Uppermill, Lock 21 West

The hot Bank Holiday weekend was upon us. The adjacent beer garden of the Kingfisher would be packed and our unshaded boat would roast. It was time to move on. Will had previously taken a walk up past two locks to scope out the next moorings at Uppermill. They were in a cutting with a steep bank and a green tunnel of Beech, Oak, Sycamore and Ash providing cool dappled shade underneath. Perfect. The only question was, could we reach them in Rainboat?

Will emptied and opened the nearby first lock, ready to drive in. As Rainboat was ascending, another boater who had walked the length of the next pound, told Will there was a problem. The water was very low, perhaps making it unnavigable. The boater had already called the CRT as he was wanting to come down. He said he'd wait and see how we did. There certainly wasn't enough water for two boats to pass each other. Taking it as gently as possible to keep Rainboat level and to enable us to back off any sections the bow got stuck on, we inched ahead. It took an age and lots of reversing in order to chart alternate courses but we made progress. The other boater had filled the second lock in preparation for their descent but when he saw how difficult it was he went back and released the water, sending a sizeable wave rolling towards us and easing our passage somewhat. We were super relieved to get through the lock and didn't even mind that Rainboat was so far away from the mooring that we needed the gangplank to reach the bank!

As we settled in we heard sheep bleating and the music of a Morris band marching through town. Jamie who was moored opposite on Lady Mickfee struck up a conversation with Will, telling him there was a festival next weekend; the Whit Friday Band Contest where brass bands from the 12 towns of Saddleworth compete for a cash prize (separate post to come). Jamie had been cruising but had become so frustrated with how difficult the water levels made it, that he'd stayed here for the last month. He had a car and offered to fill our diesel and petrol cans when he was filling his own the next day. Will leapt at the offer. It would certainly be a lot easier than lugging gallons of fuel along uneven pavements on the trolley!

When Will explored later he found Uppermill to be a gem of a place. The Morris band was still marching through streets lined with atmospheric grey stone buildings, whose bricks were probably millstone grit quarried from the surrounding South Pennine Hills. They housed lots of independent pubs and cafés, a cake shop, greengrocer, butcher, craft, book and DIY stores. Will even got to visit the the new artisan cheesmonger Tyromancer, on the day it opened to sample and buy three different organic cheeses. Will was in cheesy heaven 😇 If you've never heard of it (we hadn't) Tyromancy is the art of fortune telling using cheese 🧀

Our spot provided the best protection from the heat we'd ever had. It also meant we didn't have enough solar power to run the fridge freezer 24/7 which in turn meant we just had to gobble all the icecream Will brought back before it melted. Oh the hardship 😋😂

We stayed the whole week to listen to the bands on Friday. Will pushed Vicky up and down the short stretch of towpaths between the two locks and tried to stop Leo running off and getting into mischief. He took the bus to nearby Oldham to pick up vacuum cleaner bags and a soda stream gas canister from Argos but decided that the pubs and cafés in Uppermill were a lot more exciting so didn't stay for lunch. The mooring's close proximity to pubs meant it was rather noisy at night and during the day the other boats often had dogs barking and their engines or generators running. The couple behind us even brought out a power sander, so it wasn't the quietest of stays but it was what we needed and Will really enjoyed exploring the pubs, cafés and little shops.Baca lagi