator to charge the batteries and used the excess energy in the charging tail to heat the oven.

We gave friendly waves to a few people boating past looking cold and wet.  I was glad we'd planned around the weather.  Inside, the cabin was warm and smelled of fresh bread.  We had all had our lunch by the time the rain stopped.

It was two locks to the pump-out station.  While I dealt with emptying the tank, Bryn and Clare filled the water tank.  Both seemed faster than usual and we were able to set off again.  The afternoon was another dozen or so locks.  With Bryn's help they all went very smoothly.

We reached Rode Heath well before sunset and moored on some rings in a quiet spot.  Tonight's tea was to be pancakes.  Bryn was the main chef, though I also took a turn at the pancakes while he was eating his.  Bryn braved tossing the pancakes despite a far from ideal pan.

We were relaxing after dinner when I noticed a flurry of emails from Canal and River Trust about fallen trees blocking various canals.  One of them was a short distance ahead of us!  I started making alternative plans for what we would do with Bryn's remaining days before I had read the message properly.  It turned out the canal was "restricted" not closed.

We all went for a walk along the towpath in the dark to have a look.  It was slightly further than we'd thought as the notice mentioned the wrong bridge number.  We walked on to the right one and found a small branch making the bridge slightly awkward.  No need to change our plans at all.