Stoke on Trent

We had intended to visit the Caldon Canal which we have been told is very beautiful, but fate conspired against us and we only got as far as the junction at the start of the canal. ..Nevertheless we had an relaxing holiday and very much enjoyed visiting the china factories whilst we were in Stoke.

Sunday 26th July

The die was cast for a slow start to our holiday. ..We did not arrive at the boat until late last evening and now it is noon before we are under way having been to church in Southam by car. ..We stop for lunch an hour later tying up to the pilings near bridge 130 with our piling hooks. ..As we are getting ready to leave a hire boat goes past at speed and one of the hooks snaps along the piling from one gap to the next.
When we reach Napton locks Jacquie, who is suffering from a sinus infection, has a pounding head. ..She does not feel up to walking the dogs down the flight for which she feels guity. ..The second lock from the top has a broken paddle so it is slow to empty. ..By lock 12 we see rabbits playing in the field, not the usual wild colours but black ones looking like they have come out of a pet shop. ..As we make our way down we meet a number of boats coming up and get through in good time. ..We eventually tie up for the night between Napton Junction and the first bridge at about half past seven. ..It was just in time, we get back on board from walking the dogs as it starts to rain.

Monday 27th July

With no locks to go through Jacquie can take it easy and does not get dressed until we are on our way. ..As we pass the weir at Lower Shuckburgh it is 3 inches below weir, a change from Easter! ..At Braunston there is a traffic jam around the water point, we carry on and stop for lunch above Hilmorton Locks.
Gwen goes with Jacquie as we descend the locks and learns, a bit reluctantly, to cross the lock gates. ..Many boat dogs cross gates without a thought but we have never encouraged ours to try. ..We stop at Rugby for provisions but cannot get the Daily Telegraph for which we have a prepaid voucher; we therefore stop again at Newbold with more luck this time. ..At Stretton stop the little swing bridge is open so we only have to slow down for moored boats. ..We stop for the night opposite Coleshurst Farm near where we had stopped at Easter.

Tuesday 28th July

Jacquie walks Edith whilst I take the boat on, she finds the going difficult because of the stinging nettles. . There is ample compensation in the butterflies and bees that rise up from the willowherb and grasses. . When the vegetation changes to reeds the butterflies change from orange to white. . The open grass is sprinkled with red white and blue from the clover and vetch. . Under the motorway bridge we swap places and I walk on with Brandy at a brisk pace going straight through Ansty and on to explore the pub on the opposite side of the motorway linked to the canal by a footbridge. . It wasn't open so I went back to the canal to wait for the boat, when it didn't arrive I started walking back. . Jacquie meanwhile had been coming on looking out for me and enquiring of everyone she passed - had they seen me. . Unfortunately one of them hadn't noticed me so she became worried and stopped the boat to look. . Eventually a boat coming the other way confirmed that yes I was ahead and moving off again we met up at last. . We had two mobile phones with us but in getting off the boat I had left them behind - later in the holiday we would find them useful.
At lunch time we pause at Sutton stop, Jacquie fills the water bottles and tank, and walks the dogs whilst I head off to find a newspaper. . We eat in turns on the move heading for Atherstone, at Boot Wharf we get something round the prop just as another boat is coming towards us. . It is quickly sorted and by early evening we are at the locks. . We go down and moor opposite the Kings Arms below lock five which is also convenient for access to to the town. . At lock four we almost got stuck on the cill; .Jacquie was distracted as the buhunds reacted to a dog passing on the towpath and only just got the boat foward in time.

Wednesday 29th July

I start the day with a walk into town to do the shopping whilst Jacquie moves off single handed. . At lock six she uses the side pond to the amazement of a boater coming up hill who had never seen one used before. . I did not catch up with the boat until lock 8 - a long walk! . The rest of the descent goes easily we now have a long stretch before the next lock. . At bridge 50 we had to reverse hard as we meet a boat coming the other way and do not see it until the last minute. . Usually one or other boat gets to a bridge first and has obvious right of way but on this occasion we were both there at exactly the same time. . We don't actually stop for lunch as Jacquie's sinus is getting very bad and she goes looking for a doctor. . The local surgery is closed but a helpful chemist gets her an appointment in Tamworth. . We press on and Jacquie leaves the boat at Glascote locks to get a taxi. . Now it is my turn to work single handed and I head off to wait for Jacquie's return at Fazeley tying up just before the junction. . The mobile phones come in handy so Jacquie can find out where I am when she comes back.
Jacquie has been given antibiotics and told to stay in bed, not easy on the boat but it means I will be doing a lot of single handed working for a while. . As she doesn't feel like solid food I look for bananas in Fazeley but with no luck. . I carry on hoping to find somewhere to buy some either tonight or early tomorrow. . Just past Hopwas Wood I stop to give the dogs a break and another boat pulls in at the same place. . They tell me that the Co-op in Wittington is open until 8p.m. so I press on hoping to get there in time. . I find a mooring and get to the store with minutes to spare and yes they have some bananas. . There is a chinese take away next door so I take back a meal as well, Jacquie manages to eat a little.

