Friday, 4 October 2013

Macc Bridges.

IMG_4362 Macclesfield Canal Jnct B1           IMG_4361 Marple Church Lane B2

There are six “Snaily” or turnover bridges on this canal, where the towpath changes sides. Bridge No 1 stands across Marple Junction The second one is called Church Lane Bridge.

IMG_4382 Whitley Lane B25            IMG_4385 Sugar Lane B26

B25 Whitley Green                                            B26 Sugar Lane

Nearly all the bridges are superbly built from huge shaped sandstone blocks that are still in good condition. The sweetly named bridge above was ingeniously built at quite a slanting angle.

IMG_4395 B29             IMG_4414 B43

No29 Clarke Lane Bridge by Bollington.             No43 Foden Bank Bridge near Gurnett.

IMG_4519 B76             IMG_4479 B77

No 76 Morris Bridge and  No 77 Lamberts Lane Bridge are both near Congleton. You can see here why the locals call them “Snaily” because of the curvy shape that they form. We really enjoyed seeking out these bridges and taking the time to photograph them especially for our blog.

Although the Macclesfield Canal was too shallow for us to moor in many places we really enjoyed our time on it. A disadvantage is that the locks have two gates at either end with no ledges fixed to them to walk over, which involves a lot of walking around. It must surely win the prize for having the most bridges though, with ninety eight in twenty-seven miles! That averages one bridge every three-and-a-half miles, not including all the narrows where swing bridges have been removed!

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