- 5 hours ago
Canal Boat Diaries - Season 7 Episode 7 - Scholar Green to High Lane
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Short filmTranscript
00:10my name's Robbie Cumming that's me attempting to rescue a runaway boat it's in gear and it's
00:19nowhere near the side here so we can't pull it in with a simple boat hook and this is my
00:24old
00:24vessel the naughty lass for over a decade I've been exploring Britain's rivers and canals camera
00:32in hand filming every bump scrape and tricky situation and over the years there's been a few
00:41so much is going on I just slipped and fell in mayday mayday I'm stuck
00:49I don't know if it's gonna work but we'll see
00:53this time I'm exploring the Macclesfield canal
01:00I begin my journey at Scholar Green I'll travel to Congleton in Cheshire I'll then tackle Bosley
01:09locks before exploring Macclesfield and then on to Bollington my destination is High Lane in Greater
01:17Manchester it's around 24 miles in all there'll be plenty to see so jump on board for my canal boat
01:27diaries
01:28you
01:30you
01:30you
01:49well the weather doesn't look too great this morning but the boat has been here for weeks
01:55and to say that I've got itchy tiller be an understatement it's all because of the water
02:03levels and locks that have been closed for a time but they've just reopened and I'm ready raring to go
02:10just got one job to do and it involves going down into the area of the boat which I would
02:17normally
02:18attend to for the weed hatch but this time it's to do with the stern gland
02:24now this is a seal that prevents lots of water from entering my boat
02:29where the propeller shaft passes through the hole and into the engine
02:34it's been leaking a bit so the stern gland greaser needs topping up
02:40it's a bit of a messy job but someone's got to do it and that someone is me
02:48right with the container topped up and my stern gland water tight I can get going
03:03right at long last after weeks of having the boat moored there at the bottom of the
03:09backersfield canal finally on the move it is going to be a little bit windy and a little bit rainy
03:15but
03:15that's that's just how it is this time of year and it's good for the water level so we've got
03:19to be
03:20grateful today's journey i'm just going to try and make congleton it's not far away only a few miles
03:25looking forward to this one
03:34on this journey i'm headed north up the macclesfield canal when it was originally built it was one of
03:41the last of the canal building age in fact it almost became a railway instead it was that point in
03:48history
03:50but it is a canal and i'll be using it to explore towns such as congleton macclesfield and bollington
03:59and i don't yet know exactly what's going to happen along the way but it's going to be another adventure
04:10obviously from the color of the leaves you can tell it is deep into autumn as i'm moving my boat
04:16up the
04:16macclesfield and yeah it's beautiful but there's also dangers you've got to watch out for you know
04:24slippery leaves and things like that and when i'm operating locks later on yeah i'm just going to be
04:29careful you've always got to take things a little bit slower than perhaps normally would
04:38but that gives me time to enjoy the scenery and this is where i pass an 18th century country house
04:57the ramsdale hall railings were built in the 1830s at the canal company's expense
05:06they were a goodwill gesture and a focal point for the hall's owners
05:12to make up for having a busy waterway running so close to their home
05:25weather's not great hasn't been for the past few weeks so a lot of the jobs that i've been doing
05:30whilst have been moored up have been inside the boat rather than outside and although i'm looking
05:37forward to getting to congleton because i'll be moored right next to the town and its facilities
05:41the mooring i had recently was quite good for road access which i needed to finish off a job to
05:47do with
05:47my windows and it was supposed to be a straightforward job but yeah there were a few hiccups
06:04a lot of things that i've had to do with my windows and i've had my new double glazed windows
06:11the job at the time was almost complete and just recently i've been able to
06:17get the guys all the way back to fit two vinyl oak surrounds to the inside of the windows
06:27they're just trying to make these new liners fit and they don't quite fit anything that's made
06:34away from the boat obviously it's not going to fit exactly
06:40but yeah looking good
06:43it was a finishing touches kind of job but it still wasn't as straightforward as we'd liked
06:48at one point the last screw was about to go in and then pulled away and
06:56no no lost the bit holder into the canal luckily i had a magnet all ready to fish it out
07:05be in here somewhere oh is that it let's have a look
07:10oh it's stuck to the side of my boat yeah that's it there and i got it out first time
07:17as well
07:20i must have had some practice
07:23right that's the final touches of my windows the job is now 100 complete and i'm very happy with that
