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| Passing Bill |
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| Approaching Hall Green Stop Lock |
We are moving a couple of miles along the canal today and the
sun was shining and it was already really warm as we set off. We went past Bill who was moored the other
side of the aqueduct. He was waiting for
Al to join him but if Al doesn’t show up, he will come on along to where we are
going to moor.
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| Coming into Hall Green Stop Lock |
We soon came to Hall Green Stop Lock. This was historically the terminus of the
Macclesfield, and the beginning of the Trent & Mersey’s Hall Green Branch –
the construction of a ‘linking canal’, along which they could charge their own
tolls, being a favourite trick of the Trent & Mersey. Both companies built their own stop-lock here,
which was either a sensible engineering solution to differing levels, or the
biggest display of pettiness since Worcester Bar; and each stop lock had its
own lock cottage. Now only the
Macclesfield’s chamber is in use, with a 1ft fall.
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| Mow Cop Castle |
It didn’t take us long to get through the lock and then we
were on our way again, past Scholar Green where there is a nice pub but we will
save that one for the way back and then we were at the moorings just before
Bridge 86, Rowndes Bridge No. 2 and we moored up. The view from these moorings is lovely, it’s
a really fab spot to moor. Bill turned
up after a while and moored in front of us, there was no sign of Al so he
decided to come on.
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| View from the top |
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| Resting at the top |
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| Kev at the top |
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| Me at the top |
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| Amazing View |
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| Mow Cop Castle |
There is an iconic landmark near here called Mow Cop Castle,
which is about 1100ft above sea level, so we decided to see if we could walk up
to the top. We left the canal by the
bridge and walked up onto the road then started our steady climb upwards. We went up and up, it wasn’t too bad at first
as it was very gradual, a few bits were steep then we came around a corner and
looming ahead of us was this really steep road, it was 1 in 4 ratio, help! We stopped for a breather then off we went
and we trudged up to the top and there was Mow Cop Castle.
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| Oh no, its getting steeper! |
Mow Cop Castle is a folly in Cheshire. In 1754, Randle Wilbraham of nearby Rode Hall
built an elaborate summer house to look like a medival fortress and a round
tower. It was made to look like a ruin
and was used for picnics and entertaining.
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| Mow Cop Castle |
It was also on this spot that Hugh Bourne, a wheelwright,
climbed to the summit to create the Primitive Methodists in 1807. A hundred years later, 70,000 disciples
climbed to the top to worship on what had become, for them, a Holy
Mountain.
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| Jodrell Bank Space Telescope |
We walked to the top and the views were magnificent, you
could see for miles across the Cheshire Plain, beyond Stoke and into Wales and
we could also see Jodrell Bank Space Telescope.
It was a hard
walk all uphill on the way there but well worth it, we are really glad we went
as it is fascinating and the views are wonderful. We had a walk around and also a sit down then we started our
descent back to the boat
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| View from our mooring |
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| Monument to Hugh Bourne |
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We are staying here tonight and also tomorrow as we are off
to Little Moreton Hall tomorrow, a National Trust place, you can get to it from
the canal via a footpath across the fields, so looking forward to that.
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| Moored at Rowndes Bridge No. 2 |
Wow, I do admire you, the views look amazing, we really should have done it. But in our defence, it was so hot the week we were moored there, I don't know that we would have made it! Someone told us there's a pub up there, but then someone else told us it's only open at weekends – did you see one?
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