Shut The Door....

We left Stoke heading for Manchester but a change in plans now see's us going via Middlewitch and not up the Macclesfield canal as planned. We'll return down the Macca, later.


On the outskirts of Stoke passing ruins of industrial buildings there are still....

Active industry in some buildings and more Bottle Kilns....

Of different shapes and sizes......

Surrounding the.....

Middleport Pottery works...

A lot of the canal side buildings are...

Derelict and obviously not on the "Appartments to Be" agenda.....

A couple of miles farther on...

 

The entrance to the Harecastle Tunnel fronts..... but the entrance is blocked...

It's a one one way  tunnel and controlled by the Tunnel Keeper who will allow a maximum of eight boats through in convoy at one time. When you enter from this side large doors slam shut behind and huge fans start to suck out the exhaust gases as the tunnel doesn't  have the customary  ventilation shafts through the roof.

We had to wait about three quarters of an hour for NB,s coming through...

The doors open and....

Out comes the first of three NB,s...

The tunnel is 2926yds long and takes about fourty fives minutes...

The third boat out was....

Waka Huia... Marilyn and David from NZ....

They stopped opposite....

And David tied up the ropes at the water point ...
We had been following their blog and had hoped to meet them on the other side of the tunnel at Kidsgrove at the junction for a catch up.. The tunnel man only allowed us to Yak fo a couple of minutes then told us to "Get on Ya bike"...
Hope to catch up in the future.....

We cast off and....

Lined up the entrance....

It's quite wide, about 13 feet......

It widens after this entrance section...

But the Freaky part is...

About halfway when the width narrows and the roof gets low... very low..... not good if one suffers from claustrophobia...

Anyway we.....

 

Made it through and the sun was shinning....

We started the first of many locks.....

Hardings Wood Junction..

Passing by the...

British Waterways yard at Red Bull with two old cranes on the canal side....

We were going along fine having completed five locks....

Looking back from the sixth lock... It's here were a passing boater told us about a problem there had been at lock 63, the pound had run dry, and the lock was shut down. Cart had managed to flow  water from a reservoir and open the lock. Meanwhile a cue of 50 NB,s had formed over the last two days  coming toward us.  It was going to be open until 8.30pm today but shut tomorrow. Nothing to do but pass lock 63 today. That's seventeen more locks plus three more to clear the flight...

We had a few holdups as there were several NB,s going our way but six  hours and 26 locks in total later we moored up at Wheelock......

Looking back toward the Macclesfield canal and...

Beyond is Mow Cop hill and castle ruins.... 1754.....

All the locks are singles but....

Mostly there are two side by side which speeds up traffic.....

The water in this canal....

The Trent and Mersey is a different colour.....Iron Oxide leaking into the water from the ground mainly around the tunnel area.....  Leaves a reddy brown muck on the lock walls......

Next day overcast but fine... we reached the junction  at Middlewich where the Shropshire union canal heads off left toward Chester...

doing the....

Kings Lock outside the same named pub.....

Must have been a full moon or something happening... At the next four locks we meet some strange people who displayed a varied array of poor boat handling skills and protocol... Still better than being at a real job...

Still putting on a show....

Plenty of hanging baskets....

Passing the large industrial.....




ICI plant with rows of pipe work, steel support and electrical ducting crossing the canal in 8 -10 different places.....

All to maintain.....




Production......

Through out the area there are vast salt mines underground and after years of nining there's a lot of subsidence...
It causes problems with the canal sinking and in places there are what's called....

Flashes... the canal has widened and takes on a lake look... Actually makes for a nice place to moor up and enjoy the view....

It was at one of the Flashes we met....

John and Diana....  NB Molly Rose...More "Kiwis" doing the NB experience and they are from the same town only living about three quarters of a mile from our home....

Also moored nearby were....

 

Ray And Dianne NB Ferndale.... we had met last year so a catch up along with John and Diane aboard NB FireflyNZ filled the evening.....

This morning early... about 8.30am...

Ray & Dianne left heading for Middlewich....

We got moving a bit later.... 11.30am and because it wasn't raining "Cats & Dogs"  like last year when we were here we....

 

 

Decided to go down and back up the Anderton Boat lift.... One of the Wonders of the Canal system....
Entering the lift.....

 

The door shuts to close off the canal water.....

Going down and you can see....

A  maze in the kids play area  made out of counter weights that were used to operate the lift before it was converted to hydraulic.... each one weighs 14 tonne... 250 tonne in total....

As we go down the ...

Other steel trough with the boats goes up on the Stainless steel hydraulic rams... German made.. 1 million quid each....

It was well worth doing again... especially in the dry......

Near the Saltersford Tunnel....

A tidy little English cottage and garden....

Travelling through the tunnel....

Leonie sees up a ventilation shaft....

The tunnel is only 424 yds long but is quite bent... Being one way you have to wait and go through from our side only on the hour to twenty past....

Once in the tunnel....

There were two boats behind us... not visible because of the bend....

Started to rain going into the tunnel....

But fine when we emerged...
Moved on about three mile and....

Moored up with a rural view...

