Stone

Today Andrew was due to leave us.We had a short ride down to the next bridge at Barlaston where he had left his car overnight. Whilst he loaded the car with his belongings - including the kit he had brought to mend the pipework - Mike went to the Londis shop alongside the canal bridge.

Bridge at Barlaston

He was not only looking for a paper - but also a treat for coffee but was disappointed not to find any croissants. Instead he opted for some donuts. As he was about to pay, he discovered that five croissants had just been been baked and were still warm - so he took the lot!

With Andrew on his way home, we continued the remainder of our journey with our next target being Stone. Two locks down and we stopped at the sani station and water point. A few metres on and we bought a replacement piling hook - and another as spare. One of the breweries that once made Stone prosperous still stands but is today home to a firm of CNC machinists.

Former Stone Ales Brewery

After passing Canal Cruising and the next lock, Christine went to look for a shop whilst Mike worked down the next lock and moored temporarily (OK there was a boat coming up so it was not too difficult!)

On the outskirts of Stone we moored for a long lunch break before setting off once more - a day of long stops as you will see!

A couple of locks and a few miles and a tea break stop! Those donuts came in handy after all!

It was almost six o'clock when we moved on - the evening was very pleasant, the sun was warm and the cool breeze had died down. After Hoo Mill Lock we were looking for a mooring but it proved a little trickier than we had envisaged since there are quite a few boats around, more moored than seemed to be on the move! Not wanting to reach Haywood Junction tonight we pulled in to a rather overgrown bank but at least underneath it was good piling (a chance to use the new hooks!) Although it had not looked promising, with too many trees in the appropriate direction, to our surprise we did actually get a satellite signal so we can watch the Apprentice tonight, having missed the past couple of weeks!

14.6 miles - 12 locks