Consall Forge

We were not the first boat away from the moorings - those heading north were perhaps keen to arrive early at Harecastle!

After passing though the old Potteries area,with just one or two still in operation, we arrived at Etruria Junction where we stopped to fill up with water and use the other services.

Out next destination was to be somewhere up the Caldon canal. At this stage we set off aiming for an easy run and to be at the Leek end for tonight - but see later. After all, this was to be the 'heatwave' and certainly the hot sunshine was a marked change from what we had become accustomed to.

The start of the Caldon is a two-lock staircase. For some reason, it was built with a larger capacity in the upper lock and, as a result, water overflows a special spill way when the lower lock is full.

Very little of the former industry remains alongside the canal - a couple of bottle kilns have been preserved so that the once dominant sight will not be entirely forgotten. However, new housing is being built in place of the recovered sites - although a construction problem on one such site over the winter led to an extended closure whilst problems with the bank were corrected.

There are three movable bridges on this stretch - the first of them is mechanised but the other two require many turns of a windlass to raise them.

Shortly before arriving at Hazlehurst Junction, Christine asked whether we could make it tonight to Consall Forge - we had a meal at the isolated Black Lion pub when we were last here four years ago. A quick calculation suggested that we might make it between 7 and 8 so Christine was tasked with checking that they are open tonght! yes was the response and so we took the alternative route at the junction, so passing underneath the Hazlehurst Aqueduct which carries the other arm of the Caldon up towards Leek.

After a while we passed the former Cheddleton Flint Mill where there are now several well-preserved old buildings and cottages.

Cheddleton Flint Mill

As we neared Consall, the canal joins the River Churnet for about mile - they separate again just at the point where we wanted to moor for the night. as it happened, the moorings were quite busy and we found one of the few remaining spaces. The Churnet valley Line keeps very close company with the canal - after all, it was largely responsible for the demise of the canal. One of the platforms is built out over the canal - which we shall see better tomorrow.

The pub is across a weir, canal bridge and rail crossing from the nearest road access - about 200 metres - which means so effort for beer and food deliveries!

A quick change and we were ready for the meal - the pub had changed hands since we last visited and is now clearly much more popular, with a menu list to suit. Nevertheless, the steaks and cajun chicken were tasty and well-presented with huge portions of salad and chips to accompany. Two of us took the opportunity to try out several of the special ciders on offer!

15.9 miles - 16 locks