07:37it's back to my journey on the macclesfield canal i'm not quite so happy as i'm in a bit of
07:43bother
07:43after a spot of bird watching i got distracted by all these geese i was wondering why they're in the
07:50field in their masses gotta look at stuck here should have known whenever there's a lovely sloping hill
07:58there's gonna be some runoff there's gonna be a lot of silt next to it
08:04i've now jackknifed across the whole of the canal
08:12it's gonna need a barge pole to see if i can push out a little bit as long as i
08:17don't lean on
08:17the barge pole and fall in this is what happened when i last used it
08:28well after a lot of pushing and shoving and revving the engine
08:35the naughty lass finally breaks free
08:41right back on the way now see you later geese
08:48that is a real hazard getting too close to the side of that slope where all the silts just washed
08:55into the canal which is already shallow enough
09:05it'll teach me to keep my eyes ahead
09:09and as i enter congleton i pass under one of macclesfield canal's roving bridges
09:24these structures allowed towing horses to switch sides without being unhitched
09:30it has a looping curve so ropes don't snag and it kept working boats on the move
09:38now i'm actually looking to moor up and after this aqueduct is a good spot
09:52right i think this will do just between these boats and the bright orangey yellow leaves beautiful
10:12right i've moored here because i want to go and see a piece of land that's for sale
10:19that's next to some water but it's away from the canal
10:24all will be revealed just gotta walk about a mile to get there first
10:34i still have designs on setting up my own boat yard moorings and i've heard about some riverside land
10:43for sale in congleton i don't exactly know what it's going to be like until i have a look around
10:48there's a shipwreck included on the site which seems intriguing enough
10:53so i've called ahead and i got a booking with the estate agent
10:59david thank you so much for meeting me here i am interested in buying some land that's next to
11:05a canal ideally for some moorings and things like that sure but i was intrigued by this
11:10well this is an interesting one really and uh as you can see it's big it's sat here definitely
11:16needs some uh input and someone who knows what they're doing really
11:20so i've been doing a little bit of research on this the vessel itself just to see where it's come
11:25from and um yeah it started life as a trawler nice grimsby and i don't know how they got it
11:33here
11:33because looking at the river you just don't think you can fit much in there can you it looks a
11:37very
11:38relatively slim river yeah maybe they hoisted it into place but yeah
11:43it's a bit of a wreck today but this old trawler was used as a seafood restaurant back in the
11:4990s
11:51so david the bottom line obviously is how much is this all on for okay so it's on for the
11:56wonderful
11:56price of 79 950 pounds um what do you get for that you get all of this all the land
12:02get yourself
12:03in here and do what you want with it really uh the deal breaker for me i think would be
12:07can i actually get my boat in here and i don't think i can because it's not next to the
12:13canal
12:13that would unfortunately be a no for me yeah fair enough but not not i think it's quite good value
12:19yeah just hope whoever takes this on and do something equally special with it anyway thanks
12:25david thank you so much all the time
12:32well that was extraordinary the simple fact that vessel has been winched into place here
12:37tells you all you need to know it's not navigable so i can't get votes in and it's not going
12:42to be for
12:42me but hopefully yeah someone will take it on for the time being started to rain
12:49i'm gonna get back to the boat
13:03oh right i should have known mooring underneath this tree that i'd find my boat covered in leaves
13:10the next morning this happens every year and it looks beautiful but the reality is these all just
13:17stick so i've got to remove some of these especially on the sides of the boat where i'm going to
13:22slip up
13:24or uh on my solar panel because right now it's blocking the sun and not getting any power
13:30all right so i'm going to get that cleared
13:34but don't look beautiful
13:40right i've got most of them off the rest of them can stay perhaps they'll blow off later on
13:52right well that was the morning in congleton and all through the night it rained quite a lot i've just
13:58checked this morning my jug here that i normally water my plants with
14:06got quite a lot in there that's almost half full that should all be good for the water levels and
14:13the locks i'm headed up to today been closed for quite a while only just reopened my main challenge
14:19is to just to get through them and more up at the top somewhere but yeah 12 locks i'm hoping
14:24it
14:25doesn't rain whilst i'm doing them because there's no stopping there's no stopping places during the flight
14:37i'm slowly making my way up the macclesfield canal
14:42a 26 mile route that opened back in the 1830s
