Deceptively tranquil

Arachne-spouse drove the boat up the Peak Forest Canal, roughly parallel with the River Goyt, to New Mills where we went in search of a train station. We left the boat, walked down a steep road through woods and found a sweet factory at the bottom with unspeakable quantities of sugar piled up in bags outside. We turned onto a muddy track through the woods, walked across a small wooden bridge over the River Goyt and climbed up the other side of the valley to reach the station three minutes after the hourly train to Manchester should have left. A relief to find it was five minutes late.

I headed back to the boat and we continued up the Peak Forest Canal to the basin at Whaley Bridge where a steep railway – over 1,000 feet from its lowest to its highest point and at an incline of one-in-seven in parts – once met the canal to carry goods and minerals across the Peaks between here and Cromford.

John was due elsewhere for 24 hours, so dinner, the boat and the trip back to Marple then down the 16 locks of the Lower Peak Forest Canal were entrusted to the rest of us. Jürgen and the students took charge of the boat and I took charge of the haggis, ‘neeps’ (swede) and tatties. As I was trying to peel swede with a cheese slicer, having failed to find a peeler, the boat got darker and darker, as it does in a lock, and stayed that way. I heard bumps and voices. The boat jolted forwards and back. More bumps and voices, and looking up through the windows I saw the legs of unfamiliar people. It turned out a paddle was jammed, the lock could not be emptied to let us down, and local people had turned out to help/watch. After a lot more bumping, we somehow managed to leave the lock. By the time it was dark and everyone needed food we had managed only four of the 16 locks, but at least the haggis and lumpy mash (problems with the pressure cooker as well as the peeler) were welcomed.

(Marple along Peak Forest Canal to New Mills and Whaley Bridge. Return to Marple.)