It's Monday again and time to take Harvey, our daughter's labrador, for a walk....this time along the Macclesfield Canal, which runs from Marple, ten miles West of Manchester, to it's junction with the Trent and Mersey Canal, just North of Stoke. The length of the canal is 28 miles.
It's original purpose was to carry coal and stone to the new industrial cities of Stoke and Birmingham. It was one of the last canals to be built, as railways were soon to eclipse canals as the main means of transport.
Narrow boats, which are a maximum of 72 feet long by 7 feet wide, were used to carry goods. Entire canal families used to live on these boats in very cramp conditions.
Here is Harvey beside a narrow boat
The sides of old narrow boats are often decorated with traditional paintings many featuring castles.
This is a wide shot of a typical bridge and towpath. The narrow boats were pulled by horses walking along the towpath and led by a member of the crew.
The bridges are built from the local Derbyshire Gritstone
One of the interesting features of the Macclesfield Canal are the 'change bridges' which enable the horse pulling the narrow boat to change to the other towpath without uncoupling the rope.
Alt macclesfieldcanal.org.uk
The canal narrows under the bridges to reduce the bridge span. It also enables 'stop logs' to be placed in grooves cut in the canal wall. Once in place the canal can be drained for maintenance or if there is an emergency.
We are coming to the end of our walk now. Harvey, as always, is willing to go the extra mile, even though he is nearly 11 years old.
Here the canal has been widened to allow boats to turn round.
There are several locks on the canal but none on my stretch.
My thoughts often wander back to those days, over 150 years ago, when the canal was bustling with activity....now it is a quiet haven for walkers and boating enthusiasts.
Penzance to Redruth