Salt to silk

Martin decided to use the peaceful mooring as an opportunity to repack the stern gland – some kind of operation to stop the boat sinking I hope. The Swan was very interested, much to his consternation as they were eye to eye for a while. We headed back to Middlewich where Monday lunchtime was lock chaos and then on down the Trent and Mersey, passing by the sites of the old salt workings and the current salt factory, stopping overnight at Kidsgrove, after the 21 locks of ‘Heartbreak Hill’ and before turning up the Macclesfield canal. This route is lovely and rural and similar to the Llangollen canal in its beauty and situation as one cruises gently into the Peak District. We visited Little Moreton Hall (NT) a pleasant and sunny walk from the canal and a lovely place. This was followed by Congleton – pie and peas and a haircut for Martin. After an overnight stop where we saw no one  but had a lovely view of The Cloud, a Peak, we set off up the Boseley flight, 12 locks in one mile which we completed in one and a half hours, and arrived Macclesfield just after lunch. Another nice Cheshire town with a very interesting museum of the silk industry that once made the town prosperous. Here we have left the boat and are now in Gloucestershire staying at Martin’s sister’s house to spend some time with his parents. But the adventure has not stopped – yesterday we had an exciting trip to Newport and went on the transporter bridge,