Macc and Bacc in a Flash

We are still moored just to the South of Banbury - we stopped as Elaine had to get to Macclesfield for an appointment today.

So rather than Elaine going on her own by train, we found that it would work out cheaper to hire a car for the day.  So we booked a car through Enterprise, as they pick you up plus drop you off after the hire.  They picked me up at 17.00 yesterday and after sorting out the paperwork I came back to the boat, picked up Elaine and the dogs and off we went to Macclesfield.  Mr Tom Tom said it would take us 2 hours 15 mins, but as it was a hire car we knew it would be less than that.  Hire cars are great as they always seem to go so much faster than your own car!  There wasn't a lot of traffic about so we flogged it, especially up the M6 toll which is always deserted.

T'was a lovely sunset as we headed t'up north ...


Once at Elaine's dad's house we took the dogs for a walk and came back with a couple of Pizzas, which Burt and I polished off with a bottle of red whilst Elaine went to bed early as she felt a bit crook.

We had a lovely night's sleep in a big bed, cat free!  When we got up this morning we took the dogs for a walk around Macc so I took some pics so I would have something to blog about later.

So here we go very quick tour around Macc ...

Weavers cottages ...

Nice little cottages tucked away up a side street (note the disused steps now being utilised by two local moggies) ...

One of our favourite pubs in Macc, no food just good beer, a good crowd and most importantly ....

.....no children (dogs OK though, love it!)

Macclesfield Heritage centre, incorporating a very basic cinema, which Elaine loves.  It has a big hall at the top of the building with a lot of old seats installed (maybe from the old 'Majestic cinema' that used to be in Macc ...

Very good fishmongers ....

 

Rather nice Town Hall ...

European style dining .... you have to use your imagination a bit here!


The cobbled back streets....

...shot in black and white....

....for special effect.  This is the 'world famous' 108 steps ...

View across to the Hovis Mill and the Pennines, it was a bit hazy though.

View from 'Sparrow park'

Chestergate pedestrian shopping precinct ...

And finally back to Elaine's dad's house (or the Ancestral home, as El calls it) ...

Elaine's appointment was all sorted by 13.30 hours so it was back in the very fast VW for an even quicker trip back ...

It really is worthwhile to visit Macclesfield when passing on your boat.  There are good moorings at Windmill Street, from where you can easily walk down to the centre of town.  They have moved the waterpoint from the grumpy bastard's house now so you don't have to deal with him any more.  You can also moor by Gurnett aqueduct, but it is a longer walk into town (two great pubs there though - Sutton Hall and the Kings Head).

It was quite an amazing difference in temperature from North to South ... when we left Macclesfield just after 14.00 it was 22 degrees.  Two hours later in Banbury it was 28 degrees and felt a lot hotter, probably because it was a lot hotter, I suppose!

Tomorrow will be another long day heading up north (in the rain???)