From davidk@brocross.u-net.com Sat May 15 11:56:00 1999 Date: Sat, 8 May 1999 19:17:33 +0100 From: David Kitching Reply-To: canals@blacksheep.org To: canals@blacksheep.org Subject: Trip Report: Steaming to Whaley Bridge & Bugsworth Hot on the heels of the big referendum result (the residents of Buxworth voted to keep the name of the village and not to revert to Bugsworth) came the Whaley Bridge waterways weekend and the arrival of Monarch. The trip was looked on as a shakedown cruise after all the alterations to the steam plant that have takenplace over the past year. When the motley crew of Roger Murray, Peter Neville, Roger Lees and myself set out from Macclesfield on Thursday evening it was by no means sure that we would arrive at Whaley Bridge at all. Sure enough there were soon a number of problems with loose fittings and difficulties in making steam and by 22.30 we had travelled all of two miles to a pleasant spot short of Bollington. Consumption of several beers soon put a rosier perspective on matters and we retired feeling confident that friday would be a triumph. Friday started well and, after various heat deflecting boards had been placed on the firebars, we were steamed up and off by 9.30. All went well for a couple of hours until the loose fittings problem started to cause significant quantities of water to escape into the engineroom bilges. The fix took only a couple of minutes but involved letting all the steam out of the boiler which took a lot longer. Onward to Poynton where a stop was made to fill the water tanks and purchase petrol for the generator. This generator was running on the foredeck to provide power for the burners as the main batteries were being particularly unresponsive, or might just have been knackered. The dredged section to Marple was covered in quick time and all was looking good for making Whaley Bridge in time for Jeff & Benny's performance that evening. It was at this point that the sky filled with black clouds, lighting flashed all around and it rained, it really persisted down for about the next five hours. This slowed everything down and played havoc with the electrics which absorbed rather a lot ow water too. There was also a minor mutiny when one of the crew refused to go out and wind up a tall steel lift bridge until the thunder storm had passed. Make a lovely lightning conductor do lift bridges! There then followed a delay at New Mills where a cow in the canal was evading all attempts by the emergency services to lassoo it. Eventually it walked out up the slipway without any assistance whatsoever. Spirits were flagging and we had run out of Peperami, things looked bad, and then......to the rescue came a figure on a small folding bicycle, splashing down the towpath with cap pulled down over his ears and plastic mac flapping behind. Yes, it was none other than steamboat afficionado Sean Neill bringing comfort, advice and Peperami. An early dusk was drawing in as we made a final push for Whaley Bridge only to be frustrated by wet electrics finally killing the transformer/charger and we ran out of steam at the edge of Furness Vale Marina. A shuffle of cars thanks to Sean saw a replacement charger brought in and I headed off to meet the family at Jeff & Benny's show. In the end I saw half the show, as good as ever, and Monarch finally reached the Whaley Bridge Basin at around 22.00. The remaining exhausted crew repaired to the Railway for nourishing ale and an excellent curry. Saturday afternoon saw Monarch make a final assault on Bugsworth Basin and also run an obstacle course between the stream of ex working boats heading the other way along with the horse drawn Jelicoe which made several round trips between Whaley and Bugsworth. The entrance canal was shallow causing several stops but finally the gauging lock was passed and the end was in sight. Sadly the top basin by the Navigation proved to be just too far and after thrashing around in the mud for some time it was decided to retreat to the horse bridge opposite the new amenities block and thence to the pub. A great weekend so far at Bugsworth, the basin looks good with boats in and the line up of working boats at the top end is particularly impressive. Get there on Sunday if you can, plenty to see and the beer in the Navigation is excellent. Monarch will start for home on Sunday afternoon and I am sure that Roger will post a report when he gets back. -- fearrmeox adlap braegen )| David Kitching _____|______|_ ____ ___|_______________________________[]|_|88|__TCO__|____/ \---- http://www.u-net.com/~brocross/home.htm ----)