Kanga And Wombats Adventures

18.10.19

Pre-dawn Hardings Wood looked pretty.

It felt weird to think we only had three locks left to work. Grahame had the honour of cranking the windlass on the lock paddle for the last time.

A group photo at our last lock was mandatory. John has his Judi hat on! Fix it Katie!

We passed the start of the Macclesfield Canal, our original holiday destination, and thanked our lucky stars it had been closed!

Stoke on Trent was a city formed in 1910 from a federation of six towns (Burslem, Fenton, Hanley, Longton, Stoke and Tunstall) but became known as the Five Towns in the novels of Arnold Bennett (I’ve only read 2, but the others are now on my list).

But to get there, the big ticket item of the day, was our passage through the Harecastle Tunnel. At 2.675km, it was a biggie! After Jen had explained our tunnel rules, including the wearing of life jackets, Bill and Ben were ready!

The ‘Tunnelkeeper’ whom we later found out was called Antony, had not taken his happy pills, and proceeded to berate us for mooring on the wrong side of the canal. He informed us that a boat was coming in the opposite direction and we’d have about a 40 minute wait! So there! In our usual friendly Aussie manner, we kept Antony chatting, and by the time the other boat appeared, we were firm friends!

Grahame and John steered us capably through the tunnel, while Jen and I sat at the bow, such an eerie feeling. As the tunnel was straight, you could see a tiny pin prick of light at the other end, but it wasn’t until the final 200m or so that it seemed to get any bigger.

Antony had warned us we might encounter a ghost, but I never expected to see this!

The tunnel conquered in a very impressive 31 minutes, we stretched our legs for some photo opportunities,

and just happened to find a cache as well!

Time for more group photos!

Well, Jen DID say silly face!

The industrial area of Stoke soon loomed, the abandoned buildings juxtaposed with more modern structures!

We made a short diversion off the canal for a pint at The White Horse pub. Very decorative loos!

The CoOp high school (yes, as in the supermarket), was just packing up for the day, with hundreds of kids streaming towards us. We marvelled at the impressive school motto and wondered if it had been a decision made by the staff after a long lunch on School Development Day?

Our last supper was enjoyed at Toby’s Carvery, back at the marina where we had started from 2 weeks ago, a smashing ‘all you can eat 4 meats roast’ for £7.99.

At the end of our journey, it was calculated that over our two week trip we had covered 257 kms and negotiated 124 locks.

PRETTY DAMN IMPRESSIVE!

But not as impressive as the Sequence winner!

Meeeeeeee!