UPDATE 9 May 2004 (Day 2):
We rejoined the tow path at lock 5, where we finished yesterday. The weather was ideal for walking, dull but dry, although not so good for taking photographs. The aches and pains from yesterday had faded and would hopefully stay that way. 

Bosley Lock 10

Lock 11

The canal and tow path were very quiet for a Sunday and we saw hardly any people or boats for several hours. There was plenty of wildlife on the move though, especially lots of very cute baby ducks. The only trouble is there often seems to be be a stray one lost and calling for its mother.

Ahh!	Ahh! again (the Bluebells)

The bluebells are also out in force in the woodlands and canal banks but it seems hard to capture them as well with a camera as they look in real life. You can see a hint of one very thickly carpeted bank in the background of the picture above.

Distant viaduct

Ramsdell Hall

25 Miles from Top Lock

This stretch of the Macclesfield canal is very straight and monotonous for much of the way as it cuts through woodland but at around 25 miles from Marple's Top Lock we came on some spectacular scenery at Ramsdell Hall, near Mop Cow.

Hall Green Lock

Bridge 95

At Hall Green there's a lock that only drops the water level by one foot, which in some ways hardly seems worth it, however, its a very long way back to the last lock at Bosley and it's still holding back a lot of water. Shortly after Bridge 95 we reached the end of the Macclesfield Canal and joined the Trent and Mersey. This has a completely different character to the Macc, not least because the water is an unusually rich muddy brown colour. We understand this is due to Iron Oxide in the water. 

Trent & Mersey Canal

Red Bull

In order to celebrate walking the full length of the Macclesfield Canal we were forced stop for a pint at the Red Bull at Kidsgrove. We had to settle for Robbies Best as they have no Mild on round here - strange people! 

The village of Rode Heath is very pleasant with lots of attractive gardens backing onto the canal. One in particular is very lucky to have a family of swans at the bottom of their garden and we watched them being hand fed.

Lawton Treble Locks

Cygnets

At the end of day 2, when we stopped at Hassell Green, our mileage totalled  33.5 miles. This was a little less than we'd anticipated, which was very welcome. We ate at the Romping Donkey, which we'd been looking forward to all day but sadly it wasn't that good, the beer was a barely acceptable pint of Boddingtons (Timothy Taylor's Landlord went off as we entered the bar!) and the pub was full of teenagers who must have been drinking all day long. We've not fallen lucky in the beer stakes yet, thank goodness we had some in the mobile home. Still - there's always tomorrow.