14:50it once carried vital supplies and finished goods for the mills
14:54mines and quarries along its banks
14:59and it formed an important connection between manchester the potteries
15:04and the wider industrial midlands
15:08it was really interesting looking at that land yesterday but i'm fully back into the mode of
15:14continuous cruising the whole reason why i've made it to currently 43 years old without owning
15:24any sort of bit of land or a house or anything is mainly because of the ridiculous prices of houses
15:31but also because with this boat all i need is somewhere to moor up and you know as long as
15:37i can
15:37empty my toilet and top up the water tank and get my supplies in i'm happy really i'll keep dreaming
15:44but at the moment i've just got to be happy with what i've got
15:52and at the end of the day i'm someone who prefers to be on the move
15:58my plan this year to go from wales to west yorkshire is still on but only just there's been
16:04so many stoppages there's been so many changes of plan along the way but we'll see things are
16:10reopening again now i'm hopeful at least there's going to be plenty of rain coming into the canal system
16:18but with so many disruptions i don't yet know where i'm going to finish this year's trip
16:27right just around the corner bosley locks set of 12 that i've got to tackle today before i get
16:34there i'm just crossing this aqueduct that goes high over the river dane impressive single arch
16:42structure built by joseph noel and sons who specialized in masonry bridges churches but they
16:50still had a boss who've no doubt kept a watch for life on this amazing piece of engineering
17:05now that boss would have been william crossley the engineer for the macclesfield canal company
17:12who managed the construction of this waterway
17:17and it's here i reached the bosley lock flight which has been causing me a whole load of bother
17:33this year
17:34i've already been delayed by the best part of a month
17:40because of a lack of water in the canal and i've just been told that these locks are closing again
17:46in about a week because they need repairs so i don't want to miss my chance to get through
17:58making good progress but i'm already being distracted by the engineering at play here
18:03you've got these massive stone blocks either side of the lock and to get these in place even though
18:10they've come from a local quarry at the bottom of this flight they had to build a special tramway and
18:15get
18:15horses to pull them along and then when they got them here you'll see they look like little
18:21indentations they're actually holes that go straight through the stone and they were used to winch them
18:26all into place sometimes it just blows my mind how they actually built these things
18:37when bosley locks first opened in the 19th century two lock keepers one at each end kept boats moving smoothly
18:48and dealt with any issues along the way
18:52today there are some volunteer lockies helping out
18:58i was halfway up bosley fly when a boater shouted out to me can i borrow your boat hook
19:05i've lost control of my boat
19:11all right this is the boat it's in gear and it's nowhere near the side here so we can't pull
19:18it in
19:19with a simple boat hook
19:24but i think if i get my grappling hook that i've got on board oh yeah and attach a rope
19:31to it
19:32perhaps i can throw it onto the rope there and hopefully rescue this boat
19:40apparently the narrowboat had been accidentally left in gear
19:44and drifted out of the lock on its own and while i headed back to the naughty lass to grab
19:51some long
19:52rope and my rescue kit the volunteer lock keepers came up with a different plan
19:59well unbelievably this tree is doing the job
20:04i've gone all the way back to get my grappling hook and everything but
20:08seems like a tree branch is the winner today
20:14well done well done everyone
20:25well after that little drama and with the owner back on board
20:29i can get going again but it's now late afternoon and i'm about to lose the light
20:42i'm just coming up to the last lock of the day the sun is getting lower and lower in the
20:47sky so i
20:47must find somewhere to moor up before it sets but there that's bosley locks the only set of locks
20:55on this canal and it's been more eventful than i thought it would be actually and i couldn't have
21:01done it without the volunteer lock keepers well i could it just would have taken a lot longer
21:17after 12 locks even though i've had some help it was quite a long day of moving the boat so
21:23i did just want to moor up and yeah switch off but it's also bonfire night so i was thinking
21:30well what better than to just stare at some flames for a bit
21:37well you know i haven't got any fireworks i haven't even got any sparklers but
21:42just a fire is all i need a cup of soup that'll do mini bonfire nice
22:04the sun is absolutely streaming in through my windows it's a beautiful morning i need to get out
22:11there but before i leave yeah i need to pack away my chair and my fire pit now that it's
22:19cooled down from
