Although the weather wasn't supposed to be very good today we decided to move on a short way to the foot of the Bosley Locks. Actually we kept dry through out the short leg.
Once clear of Congleton the canal goes over an aqueduct over a feeder for the River Dane. Just afterwards is Vaudrey's Wharf. The canal was completed in 1831 and Charles Vaudrey built the wharf to service his silk mill in Bath Vale. Soon afterwards the railway came to the valley and it became a useful transhipment and merchants wharf. Cheese, timber, coal, sugar cotton and pottery etc was handled here. There are great worries about the Wharf now though as there is a serious leak in to the valley below. This could cause a breech and drain a long length of canal. It was actually owned still by the railway. Some time ago it was to be bought by British Waterways but they pulled out in the end due to lack of funds. Something will have to be done sometime to prevent a catastrophe.
After mooring up just over the Dane Aqueduct and just before the Bosely Locks and having lunch we went for a walk between the showers. We are moored just above us where the canal just goes clear of the aqueduct.
You have to include a photo of a turn over bridge on the Macclesfield as they are so beautiful. This Bridge 76 just north of Congleton.
We stopped to top up with water at Buglawton Wharf and we were soon off again. The Cloud, a local hill off 343m 1125ft, came into view. It stands proud from the surroundings and has a rounded aspect fro certain views. The hill has Chatsworth Grit over mudstones so the harder grit prevents the erosion of the softer mudstones. The rounded shape came from the passage of the ice during the last ice age. It has been the site of many ancient localisation due to its protected site.
The Cloud from the West.
Once clear of Congleton the canal goes over an aqueduct over a feeder for the River Dane. Just afterwards is Vaudrey's Wharf. The canal was completed in 1831 and Charles Vaudrey built the wharf to service his silk mill in Bath Vale. Soon afterwards the railway came to the valley and it became a useful transhipment and merchants wharf. Cheese, timber, coal, sugar cotton and pottery etc was handled here. There are great worries about the Wharf now though as there is a serious leak in to the valley below. This could cause a breech and drain a long length of canal. It was actually owned still by the railway. Some time ago it was to be bought by British Waterways but they pulled out in the end due to lack of funds. Something will have to be done sometime to prevent a catastrophe.
Vaudrey's Wharf.
After mooring up just over the Dane Aqueduct and just before the Bosely Locks and having lunch we went for a walk between the showers. We are moored just above us where the canal just goes clear of the aqueduct.
The Macclesfield Canal Dane Valley Aqueduct.
A little further down the valley is the Railway Viaduct that has 23 arches and was completed in 1841. It stands 105 ft (32m) above the valley.
The Dane Valley Railway Viaduct.
A bit before the mooring we saw a lovely black and white timbered building and as we passed it again on our walk I thought I would look it up. It is Crossley Hall Farm and was up for sale previously at £600,000. It was built the late 16th or early 18th Century and now has 5 bedrooms, many outbuildings for holiday let with 7 acres and a canal frontage.
Crossley Hall Farm.
A bridge over an overflow weir on the Macclesfield Canal just close to our mooring.
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