Hyde

Another short hop from Woodley through 5 bridges to Hyde. There have been loads of steep woodland trails leading off the towpath and today's journey took us alongside Haughton Dale Nature Reserve, with its towering Beeches rooted on the slope far below while their fresh green canopy coloured the light filtering through above us. The dogs are enjoy trotting alongside the boat with one of us driving and one of us on the path with them. It was all going so well until we go to Captains Clarks Bridge; a roving bridge that took the towpath from our port to our starboard side. Poor Tiger Lilly got very confused trying to follow Vicky on the boat and missing the ramp 🥴

We tried to moor shortly afterwards but first there was an underwater shelf distancing us from the bank, then there was hardly any grass between the canal and path and the ground was too hard to hammer pins in to. Will walked ahead with a canoe paddle, testing for underwater obstructions and it was third time lucky at a spot very close to an Aldi. While Vicky rested that afternoon, Will got some groceries in and treated himself to a pint in the Cheshire Ring pub. The Cheshire Ring is the name of a popular cruising circuit along sections of six canals. We joined it at Middlewich when we turned onto the Trent and Mersey and have followed it along the Macclesfield and Peak Forest Canals. We'll soon leave it when we turn right onto the Huddersfield Narrow Canal. At this junction it turns left onto the Ashton and Rochdale canals, which we've not yet visited, before rejoining the Trent and Mersey via the Bridgewater.

The reason we needed to stop in Hyde was because it has an outlet of Ableword nearby. We bought Vicky's chair from an Ableworld almost a year ago but the peg that the right footplate slots onto is broken and we are hoping they can fix it. On Tuesday Will dropped it off and returned with a non-powered transport chair. He was going to hire one from Ableworld but £70 for the first week and £30 every subsequent week made him pause for thought. A few doors down he came across a Cash Converters selling a nearly new similar model for £99. Buying instead of hiring would take away all worries about time pressure we could either sell it back or donate it to a charity shop when we were done with it. Not having the electric chair is frustrating for Vicky as it takes away her independence but fingers crossed it won't take too long to fix 🤞Leggi altro