Thursday 28th September.
A glorious morning to start our trip down to Milton. The sun shone brightly bathing us in a summery warmth so shorts and tee shirt were the order of the day.
We made or way back to Hazelhurst junction and up the 3 locks to bring us back to the point where the Leek branch joins. It was only a short trip from there down to the services at Park Lane wharf at Endon.
We broke our journey here to take on water, get a shower and have a spot of lunch in the sunshine. It really did feel like summer again. We soon got under way to tackle the 5 locks that makes up the Stockton flight. Much easier going down as they were all in our favour, and emptying locks is always quicker than filling.
We pressed onto Milton and moored up for the next couple of nights. We had decided to eat out and went off to explore the village to see what was available. The village is another ex mining community and is quite pleasant with a good range of shops including an inordinate number of barbers and hairdressers for its size!
There were three pubs in the village two of which didn't seem to offer much in the way of food. The third, The Foxley (named after an old branch canal that used to serve the local coal mines), had an extensive food menu as well as an impressive range of gins much to Lucia' s delight. The gins were served with ice with fruit frozen inside it.
This pub doesn't look much from the canal as you pass by, but do not be put off because the food was great, good homely stuff and plenty of it.
Friday 29th September
A very wet start to the day today, Lucia went off to avail herself of one of the many hairdressers to ready herself for Vickys hen party.
She returned to the boat with a bag full of the local oat cakes then got herself ready for her taxi to Stoke before getting the train to Manchester; Scuff and I went to see her off, as the taxi left, Scruff would not leave the spot, staring down the road wondering when she was coming back. Bad news old pal, it is not until Sunday.
After a bit of coxing I tried to take her for a walk but she wasn't having any of it so we went back to the boat. The rain started again so it was feet up by the fire.
It was nice to sit and relax and my thoughts drifted back to the idea of the much lauded composting toilet.
I had read somewhere that you can use the waste material as fuel for the stove, gives a whole new meaning to throwing another log on the fire!
The weather brightened up so scruff and I managed a walk before retiring early.
I had arranged to meet brother in law, Andy with dogs Alfie and Charlie, on Saturday and he arrived leaving his car by the canal bridge.
We set of not knowing how the dogs would cope with being on the boat but, after a bit of territorial claiming by Scruff, they soon settled down. Our run down to Stoke passed calmly enough and we soon arrived at the services at Etruria Junction.
We stopped here for a bite of lunch then set off down the five locks that make up the Stoke flight just as the rain started to pour. Andy was at the tiller and did a great job negotiating the narrow chambers.
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| Master |
We progressed down to Barlaston just past the huge Wedgewood pottery. Barlaston seems to have close links to the pottery and once was the location for the Wedgwood colleges, now empty and up for sale.
The canal partly owes its being to Joshia Wedgewood he was instrumental in promoting the canal, engaging James Brindley to design it. His first pottery was at Burslem in Stoke he then developed the Etruria area before moving down to Barlaston, the family home, Etruria Hall, still stands and is now a hotel.
I lit the fire to try and start drying things out after our soaking, Andy went back for the car checking out the local hostelry in the process. He came back with the news that the pub was dog friendly, did food, and was happy to accept a delivery from the local Chinese, all very amenable.
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| Three dry dogs |
We decide to go to the pub and make up our minds what to eat once we got there. The pub is the Plume of Feathers, owned by actor Neil Morrisey of Boon and Men Behaving Badly fame, amongst others.
It's a great pub, very friendly with a good atmosphere, the food looked great to but was a tad pricey we felt.
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| "Boatcakes" nr Stoke |
After several beers we elected to go for the Chinese, this was delivered right to our table, however, we thought eating it there might have pushed the helpfulness a little too far so we went back to the boat to enjoy what turned out to be a very agreeable feast.
The forecast for Sunday was not good with high winds and showers so we decided not to move on, so went for a short walk instead, every thing was soaking due to the deluge the day before so we ended up with three wet and muddy dogs. We dried them back at the boat and Andy set of to return home. Shortly after Lucia phoned to let me know she was on her way back, so Scruff and I walked down to the pub to await her arrival by taxi, Scruff was delighted to be reunited with her.
Monday 2nd October
A much better today and the forecast winds did not really materialise so we continued our journey down the canal.
We soon arrived in Stone, a charming canal side town that seems to embrace its links with the Trent and Mersey, with lovely canal side buildings as well as the traditional industrial development usually found in such places. The Crown Pub is where the promoters of the Trent and Mersey held their meetings so the town claims to be the birthplace of the canal.
We stopped briefly at the services before calling in at the Chandlers at Stone Boat building to stock up on a few items as well as filling up with deisel.
We decided to move on as we will be travelling back up this way in the new year and this place is definitely on our list for a stopover.
We pressed on down to Weston on Trent through the pretty Trent valley, this area has always been highly regarded, and has a large number of large houses and their respective gardens. We got a glimpse of Sandon Hall up on the side of the valley surrounded by trees beginning to show their autumn colours. The park land tumbles down the valley side to come close to the canal, at this point we also shared the valley with the West Coast main line with the Virgin pendelino trains passing so close you could almost touch them!
The river Trent also runs close to the canal here and was now beginning to look like a river rather than the narrow brook we crossed in Stoke.