Thursday 30th July

I move the boat to the visitor mooring near the bridge access to the shops, it is also convenient for walking the dogs away from habitation. . I walk back into Wittington to get a paper before we leave. . We stop at Streethay wharf for a pump out, it has changed since we were last here the canal has been widened to provide extra moorings, basically a marina in the canal. . It was a lot easier leaving the wharf than it had been arriving as the wind is blowing straight across the canal. . At Fradley the crew of a day boat open the swing bridge for me and we turn left to head up the Trent and Mersey. . I carry on up the locks single handed and have to explain to a boater going down that Jacquie is resting in bed because she is unwell. . At Wood end lock something jams the prop and stalls the engine. . There is nothing down the weed hatch so it must have been a piece of wood that has gone again. . Shortly further on I find a quite place to moor for lunch and walk the dogs. . As it starts to rain I stay a little longer than I had intended.
Two hours later at the narrows we have a ¼ hour wait as five boats come through the other way. . Colwich lock is slow to drain and I discover that an earlier boat had not wound the paddle down the last notch. . This waste of water could have been a problem last year as evidenced by the notice asking boaters to use the Staffs and Worcester canal instead. . This year it is a bit of a joke as water supplies are plentyful, British Waterways would do well to remove old signs like this or when they really are needed they might be ignored. . At Haywood lock Jacquie goes to photograph the pack horse bridge over the river. . Moving off we pass the junction onto waters new to us and tie up for the night about ½ a mile further on.

Friday 31st July

Friday was a grey day as we set off towards Hoo Mill lock where we are waved ahead by a hire boat. . Another boat told us that they took the injunction to pass moored boats slowly very seriously and it had taken them an hour to cover a mile travelling behind them. . It takes practice to judge the correct speed to use passing others, now in less than a week we have encountered both extremes. . An hour further on we pass brine pit bridge and later salt bridge causing Jacquie to speculate that this must have been a salt producing area.
At midday we have to queue for Aston Lock and notice from the milepost that this is the centre of the canal, 46 miles from both Preston Brook and Shardlow. . On the map Stone looks like a good place to stop for lunch and to get a few provisions so I decide to look out for somewhere to moor. . Before really realising we have arrived we encounter a long line of moored boats - it stretches all the way to the first lock (Star lock) with no gap big enough for us to pull in. . Not sure what we will find above the lock I send Jacquie off to find the shops whilst I tackle the lock on my own. . Between Star lock and the next one (Yard lock) I find space to pull in on 48 hour moorings and tie up for lunch. . When I phone Jacquie to see if she needs help shopping she tells me to stay put as she is on her way back to boat. . The town looks glorious with flowers everywhere and before we leave we take a number of photographs.
By the time we are ready to leave a queue has developed and we have to find a place in it. . Yard lock is very deep and the water rushing in from the gate paddle is a spectacular sight. . Above the lock is a working boat waiting to come down after being serviced in the boat yard. . There are boats moored here most of the way to Newcastle Road lock which has a garden planted on the lock side.
At the Meaford flight we meet boats coming down which makes life easier although the timing could have been better. . Jacquie takes time to look for the remains of the staircase that used to be here but finds nothing that we can be certain about. . We carry on towards Stoke passing the new football stadium and under a bridge that looks more like a motorway tunnel with its bight blue railing and streetlighting. . We eventually tie up next to some waste ground which seems a good place to walk the dogs, by then it is nearly half past seven.

Saturday 1st August

By the time we set off on a grey drizzly morning several boats have already passed us, either they also spent the night away from habitation or they have had an early start. . It takes us about an hour to arrive at the queue for Stoke locks. . Whilst I wait Jacquie goes off to explore and find a street map, she returns to find me at the head of the queue with the gates opening for a boat coming down. . The trip up the locks takes about an hour with me lock wheeling most of the way along wet muddy towpaths. . Jacquie takes the opportunity to photograph a pair of bottle kilns.
We moor up for a while at the top of the locks and Jacquie goes to visit the Etruscan Bone Mill which is canal side just a short walk down from the top. . Meanwhile I go looking for supplies and later join Jacquie in the Museum. . In the buildings at the junction there is also a display by the emboiderers guild and the braiding is fascinating. . Over lunch we discuss what we will do next, there is not enough time to do justice to the Caldon Canal so we turn round to go back down with plans to visit some of the china museums. . The descent takes us up until 15:30 and having tied up we rush off to see if we can tour the Spode visitor centre before it closes. . We find there is just enough time to watch the video and look round the demonstrations then rush into the shop for souvenirs, but as it is closing time we don't get a chance to spend any money.

