Picked up Stu on this stretch; on the Trent and Mersey towards Stoke. His able willingness a great help, meant I could sit out locks for a bit! Nice to have his cheery company on board.
We travelled into Stoke and the potteries, lots of these buildings are very interesting but mostly derelict. Stoke is miserable, summed up by the fact that we had to use an anti vandal key to operate the locks. The canal is a rubbish dump with deep dark locks, some entered through bridges and tunnels so low even I had to duck down. We ended up mooring above the last lock, beside an industrial estate and going for a beer in a Toby Carvery pub, not a great night out! And then Pete had to get up at 4am to drag the boat as the strong wind was banging us against the side.
Set off in this wind on Sunday morning to Stu's song of "rise and shine, it's tunnel time! " through Telford's Harecastle tunnel. A spooky but exciting event, 40 minutes of pitch black, dripping ceilings that get ever lower the deeper you go. Unlike our friends who did it in record time ( cant say I blame them for wanting to get through quickly ) and consequently unwittingly crashed through the doors at the end, we followed another boat in and took exactly 40 minutes. The doors had been opened for our arrival, thank goodness.
We then turned onto the Macclesfield canal at Kidsgrove, deciding against 'heartbreak hill', a flight of 26 locks on the Trent and Mersey, still going North, now in Cheshire. Moored up for lunch in The Bleeding Wolf pub, Scholars Green and stayed put for the night.
The weather still hasn't picked up although it is a little milder. Will we ever see spring?!
Dark satanic mills!
We travelled into Stoke and the potteries, lots of these buildings are very interesting but mostly derelict. Stoke is miserable, summed up by the fact that we had to use an anti vandal key to operate the locks. The canal is a rubbish dump with deep dark locks, some entered through bridges and tunnels so low even I had to duck down. We ended up mooring above the last lock, beside an industrial estate and going for a beer in a Toby Carvery pub, not a great night out! And then Pete had to get up at 4am to drag the boat as the strong wind was banging us against the side.
Set off in this wind on Sunday morning to Stu's song of "rise and shine, it's tunnel time! " through Telford's Harecastle tunnel. A spooky but exciting event, 40 minutes of pitch black, dripping ceilings that get ever lower the deeper you go. Unlike our friends who did it in record time ( cant say I blame them for wanting to get through quickly ) and consequently unwittingly crashed through the doors at the end, we followed another boat in and took exactly 40 minutes. The doors had been opened for our arrival, thank goodness.
We then turned onto the Macclesfield canal at Kidsgrove, deciding against 'heartbreak hill', a flight of 26 locks on the Trent and Mersey, still going North, now in Cheshire. Moored up for lunch in The Bleeding Wolf pub, Scholars Green and stayed put for the night.
The weather still hasn't picked up although it is a little milder. Will we ever see spring?!
Dark satanic mills!
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