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| Moored at Weston on Trent |
Weston on Trent was a mile or two further on and provided a very peaceful stopover point, We had a walk around the village, the pub closest to the canal is currently closed for a major refurbishment and is due to reopen in November. The village green is overlooked by the what appears to be the thriving Woolpack Inn. The village itself is mainly housing with very little else, we walked through the church yard and followed a surprisingly dry field path back across the canal, we took a short detour to look at the river passing under a lovely stone bridge by Weston Hall.
Tuesday 3rd October
A cool start this morning, very autumnal but at least dry and the wind had eased a little too. We cast off and continued our way down the Trent Valley, our target today was Fradley Junction, a very popular spot so we were hoping there would be space available when we arrived.
We set of meandering through the fields, the light at this time of year can be so variable, as I look forward along the boat the milky sun shone through a thin veil of cloud and the view ahead was almost monochrome. When I turned around and looked astern all colour returned with the darkening greens contrasted against the bright red of the Rosehip and Hawthorn berries.
We soon arrived at another mecca of the canals, Great Haywood Junction, this is where the Staffordshire and Worcestershire canal leads down to the junction and the start of the Shropshire Union canal at Autherley near Wolverhampton. This is part of Brindleys great cross as it links the Severn to the Mersey and Trent, the other leg being the Coventry canal leading eventually down to the Thames.
We again made a mental note to stop here to explore on our return trip up the canal in the New Year, but for now we had to press on down to Rugeley.
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| Trent Aqueduct |
Below Great Haywood the scenery is wonderful particularly with the autumn colours beginning to show, we passed through the grounds of Shrugborough Hall with its gardens spreading across the valley floor before rising up to the imposing bulk of Cannock Chase, a beautiful wooded hillside rising up over the Trent.
Just before entering Rugeley we crossed the river on an aqueduct designed by Brindley. This is another impressive structure, and involves a sharp bend at either end, due to the fact that in the 18th century they did not have the knowledge of how to build a crossing at an angle as this required skewed arches, something that only came later, so it was built at right angles to the river bank, hence the bends.
We moored up at Rugeley and Lucia went for supplies while scruff and I took a stroll round the town. I was pleasantly surprised by this small, ex-mining market town, it seems to have a friendly character and retains many of its own local shops.
We were reunited at the boat and had a spot of lunch before pressing on to Fradley.
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| Armitage tunnel |
The trip from here was interesting with plenty of interest along the way. To the south of the town stands the second of the huge Trent valley power stations, this whilst still standing did not appear to be in use and I am sure that very soon it will disappear from the landscape as had the first on below Barlaston. The coal from this power station was mined from a pit almost located in the grounds of generators, but again all trace have been removed. A little further along we came to the remains of an old canal tunnel at Armitage, due to mining subsidence this had been turned into a very narrow cutting through the rock and dead slow was the order of the day.
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| A load of loos |
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| Bog factory |
Armitage is the location for the famous Armitage Shanks sanitary wear factory, still in operation on a huge site alongside the canal, the factory has now become Ideal Standard.
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| Rugeley |
We carried on through open fields and alternating wooded sections of canal before passing through Handsacre, the home of our friends from our trip to Sheffield, passing their boat at its home mooring.
We soon arrived at Fradley Junction, the junction itself is situated between several locks with moorings above and below. The junction is where the Coventry canal heads of south linking to the Birmingham canal network and the Oxford and Grand Union canals, indeed this is the turning we took last year having arrived from the opposite direction.
There were no spaces left at the top of the locks so we had no choice to go through the three locks leading to the pound below the junction, fortunately there was space available so we quickly tied up and settled in for the night.
There is a pub right on the junction, The Swan, a favourite haunt of boaters passing through, we had heard bad reports about it last year but the following morning we were informed that it had new owners and had improved significantly, so this will be one for another day.
The next morning we set off having used the services, and just as we were leaving we were told by another boater that the lock above Alrewas was to be closed due to a problem with a balance beam. We asked the lock keeper at the bottom lock but he said he hadn't heard anything so we pressed on.
After a mile or so and having passed through one more lock we arrived at the problem lock, there was no evidence of anyone around so we carried on through, we didn't notice anything wrong other that I had to get off the boat and hold the bottom gates closed whilst Lucia filled the lock, once full we entered the lock and all seemed to operate as normal.
Alrewas is another charming village, we stopped here last year and will certainly go back whilst we are in the area.
The lock at the other end of the village drops the canal down to join the river Trent for a short distance, and on this occasion we were going with the flow so passage was straight forward, last year the river was on the point of being closed as it had gone it to flood and was a lot more difficult to negotiate.
A mile or two further on brought us to the Barton marina and the end of this phase of our journey.
We made the turn into the marina, and found our way to our allocated mooring, the wind was blowing hard as we tried to make our turn into the berth and we were blown into the boats of our new neighbours! oops! I gave up trying and moored on the visitor mooring before heading off the the marina office.
We were allocated a different mooring with plenty of room and no other boats on either side so we were soon securely tied up. That night the wind was howling and I had to get up in the early hours to secure the things on the roof.
Discussions with other boaters confirmed that this is a windy marina and that it is best to wait until dusk or early morning before trying to berth as the wind usually drops at these times.
The marina is unlike any we have ever stayed in before, there are plenty of facilities including a laundry and boat yard, there are shops, a pub, restaurants and even a cinema on site!
Looking forward to our time here.
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| Kelly in her berth the lights behind are the bars, shops etc |
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| Cannock Chase |
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| Shrugborough Hall |
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| River Trent at Weston |