22:20last night and once i've done that i can enjoy the rest of this beautiful day
22:38well that was definitely a quieter bonfire night than i've probably ever experienced being quite
22:46far away from any firework displays just on my own sat by the fire it's perfect for me to recharge
22:53because i'm one of these people that just needs a little bit of alone time but i'm very happy this
23:00morning because of the weather obviously but also i'm headed off to macclesfield and i'm looking forward
23:17to get in there the naughty lass is a boat that's always on the move it hasn't got a permanent
23:22mooring
23:22it makes me laugh sometimes when people do often ask me so where do you keep your boat and i'll
23:29just keep
23:29wherever i can moor it that evening you know so i've been used to it being in various different
23:36locations some of them for longer than others
23:42i've come to a bit of a halt by this bridge something's wrapped around my propeller
23:53i've had a great year for not having to go down the weed hatch i've not encountered a lot of
23:57canal
23:58weed or plastic bags or anything like that but the macclesfield is quite shallow and yeah i did have
24:06to pull in and get my hand in there it's quite cold there's also a tiny bit of fishing line
24:13that
24:13i really want to get off there i'm gonna be quick about it because i'm moored in a bridge not
24:21a good idea
24:26and that's all it is just a little bit of fishing line causing so much trouble
24:34now i've had bigger things wrapped around my prop but fishing line can be harmful to wildlife
24:42so i'll dispose of that safely right well in the time it's taken me to sort all that out unfortunately
24:54the sun has gone in but at least i have sorted the propeller out for now and i'm going to
25:01be stopping
25:01again in a minute anyway because i've arranged to meet someone
25:08usually when i look on my map at where i'm going i'll see a marina at the side of the
25:13canal
25:13i'll see a pub at the side of the canal but every now and then you'll see something a little
25:19bit
25:19different that demands further inspection
25:25all right here's my guy how you doing tj all right yeah thanks so much for inviting me over
25:34what an eclectic mix of motors you got here
25:38in this case it's a second-hand car dealership specializing in classic cars and i like quirky
25:49vehicles as you can imagine quite a collection here i try here i try and get the unique things
25:54you know i like um everything's got its own personality every you know everything's got its
25:58own individuality so are any of these vehicles a favorite absolutely um believe it or not the
26:05main favorite is the reliant regal the three-wheeler i actually got the train 282 miles and i drove
26:11that back to here and it had only done 60 miles in 10 years and the blog said you're not
26:16going to
26:16drive back i said yeah it'll be fine and it did miss a beat all the way on can we
26:22have a little look
26:22at some of these a bit closer yeah absolutely he had everything from huge american cars to some really
26:32unusual porsches but i was most interested in the reliant that was parked outside which also happened to be
26:42tj's favorite this is quite fun oh i can barely fit inside but yeah right so how much is this
26:57on for
26:57tj unfortunately it's not for sale pop could never sell it not for sale oh well okay back to the
27:03boat then
27:05thanks so much for letting me look around bud i really appreciate that
27:14well that was great tj such a nice guy and so generous with his time showing me
27:19all the cars that he had but i think i will stick with my boat for now and talking to
27:24which i need
27:25get it through this swing bridge so while i'm here put my key in and set it off from here
27:39at royal oak
27:39swing bridge i've got about 12 miles to go i'm making my way to macclesfield and after that i'm heading
27:47to bollington before i reach my destination high lane in greater manchester a few weeks back i visited
28:07the grave of canal engineer james brindley well as i'm crossing this aqueduct just down there
28:15was where he had his workshop back in the 18th century when he first started his career when he
28:21was known for more wind and water powered mills a little bit before he started building canals
28:29and before this one was built as well
28:41all right all these lovely retaining walls here mean that i'm in macclesfield you don't see this
28:47too many of the places i'm in a good time to find a mooring and meet someone who's going to
28:52take me on a
28:52tour revolves around local legendary singer one of my favorites ian curtis from joy division
29:08yeah just here dude
29:12and i'm the only one there's loads of boats on that side but only me on this side
29:19probably because it's just a one day mooring
29:34i have been to macclesfield before
29:37and as a fan of the post-punk band joy division i got in touch with a local chap called
29:43trevor
29:44who now runs tours around the town
29:48all about the group and its lead singer ian curtis