 

Up Stoke Way.....

It rained overnight but the morning was clear and quite mild when we set sail.

We passed the water point at Great Hayward intending to fill up but there were....

Four NB,s already inline to use two connections.. so we carried on...

Not long until we were doing locks. The unofficial law of the canal seems to be if you arrive at a lock and have to wait for another NB going up or down then at least one person get off the boat and go help do the lock.
I had tied up and gone up to help the boat in front of us do the lock then gone back to steer the boat into the lock. Leonie was up on the lock ready to shut the bottom gates once the boat entered.
With a NB waiting I looked up expecting to see someone plus Leonie shutting the gates but no, she was heaving on one gate the other one lonely. I climbed up the ladder and lent some weight on her beam then shut the other. Then as we made our way to the other end of the lock to wind the paddles we see the two occupants of the waiting boat, not facing the opposite way or pretending not to see us, standing on the rear of their boat watching us do all the work so when we exit the lock it will be ready for them to steer straight in. As we exited the lock both on the boat the male off the waiting boat walked close by to wait for his wife to steer their boat in.

No Thanks, Kiss My Arse or anything So...

Here is the Most Unhelpfull  crew we've met... NB Manilla.......

The blue sky gave way to...

 This cloud formation that looked like serious rain...
And it didn't disappoint. About twenty minutes of downpour... Did we pull over? no way, just drove right on......

As the rain eased and the skies lightened we passed beneath Salt Bridge...

Rather trendy looking bridge being way out in the county side... The woman is still sheltering from the  passed by  deluge...

Moored up in Stone... nice town with a lot of modern apartments and housing viewed from the canal.
Took a walk up the main 'Drag". It was pretty quite about 5.45pm...

A fair selection of pubs about... This one ..

The Crown And Anchor was a thatched job......

Rained again during the night and early morning. Decided by 8.30am we were going to move so stopped at the water point to fill just before the first lock. A NB was coming down so I went up and helped do the paddles and opened the gates for them and said.
Leave the gates open as we'll be going in shortly and I'll keep an eye out if another NB wants to come down I'll shut the gates for them. All good..
Well our water tank is nearly full, no NB came the other way so the lock is empty with the gates wide open. Plus I've stood in the pissing rain.
And then Disaster. A hire boat comes along going our way, spies the lock empty with wide open gates and in they go, couldn't believe their luck..
Well that's what the guy told me when I went up to help them and then release the water and open the gates again....

An unusual bridge at a lock leaving Stone.. Newcastle Road lock....

A tunnel under the bridge for the horses to pass through....

And the .....

Lock entrance is on the RH side....

While waiting for a lock.....

 

Just filling in time with the camera.....

A lovely canal side property in the village of....

Barlaston... drive in and park the NB at the front door....

 

Same village...

 Canal side cottages...

The canal is very rural and meanders along.

It passes under a bridge and then as you turn to the right a large building appears across the paddocks...

It is the....

Wedgwood factory.. The Wedgwood Group is the  largest china and earthenware manufacturer in the world. Started in 1759 by Josiah Wedgwood... they have a museum and do tours and no doubt a factory shop...

On the outskirst of Stoke on Trent is a sign ....

At the attractive Trentham lock that welcomes you aboard...

As we traverse the canal system we see so many Swans and ducks with their young.
For Swan to have 1 to 3 young maybe 4 is the norm.....

This swan obviously had a dose....

Of the Fertility Drugs.... 7 young ones.....

Closer to Stoke and a.....

Sainsbury's Supermarket distribution building.... it was huge......

Right in Stoke stand some remaining...

 
 
 
 

Reminders of the Pottery industry.... Brick bottle shape kilns stand tall.....


 New development has taken place....

Right next door...

This photo though not a great photo with the sun but reminds me of...

The L&P add.... Lemon and Paeroa  soft drinks.....

 Passed by a....

Bone and Flint Mill... built 1857...
It produced calcined bone ash for use in Fine Bone china until 1972.....
the company began to supply Wedgwood as early as 1837..... the company still operates today....

 Next door was...

The large factory chimney....

From Stone through to Stoke the locks are all....

Rather deep......

Leaving the Stoke flight.....

Out of the top lock on the right... The Caldon Canal starts on the left.....

Angry Passes By........

Set the alarm for early as Saturday morning. The reason being the All Blacks were playing Aussie in Sydney at 11.05am UK time and we wanted to get a few miles under the belt before we stopped..
So by 10.30am we had reached the top lock of the Glascote locks,2, passing through Tamworth.
Pulled over and had excellent internet signal so live streaming the game wasn't a problem.
The problem was the AB's played bad and the 12 all draw was better than they deserved..

At half time it was.....

Snack time for me....

We then moved forward to the lock landing waiting for a NB coming up....

A NB enters the lock as we wait..... Leonie chats with the lady from the NB who's dog bark  bark barked at the entering NB. So Leonie told it to "Shut Up"..
The owner then told it to "Shut Up".. which it did..
When she told me and I said "why"?.. Leonie said "wouldn't you tell a naughty child to Behave itself"?...plus "it got on my Bloody nerves"...

