Etruria to Cheddleton

Sat 25^th July  Etruria to Br 14/15

We walked back to the Toby carvery for breakfast. We took brollies as it was forecast wet. We needed them on the way back. Just opposite is the last remaining building of the original Wedgwood Factory – the Roundhouse.

 Breakfast

Roundhouse

Back on board, we waited for the rain to stop, and then set off up the Caldon. The staircase locks were in our favour, with the bottom one empty and the top one full. These locks are either named Etruria Staircase Locks, or Bedford Street Staircase Locks, depending on where you look.

 

Farewell to the Canada Geese.

 Staircase Locks

The next lock, Planet Lock, was against us. We passed some new housing, which we guess used to be industrial places before. We came to the Emma Bridgewater factory, which is anonymous from the canal. Opposite is an old bottle kiln, and a little further on, a pair of narrower brick kilns, now surrounded by new housing.

 Emma Bridgwater factory

 

Bottle kiln

 Nice pair

The Ivy House Lift Bridge is mechanised – a key is needed to operate it. We had some keen spectators.

 Ivy House Lift Bridge

Br 13 is very awkward, as the canal turns a tight curve, and then the last bit is even tighter, which catches people out if they are not ready.  Bridge 14 is also difficult as the canal is quite silted up at the edges. We had difficulty turning and had to use the boat pole to get us round.

We found a pleasant mooring soon after, with a common on the right and a few houses opposite. We had heavy rain later.

 

Our mooring on the Caldon Canal.

 Heavy rain

 Water art

3 locks, 3 miles, 1 lift bridge. Dep 1015, arr 1155

Sun 26^th July  Br 14/15 to Endon

It had been raining in the night, and there was some lovely foliage outside the window, deserving to be photographed.

 

The view from the windows

We stayed where we were for the Broughton Church broadcast on Facebook, followed by a Zoom meeting with Jack and Sandra afterwards.

We set off once more, and found this to be a slow shallow canal with sharp bends. At Milton we made use of new mooring rings before the bridge to pause for some milk from the convenience store, now a One-Stop. It was interesting to note that the staff were not wearing masks, although it is now compulsory for customers.

Engine Lock has very low geared paddles on the bottom gates, requiring a lot of turns of the windlass.

Engine Lock

 

Ragwort in profusion

Norton Green lift bridge needs a key and is mechanised. This was being operated by a boat coming the other way. Long Butts lift bridge needs a windlass and is manual operation.

The five Stockton Brook Locks are very interesting, with a pumphouse, sculptures, a disused railway bridge with lines still intact, and an old stable block at the top lock. All these locks were against us.

Features of Sockton Brook Locks

We found three workboats moored up, with only the final ends of the chain of boats tied, so that the whole rig floated out to bang into the side of any boat who passed. We slowed right down, but still were in collision, and pushed into the edge opposite. A training course in mooring needed, I think.

Mooring techniques

Island in the channel at Endon, opposite an old wharf with tram lines.

We arrived at Endon, where we had planned to moor.

John Wilkinson on Water Lily remembered us from 2007. After checking our log books, we found that we had shared a table at the Navigation Inn at Kingswood Junction in May, and then met again at Sowerby Bridge in July after James had had his accident. We met yet again in August that year at Normanton-on-Soar for the Soar Boat Club festival. Amazing that he remembered us straight away after thirteen years.

Moored at Endon

6 locks, 4 miles, 2 lift bridges. Dep 1225, arr Milton 1305. Dep 1345, arr Endon 1550.

Mon 27^th July  Endon

We sat out a wet day, watching occasional hire boats determinedly pushing past in the pouring rain.  We caught up with a few things, but we didn’t leave the boat.

No boating today

Tue 28^th July  Endon to Cheddleton. 

Sunshine

We had a leisurely departure in sunshine, and the first stop was at the facilities at Endon, where we filled what needed filling and emptied what needed emptying. There are two water taps, and when both are being used the pressure is low. When the hire boat in front had finished, the tank filled quite quickly.

While we were there, John and Jill on Water Lily came past, and we managed to get a photo this time. 

John and Jill

A mile further on we came to Hazelhurst Junction, where the Leek branch goes off to the right, and the Caldon descends through three locks, passing under the Leek branch on an aqueduct. The bottom lock has been closed for repairs for several weeks, and was only reopened last Friday. During the repairs, the bridge at the bottom of the lock flight collapsed as the foundations were washed away.

 Hazelhurst Junction

 

Hazelhurst Locks

 

The collapsed Bridge 37

 Hazelhurst Aqueduct

 Spirit levels must be in short supply around here.

We arrived at the visitor moorings just before Cheddleton Flint Mill, and we moored on some rings. We couldn’t get properly into the side as there seemed to be an underwater ledge, like the Shroppie. Other boats were OK, so it was just our particular stretch.