Sunday 2nd August

Today we are off exploring on foot - or rather by bus. . We had phoned the bus company for details of how to get to town and the museums and had been told there was a bus from the railway station, close to the canal, but when we get there we wait in vain. . After another call to the bus company a local tells us that the buses never go from the station and we move round the corner to find a bus stop. . In Hanley we find the city museum but it is closed until 2 p.m., we look for the bus station to catch another bus but none of the ones we want go from there. . Eventually we get a bus outside the city museum and head off to visit the Royal Doulton visitor centre. . The visitor centre is similar to Spode with a video and demonstrators, this time painting figurines, but it is slightly up market. . The museum is overwhelming with the number and variety of the pieces whilst the shop is expensive, all the seconds are elsewhere. . We have mastered the buses and make it back to the boat and the dogs in ¼ hour. . After a leisurely lunch we return to the Spode seconds shop for a few small pieces.
We leave Stoke in the late afternoon arriving at visitor moorings by bridge 104 in the early evening, there are a lot of boats but there is still room for us and later another boat behind us. . The dogs who have been shut in all day get a long walk.

Monday 3rd August

Yesterday had been sunny but today we wake to pouring rain. . Fortunately it is only a short walk to the Wedgwood factory, were we have to walk through the corridors and the visitor centre to reach the pay desk. . Most visitors come in on the other side but they are quite used to people coming from the canal. . If Royal Doulton was upmarket to Spode, Wedgwood was the top of the pile. . The video suite was purpose designed and had commentaries for overseas visitors. . The demonstration area was also well laid out and told an interesting story. . The bone mill and three visitor centres each had a different story to tell but by chance we had chosen the correct sequence to visit them.
When we set of after lunch it has stopped raining but it only proves to be a temporary respite. . We pass through the Meaford flight in the dry but before we reach Stone top lock the rain has started again. . There is space to tie up opposite Joules Stone Ales so we stop there to do some shopping. . On the way back we notice that there is space on the 48 hour moorings above Star lock so we move on down and tie up again for the night.

Tuesday 4th August

A late breakfast and a trip into town for a newspaper means that there is a queue when we finally set off, it does not take as long as we had feared, however, as one of the boats decides to pull in and tie up to explore the town. . At Aston lock we meet a boat coming up single handed, he does have a Jack Russell with him but he tells Jacquie it is not much use as crew. . We stop for lunch on the stretch below Sandon lock where there is a wide towpath to walk the dogs. . When we move off again Jacquie is on foot with Edith, her back is playing up and she hopes that walking will do it some good. . Edith takes fright at a dog getting off a moored boat and ends up in the cut only to find the dog is friendly when she has been hauled out again. . On the way to the next lock we pass a workman cutting the vegetation and suddenly the canal is clear. . We also pass a working boat carefully as the bow is swinging free. . They join us in the queue at Weston lock, when we leave there are still boats waiting to go down but none to come up. . At Great Hayward we stop for water and rubbish disposal whilst Jacquie goes to the craft shop and the Anglo Welsh shop and comes back with a couple of postcards. . Again there is a queue at Hayward lock but it does not take us long to get through. . By the time we get through Colwich lock there are no more to go down but still three waiting to go up, after our experience earlier in the afternoon this looks like bad timing! . We keep going until just after 7 p.m. and stop on Brindley bank just short of the aqueduct. . There is a footpath on both sides here and it seems a popular place with walkers, not surprising as it is so near to Rugeley and is a lovely spot.