A short time later we passed over a small aqueduct, Tame Aqueduct, and the person steering the approaching NB started waving his arm to suggest I move over to my right, starboard side.
The rules are to pass Port to Port and I'm already only 2 foot from the Armco rail on the canal side and in my lane is a row of moored boats. So if all goes to plan I continue forward until he passes then I swerve to the left and miss the moored boats. No, this tosser  has left no room for me to move over. I look at his RH side and he's got about 12 feet until the soft foliage starts and plenty of deep water so I make suggestions that he move over. He then looks to his starboard side and decides Oh Yeah I should have looked and moves over to barely give me enough room. As we passed I told him he had a nice shirt on, I liked his hat, the set of binoculars in front of him were no good to a blind person, he basically shouldn't have a license to steer and stick this finger when the sun don't shine...

Bloody Useless All Blacks....

We moved on and passed through the village of Hopwas....

Standing tall....

The Litchfield Transmitting tower.... 1001 feet tall....

Then through ......

A cutting containing the Hays Wood... a scenic stretch...

Past this fella....

He makes and sells Stainless chimney flues... very well made too... He was sound asleep in his chair with his wares on display.... A lesser man would have helped himself.. The thought never crossed my mind...

Approaching Fradley Junction there's a small...

Swing bridge to open & close... Leonie was itching for some exercise so this was a starter...

The well known.....

The Swan pub... 200 yrs, aparrently with a Vaulted cellar room... never seen it...

Parked in the car park....

A couple of Classics... Triumph Vitesse... 1962 -  1971 with  a six cylinder engine... and a  E Type Jag.....

A short distance pass the junction is the first of...

 

Two locks... more exercise.. Entering Middle lock....

And lock number two....

Trying .. that's right trying to exit Shade House lock.. The gate would open not much more and we thought something was in the canal blocking it. The two of us tried pushing the beam, like really hard, but no it jammed. Two men, one pushing a woman in a wheel chair, came by and saw our troubles. The dude pushing said he could chuck the woman in to see if anything was down there.
She wasn't happy bout that so we set about a process of elimination. I got the pole off the roof and had a fish around, nothing, so then we tried again, no good, so we discussed the mechanics of the worn gate hinge and the physics of water and logic says the bloody thing should open.
We need to give it more Welly said one so my thoughts were to charge it with the boat but no, a Real effort by everyone was required  excluding the wheel chair woman, she could prey maybe. With that we lined up on the beam and give it Shit and low and behold it opened far enough..
The Power of Prayer I say...

We thanked them and moved on. It was getting on in time about 6.30pm and we needed to be parking up.
It was then as we exited a narrow bridge hole and another line of moored boats were in my vision that I saw the unmistakable Flapping arm of Angry No, 2...well two arms actually, a his and hers..

Now I'm not the best NB steerer on the network but one thing I have worked out is that in tight situations and especially if the wind is blowing one needs some power on to have control.
The boat is doing like 100 RPM over tickover, in non NBers terms it means if you were walking home from the pub pissed, talking braille to yourself and  thinking of an excuse to tell the missus why those two Aces cost you your pay packet, then I wouldn't be going fast enough to pass you.
Anyway we get closer and they both yell out slow down your going too fast...
We draw equal with them and I say, I'm not going any faster than you mate.
And then I say something like, Have a nice day..
Well the woman goes off like a screaming Banshee... Me and Leonie look at each other like Stunned Mullets... and then start laughing at her.
Unbelievable... The only thing we could put it down to was that she must have been drinking......
OHH.. she was a Ginng.....eerrr.....

We moored up shortly after... and slept with one eye open.... 21 miles and 5 locks.....

Today the sun was breaking through but the wind was still blowing adding a bit of a chill factor...

Don't know that it was too cold but...

This fella seemed froze to the spot....

Passed a nice allotment and the...

Happiest guy on the system works here....

Approaching Rugeley there's a...

Tight cutting under a bridge.. followed a NB through who bounced off the walls all the way...
And it wasn't a hire boat...

Turn a corner and the ......




Cooling stacks from the power station are in view......

It's the second power station to be built on the site this one commissioned in 1972. Coal fired the plant uses 1.6 million tonnes of coal a year which produces 240,000 tons of ash..

In 2009 it was converted to operate with Flue - Gas Desulfurization which removes the Sulferdioxide content from the flue gases... Environmentally friendly for the next 25 yrs....

So you see...

There's nothing to worry about residents of Rugeley......

Only two locks to go for the day...

 

Under the bridge to enter Colwich Lock...

And suddenly around the corner was a "Tribute" to none other than Compulsive blog reader from NZ....

That's right "Come On Down"...

Tammy... Hope you like the Blue....

Last lock done for the day...

Exiting the Haywood Lock at Haywood Junction...

Moored up...... Leonie went and picked some Strawberries. Hoped for Raspberries but they finished a week ago.....

Anyway Leonie...

Made meringue, cream to go with strawbs, and ice cream with caramel sauce....
Bloody Good Missus Ehhhh??....