Bartimaeus

A fallen tree in the canal made staying a second night in Marple an easy choice.  In any case I had to collect the replacement bilge pump which had been delivered to the Post Office.  It didn’t take me long to fit the new pump, only to discover that it behaved much the same as the original.  I tried the advice of a man on the bank and removed the non-return valve.  That seemed to help a bit, but I was unconvinced.  I remembered the old adage: “If at first you don’t succeed, read the manual”, and picked up the one in the box.  It mentioned making sure the hose went continuously up – ours didn’t!  I guess recent work in the engine bay has moved it.  A bit of gentle re-routing and we have a working bilge pump again – and also a spare!

In the afternoon we walked up the canal to the site of the fallen tree.  The contractors were trying to pull out the stump of the tree using a winch attached to a tractor.  They were discussing various options, when we left them.  In the end it seems to have been left it back in place, just out of the line of the exit from the adjacent lift bridge.

We filled up the water tank properly before leaving Marple.  I reversed out through the awkwardly shaped section of canal underneath the pretty turnover bridge.  I made a better job of it than going forwards because the awkward sticky out stone edges were right under my nose instead of hidden by the bow.  Clare had phoned ahead to the marina at New Mills and established that their pump-out was working.  They phoned back later to confirm that they had a mooring with electric hook-up available for the night too.

We travelled slowly on electric most of the way knowing we could recharge the batteries when we arrived.  We’d been warned about their lunch break, so when we arrived we moored up at the service jetty and had our own lunch.  The helpful staff member appeared on the dot of 2pm and emptied our waste tank – phew!  This was my first chance to see what reading the new sensor gave when the tank was empty – a very respectable zero!  So now we know we can trust its readings at both ends of the scale.

We moved to our mooring and set the batteries charging.  I made sure to top up the water before and after charging.  The batteries are especially likely to be thirsty when they have been deeply discharged and when fully charged.  We went for a walk in the sunshine in the nearby Goyt Valley.

We headed for Whaley Bridge the next morning for lunch in a cafe.  I was curious to see the progress of the work on the dam that was dangerously close to collapse in 2019.  The project has been delayed (by heavy rain!) and will not be finished for another year, so all we really saw was a strange shaped building site.

On our way back we called in at the Whaley Bridge Wharf, a former canal building that is used as a community resource.  It has a striking art work inside commemorating the efforts to protect the dam and save the town from disaster, when 400 tonnes of aggregate were dropped by helicopter in to the damaged area.

We went round to the Bugsworth Basin for a slightly more peaceful mooring.  The next day I suggested we cycle up to Buxton.  I had found an interesting looking route.  I knew that it would be mainly up hill on the way out, but that had its benefits for the way back.  It was only about eight miles each way, but there was well over a thousand feet of climbing too.  Neither of us have done enough cycling recently, so we ended up walking up quite a lot of the steeper sections (slopes of 20% in places).  We arrived ready for lunch, and the first cafe we found turned out to be excellent.

We walked though the Pavilion Gardens afterwards on the way out to Poole’s Cavern, one of the main visitor attractions.  We were squeezed on to a tour (maximum 28, we were numbers 28 and 29) and led underground.  The mainly natural cave with wide open spaces was a stark contrast to the Standedge Tunnel – man-made and tiny by comparison.

We stopped at the Pavilion for a quick snack before our journey back.  In this direction, the steep climb was in the second mile, but most of the rest of the ride was descending.  The road surface was much better suited to climbing, so I had to keep our speed down on the steeper parts.  The road was at least dry and mostly free of leaves, and the brakes on the tandem are very effective.

We topped up the diesel tank at Furness Vale on our way back towards Marple the next day.  This seemed to be the cheapest diesel for miles around – I am hoping this means they have a high turnover, and so we are less likely to have trouble with diesel bug.  I also added another dose of the additive before filling up.

We found the mooring we had left in Marple vacant when we returned.  This afternoon we did a small amount of sanding and priming on the exposed metal from recent scrapes.  We have not tried to tidy up the scuffing below the gunwale that runs down both sides.  We were not on a suitable bit of bank, and neither of us had the enthusiasm for that.  There was plenty of sunny afternoon left over for a walk along the canal with a stop for coffee and cake on the way back in to town.