Bugsworth

 

With a planned couple of days off from cruising we settled in to life at Bugsworth basin.There’s loads of history here and it all started when work on both the Peak Forest Canal and the tramlines from Dove Holes quarry were completed in the late 1700’s.This enabled limestone to be transported from the quarries by horse drawn waggons, and either be transferred as limestone to canal barges, or burnt into lime in kilns at the basin, and then shipped out.
Once Britain’s largest inland port the basin became dis-used in 1927 as a result of the dominance of the railways.

Thanks to the efforts of the Inland Waterways Protection Society and financial assistance from local councils and the EEC, the basin was re-opened on 3rd August 1999. Bugsworth Basin is classed as an ancient monument.

This is the Navigation Inn that stands at the head of the basin . It’s famous because it was once owned by Pat Phoenix who played Elsie Tanner in Coronation Street and was regarded by many as being the first ever sex symbol on uk TV.

The Moon (well half of it) over Bugsworth Basin.

There is also a small museum which gives a bit of an insight in to the history of the basin.

I don’t think I would have liked working here . With lime kilns chucking out all sorts of horrible chemicals and all the hard manual work it must have been a nightmare.

We soon got friendly with the basin warden who is called Pablo . He really works hard to keep the area in tip top condition . Having had our 48 hours in the basin he said we could stay another couple of days if we wanted to. With Curly loving it here we decided to have an extra day as Carolyn and Curly fancied taking the bus from near by Whaley Bridge to Buxton.

Eventually our time was up and we had to make a move as we are booked to go through The Standedge tunnel . Before leaving we stopped off at the services to top up with water and get rid of waste.

I’ve told Curly that she needs to be competent in all aspects of Narrowboat life and that includes emptying the toilet cassettes . But as you can see by the look on her face there is no way she will ever do that. She told me that it was a Blue job and not a Pink job . I wonder where she got that from Sharon (Nb Oakapple) .

After topping up the cupboards from the Tesco and winding in Whaley Bridge we headed back out on to the Peak Forest canal and made our way past this sunken boat.

We had to laugh at this day hire boat as he had missed the winding hole further back the canal and tried to turn just by this lift bridge. Needless to say he got wedged between the banks good and proper. We did offer them a bit of advice ,but they seemed to know better so we left them alone.

We then picked up a mooring about a mile before Marple. Tomorrow it’s an early start and then down through the Marple flight of locks to the lower Peak forest canal and then hopefully pick up a mooring for the night before we join The Huddersfield canal on the following day.

                                                                                                                      Happy Days