29:57hello all right trevor hello robbie it's great to be back but i have actually well never been to
30:03this part of macclesfield so why are we meeting here well that's a good question we're meeting here
30:08because this was the home of the famous lyricist and frunked uh member of joy division this is his
30:14house right this was his house in the 70s where he lived with his wife deborah curtis and that's
30:19where he penned most of his tunes um white love will tear us apart so ian lived here and he
30:25worked
30:25a proper job a real job as a civil servant working in a labor exchange helping people out and that's
30:32just around the corner we can literally if you want we can walk in the footsteps of ian curtis
30:36how does that let's do it let's do his daily commute perfect let's go
30:41so who comes on your tours then they come from everywhere the pull of joy division is so much more
30:47than i ever thought until i was doing the tour so yeah there's um there's lots to see and there's
30:54a
30:54story to tell a really important story i could see trevor's passion for music history and his dedication to
31:03the band to keeping the story of ian curtis alive and yeah just passing that on to people from all
31:11over
31:11the world who come to meet him and walk around macclesfield and it was a real pleasure to sample
31:18some of his tour this is it robbie this is ian's workplace for three three and a half years he
31:28worked
31:28in the um old labor exchange helping people with vulnerabilities find work and actually if you look
31:34around the corner there on the wall there's a plaque to commemorate the fact that he worked here
31:43ian was known for his quiet awkward demeanor distinctive dancing and signature look of
31:49crumpled shirts and tailored trousers cementing his status as a macclesfield icon
31:59it's getting quite dark now i should have come on the full tour a bit earlier but uh well you're
32:04welcome on at any time but thanks for coming nice to see you cheers pal all right thank you so
32:08much
32:08thank you all right
32:25i really like mooring in macclesfield the only problem is where i was it was just one day where
32:31these boats are behind me only three days and then you gotta keep moving unless you pay for a mooring
32:42but yeah a real nice place like the people as well but today i'm going to try and make another
32:49popular
32:49spot bollington but yeah i want to get there in good time just so i can get a space really
32:59i think the main draw for me exploring the north the canals generally become a little bit quieter there's
33:07not so many people exploring them and i don't know why that is i think it's mainly because a lot
33:13of the
33:13major marinas are generally in the midlands or some of them down south i do like the fact that i'm
33:19headed somewhere a path that's slightly less trodden but even so i'll be passing through some
33:31busy towns on my mission to get my boat to yorkshire i'm planning to head through manchester
33:40as part of my journey this year earlier on my journey i was on the bridgewater canal which
33:46would have been the easiest most direct route were it not for a massive breach that had occurred
33:55and that's something that is quite common in fact in the last few years i've had a number of
33:59them around the network and i did a bit of research on the macclesfield and found a colossal one that
34:05happened around about 100 years ago i've also made contact with a local gentleman who's going to
34:11tell me a bit more about it and even show me some photographs i think yeah that's that must be
34:18him
34:18over there
34:26hello tim oh robbie how do you do you'll have to excuse me i'm trying to pull this boat in
34:30but it
34:30doesn't quite want to go so yeah obviously i'm not going to be staying long but i hear you've got
34:37some
34:37photographs of the breach that occurred i have it occurred just down there oh right and this is
34:43the view of how it was on leap years day 1912 but you can see the canal section here you
34:51can see it's
34:51empty so that's so that's the that's the canal bed it spilled and here caused all of that disruption
34:59all of that's gone down the valley wow it drained the whole canal from whaley bridge and bugsworth right
35:06down to possibly top lock wow so that's not just the macclesfield that's also the peak forest canal
35:12upper peak forest as well yeah and look at all these people right and this picture was probably
35:18taken uh on the sunday the breach occurred on the thursday morning so this is probably on the sunday
35:24they're all in their best uh outfits so they've been to church and now they've come to have a look
35:29of the disaster tim thanks so much for showing me those photographs because doing my research is
35:36one thing but actually seeing what it looked like yeah that's another thank you great pleasure yeah
35:41better get going now because my boat's a little bit far away from the towpath there all right cheers take
35:55care right right right on this very corner where the breach occurred but without those photographs
36:00i just would have no idea what took place
