Macclesfield delights

The beauty of winter days

January is a hard month, the excesses of Christmas are over and reality hits with cold temperatures, coughs and sniffles, dark mornings and evenings and earnest plans to diet or get fit.  Sometimes it can feel like a drain on your spirit, coming home from work in the dark then trying to motivate yourself to go to the gym or exercise class. It isn’t easy.

But there are still lovely things to delight in at this time of year.  The sunrise is later so there is a chance of seeing it as you head off to work, and some winter sunrises can be spectacular.  If it is chilly in the evening wrapping up warm with your favourite woolly jumper on, a warm blanket over your knees in front of an open fire, sipping at some hot chocolate while listening to music can be wonderfully relaxing and indulgent.

Winter sunrise

Around my local area we have some pretty countryside as we are close to the edge of the Peak District, there are also plenty of canals and lots of footpaths to stroll along.  I love to wrap up and head out for a walk with my camera in hand ready to capture the world around me.  

Reflections in the canal

The Macclesfield Canal swings south through Macclesfield and down to Staffordshire where it meets up with the Trent and Mersey Canal. It is easy walking, with lovely views of the Cloud and the hills leading up to the Buxton area.  Bosley Locks is a flight of 12 canal locks on the Macclesfield Canal, spread over a mile and a quarter distance, raising the height of the canal by about 113 feet from south to north. Winter is a time when repair work is done and I came across new lock gates being installed at one of these locks.  The gates are hand crafted and look very robust.

New lock gate

Repair work to install new lock gates

In order to do the repair work the lock above has had to be emptied.  Layers of silt have built up at the sides as you can see below.  The hill in the distance on the image below is known as Bosley Cloud.

Almost empty lock

Another wonderful place to head to, close by, for some exercise and views is Tegg's Nose Country Park, located high above Macclesfield with views over the Cheshire plain, the western hills of the Peak District and Macclesfield Forest.  Plenty of people were out enjoying the fresh air on a cold winter’s day and some were even setting up a zip wire over the quarry at the top.  

A young boy using the zip wire gets tangled in the shrubs

We stumbled across another delight, the Library in the Landscape, a wooden cupboard containing books next to a bench at a secluded viewpoint where you could simply sit and relax enjoying the books and the view.  It was a wonderful surprise.

The Library in the Landscape

Once we had had our fill of fresh air we made our way back to the café and sampled their excellent soup and sandwiches and warmed up by their log burner.  They are supplied by my favourite local baker, Flour Water Salt, so their sandwiches are made with really tasty bread. They also provide some great vegetarian and gluten free options.

Just what you need after all the the fresh air and exercise!

View to Langley from Tegg's Nose