We contacted Babs, and set off up the road towards her place, and she met us halfway. She treated us to lunch in her apartment, in one of the buildings which previously formed part of the hospital here. We enjoyed meeting her new arrival, a small dog called Maggie, not allowed on the ground as she has not yet been innoculated.

Later we walked back through woods and along a railway track to return to the boat.

Along the railway track

 Hazel and Babs with Maggie

 The route out in orange, the return in red

 3 locks, 4 miles. Dep 1000, arr 1210.

 Next: Exploring the rest of the Caldon and Leek Canals

Kidsgrove to Etruria

Thu 23^rd July  Kidsgrove

Moored at Kidsgrove

We had been receiving emails from debt collectors, asking for money that we do not owe, as Three had reduced the bill to a compromise that we had paid in full. We had been planning to visit the Three shop in Hanley to sort this out, as we had been unable, once again to communicate with Three online or by phone.  We had worked out that there was a bus from Kidsgrove every ten minutes to the Potteries Shopping Centre, where the Three shop was located.  This morning we had an email from Maggie with a copy of a statement from Three showing a nil balance, so we didn’t need to go. We forwarded the image to the debt collectors, and hopefully that will be the end of this horrible episode that has been a distraction since 23^rd April.

It was sunny (although forecast wet) so we set up our camera for a photo for a new Canal Ministries leaflet.

Posing

 We went to Tesco, not far away, noticing that a new Lidl store is being built right by Lock 41.

On our way back, in a light rain shower, we spotted that only one of the paired locks was working, although there was no sign to indicate this from the canal. A large “keep right” sign would help. The rain continued in patches for most of the day, as forecast.

This pile of earth is where Lidl is being built

Heavy rain at Kidsgrove

Water art

 

James caught up with the blog. We noticed there were nine boats on the moorings by the evening, instead of just two yesterday.

Busy moorings at Kidsgrove

No boating today 

Fri 24^th July   Kidsgrove to Etruria

As we were preparing to leave, one boat went past.  We set off a few minutes behind them, and noticed that another boat had left their mooring behind us as well, so there was a lock Queue.  On the first boat was a single lady, heading for the Macclesfield Canal, at the junction just above the lock. The boat behind was in a convoy of three, all booked in for the Harecastle Tunnel at 10am, the same as us. They are all new liveaboard boaters, who moor at Aston Marina in Stone, and this was their maiden voyage, doing the Four Counties Ring.

Passing the junction with the Macclesfield Canal

Approaching the tunnel

When we arrived at the tunnel, we were in pole position. In normal times, there is no booking arrangement. Boats just turn up and wait until the oncoming convoy has come through. The maximum is usually eight boats in a convoy. Now, with a booking system, there is a maximum of six boats, and the convoys leave on even hours southbound, and odd hours northbound.

Pole position

 We asked the CRT man in charge whether he had done any boating himself. He said “Yes, but the boats I was on were grey and had guns.”

 The water here is orange, due to the iron ore in the water, which comes from the original Brindley Bore, no longer navigable, which runs alongside the newer Telford tunnel. We had difficulty leaving the side as there was a lot of silt near the entrance, but we managed it and were away at 1005. We were pleased we were in front, as we were quicker than the others. It took about 40 minutes, and the large fan gate at the end was swung aside a few minutes before we got there.

Leaving the tunnel

 We seemed to pick up something on the prop, so after we passed the waiting boats, we stopped on the rings, and James went down the weed hatch. Only a few weeds, so either we had just cleared the prop, or it was due to shallow water.

 The Westport Lake moorings were almost full this time. They are usually deserted in our experience, as there have been stories of badly behaved youths around here. We started to see the first bottle kilns as a reminder of Stoke’s pottery industry.

Bottle kilns

Into the Caldon Canal

We decided to moor on the Caldon Canal, near the Etruria Industrial Museum, where we have moored peacefully in the past. This time, we had a generator running on the next boat, Canada Geese making loud honking noises, a guy on a phone speaking loudly, and someone nearby operating a chain saw. It was sunny, and we put washing out to dry.

Moored in Etruria

We put up our hood and discovered it had been damaged. We think it must have happened in the tunnel, although we didn’t notice it at the time.

Torn hood

We had a message from Babs, a friend of ours from BCF and Waterways Chaplains. She now lives at Cheddleton and was suggesting we meet up. We don’t go up the Caldon very often (twice, so far) so we decided to make a detour to revisit this beautiful canal and see Babs at the same time.

1 lock, 6 miles, 1 tunnel. Dep 0810, arr 0845 Harecastle. Dep 1005, arr 1210 Etruria.

Next: Breakfast at the Toby carvery and then off to explore the Caldon and Leek canals.