36:08now i'm headed on to bollington itself i'm gonna try and find the mooring in quite a popular space
36:14so i'm just hoping there's a naughty lass shaped mooring spot for me
36:26before i get there i pass a delphi mill built to spin cotton it was close to here where the
36:34first sod
36:34was cut to begin the construction of the macclesfield canal the ceremony took place back in december 1826
36:45and the navvies apparently celebrated with generous amounts of barley beer
36:53i wouldn't have thought much digging happened that day
37:00right this is it this is where i was hoping to more but unfortunately
37:05this is prime real estate again so it's all been taken up by other boats
37:10never mind never mind i will have to press on i'm just more a little bit further away
37:28just when i thought bollington was going to be too busy to find a mooring a bit of luck came
37:34my way
37:36i think this might just be enough room for the boat let's have a look oh it's going to be
37:42a tight squeeze
37:56such a relief to get a mooring here you don't even understand how rare it is to find something like
38:01this i think someone must have just left you might remember the start of this journey i attended to
38:10the stern gland greaser and topped it up with some grease well now i just have to give it a
38:14few turns
38:15to provide that extra seal on the propeller shaft stop any water getting in job done
38:30well it's a bit of a drizzly start to the morning but i'm taking a little walk out before i
38:35set off to
38:36get down to the shops and see if i can get some supplies i've got my little bag with me
38:44whilst in bollington i managed to have a little wander around the place and it looked lovely and
38:48everyone seemed really friendly and also i found a shop that seems to be popular with local people
38:54but also with boaters as well where you can go in and buy lots of organic produce or in my
39:01case
39:02top up with some cleaning stuff and shower gel from the refills that they had on offer there
39:11and of course reusing the containers that i brought in my bag
39:15means that i can reduce the waste on my boat all i need to do is take in some bottles
39:21fill them up
39:22and uh be on my way
39:38right i was a great little mooring in a spot i didn't think i was going to be able to
39:41get to
39:43and i've got some cleaning supplies that means i've got to do some actual cleaning
39:49i'm now setting off on the journey hoping to reach a place called high lane where it's got
39:54yet more facilities where i could moor up for a little bit longer than just a couple of days is
39:59what you've got here
40:11this canal has got plenty to see along the way including these mills
40:16this was a cotton mill so they'd have raw material coming in
40:20and then the finished items coming out all using narrowboats
40:26built beside the canal clarence mill gave its owners a real advantage
40:32by allowing them to move goods by water far easier and faster
40:37than relying on pack horses along rough local roads
40:45it was a busy time for this canal
40:52overall the macclesfield is up there it's one of my favorites
40:57to have the opportunity to travel along it after all the locks are open
41:01yeah it's a real relief to be able to be on the move again
41:05and to explore this canal during autumn with all the colors of the leaves
41:10it just makes it even more special
41:19i love all these old bridges on this canal beautifully designed
41:24also a bit of a bottleneck you end up slowing down quite a bit and i'm just going to pause
41:28here to show you something this is the evidence of the ropes that were used by horses back when they
41:36were being used to pull the barges along ropes covered in grit and murd and under such tension
41:43from the horses themselves carving out those deep grooves sometimes you'll have metal protecting
41:52corners of the bridge well in this case they didn't have amazing
42:01horsepower eventually gave way to diesel boats and working vessels were gradually
42:06replaced by leisure craft and floating homes and today england's canals are mostly used for pleasure
42:18i think there's a misconception that i probably added to about the northern canals being quieter
42:24but actually this one really busy today everyone's out and about on saturday
42:29either walking up and down the towpaths cycling or running
42:33or moving their boats i've got one behind me and i've got one in front
42:38so yeah not as quiet as i was painting it out to be
42:47right i'm not too far away from my mooring in high lane on the macclesfield canal it's been 24 miles
42:56thereabouts 12 locks in the middle where i discovered a boat that had run away from its owner and i've
43:04learned more about music history in macclesfield and just explored one of my favorite canals so it's
43:11been a real treat but i'm ready to moor up for a while in a place where there's plenty of
43:16facilities
43:17plenty of pubs all that sort of stuff so i'll be able to get ready for my next adventure
43:25so
43:37so
43:56Transcription by CastingWords
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