We were promised grey skies all day but in the event we had a short burst of heavy rain late morning and then quite a lot of blue sky by the time we moored.
Before leaving, Mike popped to a nearby petrol station to pick up a newspaper - much quicker than having to walk back into town, three minutes each way compared with 20!
We were very close to the start of the Meaford flight - a steady stream of boats were coming the other way. later on we would see rather more.
The bridge below the top lock in the flight was damaged some years ago and the steps down have been blocked off for the past few times we have passed this way. The coping stones have been replaced very neatly. However, the road itself is now closed apart from pedestrians in the evenings - a new stretch of road appears to be under construction. Why, is not obvious!
Near Trentham Lock we could see the world-famous Wedgwood factory. It seems that it has been taken over yet again, last month, by a Finnish company that originally specialised in knives and axes!
A short distance later we could see the remains of a former railway bridge. There was also one of the many signs which are distinctive of Stoke on Trent, that told us that this was once part of the North Staffs Railway - The Knotty. Later investigation revealed that this was a rather unsuccessful short branch line that linked the main part of the railway to Trentham Estate.
This sight provided a reminder - for Mike at least - of the 'documentary' plays that Peter Cheeseman create at the Victoria Theatre. Although the success of the theatre with its resident repertory company led to the building of a purpose built theatre, at this time, 1966, it was still working at its original site. It specialised in 'theatre in the round' as well as this series of plays that were improvised by he company, usually involving making audio recordings of local people to recall their history. In this case the subject of the play was The Knotty. The railways had quite a network of main and branch lines at one time, many of which have long since disappeared. Mike also recalls using the line from Hanley to Kidsgrove on one late evening (he cannot quite recall why!) but the memory of arriving on a dark and wet evening on a short train pulled by a steam loco will never be forgotten. Neither will the play which has been revived several times since then.
At Hem Heath, once the site of an important coal mine which supplied a power station at Meaford (both now disappeared) quite a few houses showed a placard protesting about a housing development. It seems that Barratt Homes is talking about developing the site adjacent to the relatively new estate. It never ceases to amaze how often people buy houses that have been built on formerly open areas only to protest when the next bit of development is planned!
The piece of graffiti amused - whilst the two main English political parties seem to be vying for supporting backwards-looking policies, we doubt whether this campaign will attract too much support! Not from schoolchildren, anyway.
Just before the main part of Stoke we paused for a lunch break - at least we managed to find a green space although the noise from nearby dual carriageways remained evident.
The city may be called Stoke-on-Trent but it is quite modest at this stage in its lengthy progress towards the sea. As we passed over it on a very short aqueduct, it is easy to miss just what is underneath!.
At Stoke Bottom Lock we began to have to join a queue at most of the locks up to the summit. Still, it gives a fleeting chance to chat and share canal experiences! It does, however, amaze how many people when asked where they have come from, struggle to remember where they started!
The canal museum at Etruria is not open very often - another boater said that they had struck lucky when they came this way recently and were able to visit when they had one of the machines in steam. It seems that grant cutbacks have severely hit their operation. Still, proggy mats don't take much steam!
Once through the top lock we reversed a short distance up the Caldon Canal so that we could use the services at Etruria Wharf. A boat was already on the water point so we had a little wait - but then once we had started to fill, another boat came along and had the same experience!
As we passed through the site of the former Shelton Iron and Steel Works - again now only a reclamation site - we went under a couple of former works bridges which now go from nowhere to nowhere!
Although many of the former potteries have long since been replaced by modern buildings (Newport is now a block of flats) Middleport still operates and offers a visitor centre, but was closed by the time we came by.
We eventually moored just before Westport - by about 100 metres as the main moorings were all full.
11.9 Miles - 10 Locks
No comments:
Post a Comment