Yesterday we turned into the Middlewich branch which connects the Trent & Mersey Canal with the Shropshire Union. We could not have come this way last year. The Macclesfield canal was closed for lack of water, the Marple locks on the Peak Forest Canal were too narrow to be used due to the lock walls shifting, and the Middlewich canal had washed out one of the embankments resulting in a six million pound repair bill. Here’s the brand new repaired section.

The Canal and River Trust blamed a boater who had left top and bottom lock paddles open on the next lock up, causing that pound to overflow. There was gossip on the boaters groups on Facebook that leaking problems had been reported before the breach on the section which CaRT they had not dealt with.

Northern England is having serious flooding problems in the past week. The town of Whaley Bridge, which we visited on one branch of the Peak Forest Canal, has been evacuated. The reservoir that feeds the canal was overflowing and the dam was damaged and in danger of breaking. CaRT had been using a helicopter to drop aggregate on the damaged section, and the new Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, paid a visit because he didn’t want another disaster sharing the limelight.

Meanwhile Lyme Hall, which we walked to from the Macclesfield Canal, has been closed by severe flood damage to the grounds. The house and contents are safe thanks to rapid deployment of sandbags. I hope the Italian Garden is OK.

We have been dodging most of the rain since Manchester. We are down on the Cheshire Plane, which gets less rainfall than the higher ground, and have been lucky missing the rain bands.

No more industrial neighborhoods yesterday. We are out in the country.

We’ve decided to stop in a marina to get some serious engineering work done on the alternator mount so that it doesn’t keep breaking. Unfortunately the only one on the Middlewich that can do the work can’t start on it till Monday, so we have a couple of days to work on the boat.