Thursday evening we have left Bugsworth as our 48 hours of mooring time has expired it was still very windy in the  basin area making moving interesting but as soon as we left it we were into shelter and the wind was not a problem and we travelled on to our mooring for tonight just past new Mills of the sweet factory fame .
We are in the woods ,no roads near just a very very muddy tow path with the occasional dog walker or cyclist there is a railway line on the hillside above us one just below and another over the valley
but there is only a subdued hum from the nearest when a train passes .
Tomorrow we will move a little further , our target is to back at Poynton on Saturday as Hilary would like to be back at Kirkby for mothers day.

Looking up into Bugsworth basin , Sybil just through the bridge,the narrow part in front is where the boats leaving were gauged ie measured to see how deep they floated and therefore how heavy the load was

Whaley basin  , the town at the head of the navigation 

Yesterday we decided a test run out was called for so we disconnected the land line , emptied waste tanks , filled with water untied and off we went .A few hours , a few swing bridges ( no locks) and a trip round the back of the loveheart factory at New mills  , gorgeous aroma coming out enough to make your mouth water !
Today was sunny this morning so a walk into Whaley Bridge was agreed on , only half a mile on the tow path , a previously unexplored (for us) town small but interesting , unfortunately  Wednesday was half day with some shops  making a day of it .
This afternoon became wet and windy, two boats tried to reverse out of the arm we are moored in , the first was blown sideways and ended up cross over against us with the lady owner stuck on the opposite side and loosing the rope so her boat finally  came to rest alongside us and she had to cross the foot bridge to get back on board her boat  ,
the second was a little more lucky but they gave up till the wind dropped and tied up in front of us

Marple junction Tuesday morning  gorgeous sunshine

                          
                                                 Helps to keep trespassers out ??

A delay at the swing bridge for works going on to the canal side , note there are two narrow boats bolted together with girders to make a stable platform for the crane 

The horse tunnel near Bugsworth instead of a bridge the horses passed under the canal at the junction to enable the to continue on the other side

Tuesday and Wednesday nights mooring pictured at five o clock tonight , looks nice and calm now

We are back onboard again the last two days being spent getting a start on all the little jobs that need doing after a winter sat moored up, freeing off the bathroom drain pump ,painting out the gas locker , the stern mooring equipment locker , bow lockers and a few other bits , still got the fuel system to check out and the heating boiler exhaust to fix luckily it is really too windy to travel very far yet .
Hilary has lost a filling yesterday so I think we will be making a visit back to Yorkshire sooner than later and it will soon be her 60th birthday when we had hoped to be at home anyway.

This is what we achieved last year in seven months starting in Nottingham then meandering round by Coventry and back up through Birmmingham with a few sideways diversions to finish up just below Manchester We shall continue onwards shortly this year and start on the northern most canals after first finishing the river Weaver and possibly get back round again to Birmmingham

During our visit to Sybil in December we had to pass Joderal Bank on the way to the chandlery

and got this picture of the giant dish glowing pink in the setting sun

Just after Christmas we visited Nottingham and had a good day out at Rufford Park 

The wild fowl there all looking a little lost in the snow and ice

More ducks at Rufford

Boxing day meet at Kirkby  a good turn out of followers perhaps because of the dry weather!

A fine looking pack of hounds

Sybil today , we have been over for a couple of days , she is frozen in , but despite having no heating on until we lit the fire we were soon warmed up and last night was grand and warm.

Nothing much moving on the canals

The ducks do look a little perplexed as to why there world has gone solid 

We have just crossed over the Pennines this afternoon with heavy snow on the way,M62 outside lane becoming impasable over the moors but once over to Leeds virtualy nothing much at all

Sybil is now in her winter mooring , we are here for a few days ,yesterday we had to go to a chandlery, at Middlewich to get an oil filter for the engine on the way we passed close to Joderal Bank telescope an impressive piece of equipment but had no time to visit or take photos , perhaps another time . see here jodrellbank .on our way back we called in at Poynton to see Mr Titterton the butcher got some frying steak for tea  (beef knuckle he tells me) each customer was getting a free pie due to an error in ordering which led to overstocking in the pie department  ,we picked an apple and cinamon very tasty it was made more so by the price .
Today I have spent a greater part of the day in the engine bay  draining down and refilling the engine oil , changing the oil and air filters and adding extra  insulation to the hot water tank , then later we tackled some corrosion on the roof  around the wood burner flue outlet , always a job to be done .

Grand and warm tonight all closed down tv on

We are yet again back on Sybil we had a fantastic weekend back in Yorkshire including a fun party with all the family there .We returned the hire car to Scarbrough and have brought our own car back to Poynton , a couple of days  have been spent around Poynton checking out charity shops including Bramhall a nearby town possibly the poshest charity shops we have found .
Friday;we decided to attempt a visit into Manchester , great fun , drive a few miles to free parking at Aston Moss then one of the new  trams into town to Picadilly station , nightmare of a place ,badly signed but  finally got some information as to where to go by visiting a reception office which I think was really for staff but a helpful lad who knew the area we were going to pointed us in the right direction to get the correct  bus and a good bus driver who shouted out stops to those who needed help  ,  all this on a free town bus out to the museum of science .MOSI
Really needs more than five hours to see all , but another fun experience all went well found our way back with no problems  Dark when we got back to Sybil
We had considered visiting Quarry Bank Mill yesterday as its only a short drive from us but with the miracle of the internet we discovered that entrance and parking would have cost over thirty five pounds!
I have been checking train costs this morning and for four pound and forty pence each we can travel from Poynton to the centre of Manchester and then use the free buses to visit all the sites and museums and there are quite a few to visit .
Most of the last few days have been spent exploring this area and the suburbs of manchester from the very upmarket Wilmslow to some much more  needy areas  and also a trip to Manchester airport.

Those of you who watched the great british bake off may remember Luis in the final and his cake here is the basis for the design at the entrance to Poynton his home town a memorial to the local mining industry

                                        Concorde in her resting place at Manchester airport

One of the brand new tram station at Aston Moss a short journey to the city centre  

a quick efficient way to travel 

Top end of the Macclesfield canal with the Pennines in the  distance

Nice stir fry 

for tea with all the trimmings

the pick up looking lonely at Aston Moss tram station  park , loads of space to go at

One of the live steam engines in the museum of science

Manchester airport dodgems ,These three on the move ,two more to the right taxiing  plus two more in the air to the left