More sunshine! We set off about 9, and just as we were getting ready to go a boat came past. It turned out he was only going a little way before stopping. On the way into Congleton there’s the first of the Macc’s snake bridges, which take the towpath from one side to the other, without the need for taking the rope off the horse (if you happen to be being pulled by a horse). There’s an even better one a bit further on.
At Congleton Wharf there’s an old mill building which is now flats, with more built alongside.
Further on there’s a riot of bridges, with a rail bridge, an old road bridge, and a very tall concrete road bridge.
We stopped for our normal water and washing machine combo at Buglawton. The water point is on the offside, and neither of us had any recollection of it. Once the tank was full we carried on to the winding hole between bridges 64 and 63; CRT signs there point out that it’s the last winding hole before the locks, which means it’s the last one before the canal is closed. We turned around, disturbing a large clutch of ducklings — nine of them we reckon.
This area also has good views of the hill called The Cloud.
We retraced our steps to a spot we’d picked out on our way through, on a high embankment with views in both directions.
We can see and hear the trains on a viaduct over the same valley, but mostly it’s just birdsong. Later, we went for a walk down from the aqueduct over the former railway line, which is now the Biddulph Valley Way footpath.
We then went into the Dane-in-Shaw Pasture, from where you get a much better idea of the scale of the railway viaduct.
It’s a really lovely open space, used by a lot of people out with their dogs, and there’s a bridge over the Shaw Brook, which flows into the River Dane.
I couldn’t get a decent view of the aqueduct over the brook though, and we could just see the handrails of our boat up above.
8 miles, 0 locks. (14 miles, 1 lock)
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