South of the Tunnel, 25th May

Sunday 22nd, and we were away again. Here's our overnight view:

We're not keen on the Trent and Mersey moorings at Kidsgrove, and nowhere to stop before, apart from Church Lawton, due to the number of locks up the Cheshire Hill, as the old boatmen called it.

Weather grey but calm and mild so good boating weather.

Another lock: water turning rusty as we enter iron country

The answer was to go onto the end of the Macclesfield canal and moor there, only pausing at Red Bull services for water, pumpout and rubbish drop.

An odd interlude at the canal junction; there was a small film crew. On seeing us, they bounded over and the Talent (unidentified) helped work the lock while proclaiming that Hardings Wood was his very favourite place. Go figure.

Alison had woken in the morning feeling like she'd swallowed a thistle and was feeling increasingly out of sorts through the day. After our brush with Celebrity and all those locks, she retired below and left Andrew to it. 

Getting to our evening mooring involved working through the remaining lock on the Trent and Mersey and the Hall Green stop lock (all 1ft of it) before going to the winding hole just by Heritage Boats. We turned there and headed back towards the T&M. On the outward leg it was clear that there were minimal options for mooring near the Red Bull Aqueduct so we decided to stop just before the Hall Green stop lock. 

On the map, our mooring should have been vibrating with trains whizzing by.. but they were hidden below an embankment and we barely noticed them. A lovely mooring spot.

Monday, and Andrew had a Mission: to find a Hermes, or Evri as we must now call them, Drop Shop to return a pair of gloves to Amazon. Problem being that that they weren't a pair, but two left hands. It's a 30 minute walk to town so Alison got on with housework, potato salad for lunch, bit of painting.. where has he got to?

Turned out, he took a bit of a detour:

That's Mow Cop Castle, a picturesque 18th century folly,  3 miles in the wrong direction,  up a steep hill. At least he did it before he'd done the shopping! 

He also walked to the North portal of Harecastle Tunnel to assess the situation.. half a dozen boats waiting their turn, CRT staff confident they would get them through in the afternoon. However later on there was another low water alert: Harecastle closed for the rest of the day.

Tuesday and time to tackle the tunnel. It's one of the longest in the country at 2.6km long, and is low in the centre due to subsidence. It's the 2nd tunnel there, as the first tunnel suffered so much from subsidence that they had to close it and start again.

Waiting for the off. Tunnels are wet and cold.

It's one way so you get convoys building up. No more than 8 at a time though, due to the build up of diesel fumes during the 45 minute passage. Boats are counted in and out and note made of numbers aboard. Should you break down, you are instructed to sound your horn every 30 seconds until someone comes to find you. It has been known for the helm to be knocked out by the roof, knocked overboard and no one else knew. Though I loathe tunnels, I always stay on deck with Andrew for this very reason. This is serious stuff.

The water is now at peak orange. Note the height gauge to see if boats will fit through the low section.

And through without incident. We were 3rd in a line of 5 and the leader set a good pace. Paradoxically,  it's easier to steer in a narrow space at speed, in theory, as the water pressure tends to keep you off the sides.

20 minutes later and we were moored at Westport lake, in the North of Stoke-on-Trent. 

Friendly locals:

including what I take to be mallard-muscovy duck crossbreeds.

so, this doesn't seem to be a maze as such. Possibly maximising the amount of hedgerows available for birds and insects?

Morning Cap'n. Side note, daisies clearly love goose poo fertiliser.

 

And a heron across the way. Here fastidiously cleaning its beak after downing a fish.

Wednesday morning and the weather cool and grey again. Another short cruise today, booked into Etruria Marina for a couple of nights. Having followed a Facebook trail about overnight costs, they seem incredibly cheap compared to others. I shall draw a polite veil over the details here, but they're noted, believe you me!

Much building work going on in Stoke. We were warned that a pipe bridge is being worked on so we may have needed to pause while contractors do their thing. But all was clear. Here are some pics of heavy machinery for the grandson:

Across the way, another restoration project: Burslem Port. Nothing to see from the canal apart from a sign.

Further info here: 

https://burslemport.org.uk/

There are still a few of the bottle kilns for which Stoke was famous, some in a neglected state with vegetation taking over.

A tip fast becoming a rockery.

And then we were at the marina. Alison went to the reception to receive confirmation of where we were to moor, and to get a key to raise the bridge across the boat entrance. A wicked side wind meant that Andrew had to give up trying to reverse in and go nose first instead. A very stressful exercise but a snug berth once we were in.

After some recovery time, we strolled round the corner to the Mega Stores Quarter, aka Festival Park. Other residents taking the family for a walk to the same destination:

Particularly happy at Go Outdoors where we both got new Sealskinz waterproof gloves (they are top notch kit) at a reduced price plus 15% off for loyalty cardholders. 

Decided to treat ourselves to a Frankie and Bennys tonight. Plenty of GF choice . Happy days!