Wednesday 5th August

I set off before Jacquie is up and move into Rugeley so that I can do some shopping. . We also take time for breakfast and eventually decide to move off mid morning. . After walking the dogs we put them below whilst I cast off but somehow the door comes open and three fly up the steps and jump straight off the boat. . Jacquie manages to get the two bitches back quite quickly but there is no sign of Brandy, he has run off somewhere through the industrial estate. . Putting Edith back on board Jacquie takes Gwen to help the search, perhaps he will see her and come back. . Meanwhile I re-moor the boat and then start looking myself. . When we have no success Jacquie takes one phone and heads for the police station to report him missing whilst I keep looking around the boat with the other in my hand. . As Brandy is wearing a collar and disc the police are hopeful that he will turn up quickly. . I am not sure even they thought it would be quite as quick as it was. Before Jacquie gets back to the boat her phone rings, Brandy has been caught and is waiting in one of the industrial units. . In fact I get to him first as I was already heading in the right direction after being told by a passer by where he had been seen. . We resume our journey an hour later than intended with a full compliment of dogs.
As we leave Rugeley there is a workman in wellington boots (not waders) walking in the canal without getting his feet wet, it looks like measurements are being taken prior to works being undertaken. . At Armitage tunnel a boat coming the other way has to reverse out after hearing our horn, it makes a change from the wait we had going the other way! . We keep on going and turn onto the Coventry at Fradley, Jacquie goes to look for postcards whilst I tie up the boat just long enough to walk the dogs. . We have lunch in shifts on the move to make up for the delay in Rugeley. . Shortly after Huddleford we pass a dredger and two mud boats, one of which has sunk. . I do not think the waterways man was very happy at me taking a photograph. . Just after Wittington, on the stretch that is the Birmingham and Fazeley, I see a boat that appears to be on the wrong side. . It blows a whistle and I slow right down. . As the boat rounds the bend I see that it is pulling two buttys, the middle one unmanned. . We keep going late past Fazeley and move on up Glascote stopping near to the "Anchor". . I had decided we needed a night out but we find they are not serving food and we return to the boat to open a can from the store cupboard.

Thursday 6th August

Jacquie starts the day by walking Inka and Edith whilst I move the boat, she rejoins the boat near to the "Gate". . Just before bridge 63 the working boat we had seen moving on Tuesday is tied up outside a private house. .We arrive at the Atherstone flight to find a queue, an old man working his boat single handed going up and another coming down. . A boat load of girl sea scouts soon appears behind. . Two of the girls help the old man up the flight speeding up all our progress, I feel sorry for them later when they get told off for doing their good deed - apparently they did not let the rest of the crew know they were going ahead. . Unusually for us we do not stop but press on to the top of the flight exercising the dogs on the move. . It is a very hot day with little breeze and this is not the time to be working locks. . At the top lock Jacquie goes to look for the cake shop only to find it now sells DIY goods instead. . Disappointed we press on until we find a little dappled shade where we tie up for nearly two hours and rest.
It is nearly five o'clock when we move off again and the sun has lost most of its intensity. . At bridge 27 there is a new marina which the signs indicate is run from the Valley Cruisers yard at Atherstone. . In Nuneaton we have to wait while a cruiser blocking the canal is pulled back into its moorings. . Passing the Ashby we see a boat coming out and press on to turn back onto the Oxford canal at Hawkesbury tying up for the night just before the bend. . The newly landscaped area looks quite good and gives us plenty of room to walk the dogs.

Friday 7th August

Jacquie will not let me walk off and get a newspaper saying we can get one further on, instead she walks on with Inka and Edith again. . It is a bright sunny day with the prospect of being very hot again. . Jacquie takes more dogs for a walk and has a spell at the tiller as we carry on to Yate's yard where we fill up with Deisel at 75p a gallon. . Aftewards we push across to the towpath and tie up in the shade for a couple of hours. . We carry on just after four and having passed through Newbold tunnel I go to get a newspaper. . We moor for the night on the embankment between the Rugby aqueducts, we have to use the gang plank which is not popular with some of the dogs. . I take the opportunity to head off to Tescos to get some shopping.

Saturday 8th August

Having been back to Tescos for a newspaper I move the boat whilst Jacquie again goes on by foot. . Today she only takes Edith as it is already too hot for Inka who is feeling her age. . At nine she now has to think about climbing the stairs to the back deck and the jump up to the gas locker, her favourite spot, is now an unelegant scramble. . When Jacquie comes back on board she has lost the cover to the new mobile phone, I walk back a way to look for it but without success. . At Hilmorton we are helped by young man who has a boat waiting to descend the middle lock, he wanted to save water and waited for us. . When we leave the locks we encounter boats going the other way, eight by the time we reach the marina by the "Old Royal Oak". . Jacquie has been below to do the boatwork and takes over the tiller for a short while as we look for shade. . Eventually we find a little shade just short of Braunston and stop for lunch and a Siesta. . The trees here are few and skimpy so the shade moves along the boat and a long stay means adjusting the mooring to follow it.
We stop briefly at Braunston for water and to price water pumps in the chandlery as the pump is not switching off properly. . I take the boat all the way to Napton where we moor by the sign advertising the "Folly". . We have time to eat and walk the dogs before walking to the pub. . It is not just a chance for a drink Day-Star are playing there tonight, we had seen this play last year but we know that every performance is unique. . We are not disappointed and we have a lovely evening.

Sunday 9th August

We are off early in the morning to get up the locks in the cool and before any other boats. . We stop at the top for breakfast and then head back to the Marina and unfortunately to go home. . Little did we know it will be an age before we make it back.

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This page last updated 02/05/99