Mow Cop Folly was constantly on my mind. It didn’t seem to matter where we were on the canals. You could see it for miles.
Two days ago, we’d spied it from the Llangollen Canal. Now it was coming closer with every lock we climbed.
Had we been able to see it up close, we would have seen this.
From Rode Heath, we continued to climb up what is known as ‘heartbreak hill’. A total of 34 locks, climbing over 85m. That’s higher than the Sydney Opera House, but not quite as high as The Harbour Bridge!
Reaching Kidsgrove, we ran into Steve from Black Prince, who’d given us our initial orientation on the boat. He’d been over to the Middlewich Branch rescuing one of their barges (Mabel), that had to be abandoned, was then stranded, by her holiday makers when the canal had shut down for lock gate repairs. He didn’t seem to mind spending 4 days away from the office… after all, he was out of the boat yard free-wheeling on the ‘high seas’!
After our compulsory safety induction by the friendly Canal Trust Volunteers, we set off through the Harecastle Tunnel once again.
We were determined on our 3rd time through the tunnel to get a pic of the scary skeleton, 480 m in from the north end. On previous trips, it had just flashed by too quickly. Jen and I were both ready and waiting this time!
John had a slight mishap in the tunnel, clunking his head on the tunnel roof when the tunnel height changed, and he didn’t hear Grahame call out ‘duck!’ From his cry out in pain and the thump we heard at the stern of the boat of him falling backwards, Jen and I were sure he’d fallen overboard!
It was a pretty nice day, so we took advantage of the view at Westport Lakes to stop for lunch.
With a day and a half up our sleeves, we decided to venture up the Caldon Canal, a short branch off the Trent and Mersey that starts just past Ellie’s home Marina at Etruria.
The Caldon begins its climb with a stair lock of 2, slap bang in the middle of Stoke.
We stopped the traffic again, but only one car had to wait and then not for long. Jen was an old hand at this game, and John was learning from the pro.
Stoke exists because of the pottery industry, with some companies such as Spode and Wedgewood still surviving.
Not many of the pottery kilns are left now, but theses two beauties stand tall and proud beside the canal in the middle of suburbia.
Despite several people telling us this canal is only really pretty in the last few kms, there were some lovely parks in the industrial areas, and I finally jagged a reasonable pic of a duck in flight! Almost!
There were also gorgeous rural views around and near Stockton Brook.
Time was getting on, with daylight fading fast. Houses had their lights turned on, and so did we!
Our aim was to reach Stockton Brook, specifically The Rose & Crown pub, but there were no moorings, so we had to forge ahead, with 5 locks to ascend, all set against us!
Alas, there were no moorings at the top of the lock flight either, so we had no choice but to continue.
We ended up mooring ‘free range’, similar, I guess, to camping on the side of the road. It was 6.40pm. Our longest day on the canals this trip nearly 9 hours!
No Rose & Crown either, we were in the middle of nowhere!
Kanga And Wombats Adventures 