Voyages of Gabriel: Etruria to Stone

Wed 5^th August Etruria to Wedgwood

A boat called The Oak was looking for a mooring, and they tied alongside us until we were ready to depart. They are from Langley Mill and they know Alan and Hazel Dilnot. We visited the facilities, emptying cassettes and rubbish before we left. We didn’t use the water tap here, as it is next to the elsan, and people tend to use it for rinsing their cassettes.

The Oak at Etruria

We turned left at the junction, back onto the main line of the Trent and Mersey, and into the Stoke flight of five locks, which were mostly in our favour. The route took as past the Bone and Flint Mill.

Into Stoke Top Lock

Cobbles on the Stoke flight

Etruria Bone and Flint Mill

At Twyford Lock, the third one down, James took a photo of an ornate Victorian building along the road. After some research it turned out to be Cliff Vale Pottery, now converted into apartments. It used to produce toilet bowls and urinals for Twyford’s, hence the lock name. All the bottle kilns have gone except for two, out of sight from the canal.

Cliff Vale Pottery then and now

Everywhere you look there are industrial memories, such as this bottle kiln, and some railway rolling stock.

Memories of an industrial past

The Canal continues along a straight section near Stoke City Football Club. It looked as though it was going to rain, so we stopped at Hem Heath for half an hour, waiting for a storm that passed close by, but it missed us. Meanwhile, James nipped to a nearby garage for some milk.

Soon after this is Trentham Lock followed by visitor moorings, alongside a field of alpacas, almost opposite the Wedgwood factory.

Alpacas

Wedgwood

We visited Wedgwood, which has changed a lot since our last visit in 2009. Our first visit was in 1986.There are now several buildings, and we visited the dining hall first (tea and a bun), the factory outlet, then the showroom, and finally the museum. The tearoom is just for people ordering a full afternoon tea with cakes, sandwiches, scones etc. Every room had sanitizing hand lotion at the entrance, so we were well wiped by the time we had finished.

Hazel ignoring social distancing with Josiah Wedgwood

The original Wedgwood Factory, painted by John Wakefield

An evocative potteries scene

6 locks, 5 miles. Dep 1020, arr 1230 Hem Heath. Dep 1300, arr 1340 Wedgwood

Thu 6th August Wedgwood to Stone

A hire boat from Stone went past heading south, so we gave them thirty minutes before we set off. It was 2 ½ miles to the first of the four Meaford Locks, and when we arrived, there were three boats waiting. The hire boat was the first in the queue, so two other boats had left their moorings in between.

Rosebay willow herb

Cobbles on a turnover bridge

Lock queue at Meaford Locks

The flight was busy, with boats going in both directions. It was very warm, and it took a long time. Above Lock 32 there is a bridge, so boats entering the lock have to wait for boats to come out of the lock and come through the bridge before they can proceed. Some boats do this v e r y s l o w l y .

Lock 32

There is a short gap before the four locks that take you down through Stone. We had hoped to moor two locks down, on the same level as the sanitary station, but when we arrived there, we discovered that all these moorings are permanent moorings. Sadly, we saw that the chandlery here has closed down.

Narrow gauge trains at Limekiln Basin

Passing the old brewery

We went on for one more lock, and moored on 48H visitor moorings just below. This was actually very convenient for the shops, and had some welcome shade for the boat.

Moored in Stone

James ordered a takeaway from the Crown of India, which was excellent. In Stone there is also the Crown Hotel, the Three Crowns, and the Crown and Anchor. As Pete and Dud once said: “It could confuse a stupid person”

7 locks, 4 miles. Dep 1100 arr 1500

Fri 7^th August Stone

We walked up to Morrisons for a load of shopping, as the next large shop is some way ahead. We had breakfast in the café there. Less than £6 for two meals and two drinks!

Breakfast at Morrisons

We tried the church office, but it was closed. We rang Paul Kingman, the vicar, and asked him to pass on a message to Mike and Cath Thompson, requesting them to contact us.

They did, later in the afternoon, and it was good to catch up with them. They are both 88 and have each had hospital visits recently. They have been very hospitable to us for fifteen years, ever since the mission we did here in 2005.