4 November 2017 Canal Boat canalboat.co.uk28
BOAT TEST: LITHIUM BRAIDBAR
With battery technology racing ahead, this
68 -footer is fitted with the latest lithium package
which may be the only batteries you ever buy36
LIVEABOARD
David Johns discovers the secret of
an oil change and reaches for the bandages
after tackling a hot engine47
CRUISE GUIDE: PEAK FOREST
AND ASHTON CANALS
Travel from the heart of Manchester to rural
Derbyshire in the Cheshire Ring56
AFLOAT IN FRANCE
The Canal du Midi beckons and
Europe’s first navigable tunnel66
CANAL WALK: THE EREWASH
The long and short of a choice of
routes around scenic NottinghamshireFEATURES
40
WATER, WATER EVERYWHERE
Just how would the CRT manage an
emergency in the event of a breachREGULARS
03
EDITORIAL
As stormy issues loom, it’s time
for the Ed to head for pastures new after
ten years at the tiller of CB06
NEWS
Water shortage, Tim and Pru open Braunston,
London’s final link opens, last cuckoo of autumn17
LETTERS
Why too much throttle is pointless, golden
age captured in art, avoiding towpath fires20
ME & MY BOATS
Silent running on the Thames with
solar-powered widebeamRESERVOIRS
COVER STORY
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STORY47
canalboat.co.uk Canal Boat^ November 2017^47- Easy-to-follow route map • Information for boaters • Ten top pubs guide
CRUISE YOUR COMPREHENSIVE GUIDE TO THE WATERWAYS AROUND THE UKGUIDE
One end is in rural Derbyshire, the other in the heart of Manchester, but both canals form a vital link in the
Cheshire Ring – and some attractive cruising, tooPeak Forest and Ashton canalsAND KEEPPULL OUTTEXT & PICTURES BY MARTIN LUDGATEcanalboat.co.uk canalboat.co.uk48 November 2017 Canal Boat
Canal Boat November 2017 49the edge of the Manchester conurbation, with the Ashton Canal beginning its Tin formerly industrial surroundings on here’s a sharp contrast between the two ends of the Peak Forest Canal. At the north end, Dukinfield Junction is set
branches of the Peak Forest both end at descent into the city centre. Meanwhile at the south end, the two
terminal basins on the fringes of the Peak District, with old horse-tramways leading off into the hills.
these points: instead, we’ll begin our journey near the mid-point of the 14-mile canal, at Marple Junction. Why? Firstly But we aren’t going to start at any of
to the Macclesfield Canal last month; secondly because it’s where many boaters will arrive on the Peak Forest, because that’s where we ended our guide
Cheshire Ring.especially if they’re exploring the Although it’s possible to cruise the
Ring’s 97 miles and 92 locks in a week, allowing yourself a little longer means that you can explore the neighbouring
waterways – in which case the Upper Peak Forest heading south-from Marple is one not to be missed. So we’ll begin our cruise by emerging eastwards
from the last of the Macclesfield’s famous ‘snake’ towpath turnover bridges and turn sharp right.
soon leaves Marple behind and heads out into the countryside, following a contour high on the side of the Goyt Leaving Marple Top Lock the canal
series of opening bridges, something of a Valley, some 250flong before the canal passes the first of a t above the river. It isn’t
recent decades. A second liftbridge Peak Forest feature. a couple were converted to liftbridges in Originally they were swingbridges, but
follows shortly, followed by one that has remained a swingbridge. You will need some combination of a lock windlass, the
CRT ‘Watermate’ sanitary station key, and the T-handle anti-vandal key (also known as a handcuff key) to operatethese bridges – best to take all three with you...The canal continues to wind along the
attractive valley side, accompanied now by a railway line not far away – in facta mile or so the complex history of , for
fewer than three parallel railways running through the Goyt Valley, all still in use by passenger trains. railway companies has left us with no
stands alongside the canal. The town mill town – and a fine stone mill building New Mills is, as you might expect, a
a boatyard.centre, with useful shops, is on the far side of the valley but easily accessed from Bridge 28, where there is also
us at Marple, is now approaching the same level as the canal as it nears its The River Goyt, which was way below
southern terminus, passing through Furness Vale (with another boatyard) to reach a junction. Continuing straight ahead, the canal enters Whaley Bridge, a
District and surrounded by hills. stone-built town on the edge of the Peak A stone warehouse built over the very
journey along the former Cromford & High Peak Railway. end of the canal enabled cargoes to be transhipped to railway wagons for the
Cromford canals, was built more like a 1831 to link the Peak Forest and This early horse tramway, opened in
canal than a conventional railway, with a winding route which followed the contours, and rope-worked inclines to carry it up and over the high ground of
the Peak District. Today, the first length at Whaley Bridge and longer sections further south can be walked.
trip to the canal’s other southern terminus at Bugsworth (or Buxworth as Returning to the junction, don’t miss a
linked it to the limestone quarries of the the village isbcanal to another horse tramway, which asin complex (see inset) connected the known these days). This
Peak Forest area of the Peak District (hence the canal’s name) and provided it with its most important cargo.THE CRUISE GUIDEPeak Forest and Ashton canalsWHALEY BRIDGEJOURNEY PLANNERDistances/locks between pins Direction of locksFollow the route with our map sho wing distances, locks and pubs
Tunnel^ Waterway junction Our top ten pubs see panel overleaf
4 MILES / NO LOCKS MARPLE(^12) 2 MILES / NO LOCKS 3
BUGSWORTH Bthe Peak Forest Canal to the horse tramways linking to the limestone mines in the PASIN was built to connect
include multiple basins, arms, lime kilns, wharves and tramway tracks. 1960s the Bugsworth Basin HDistrict; the busy complex expandSince the ed to eak
(formerly the Society) has restored it from derelictiInland Waterways Protection eritage on.Trust
Passing the mills of New Mills
BUGSWORTH NEW MILLS
MUST SEE
(^45)
TH I S MONTH
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