Leek

It was a quiet cruise up to the end of the Leek branch.  We winded before the end of the canal and reversed back into the final stretch before mooring.  Whilst there is a winding hole at the end it’s too small for Waiouru at 58ft.

However I’m getting ahead of myself.  The Caldon Canal splits at Hazlehurst Junction.  Straight ahead to Froghall and slightly right takes you to Leek. 

A little further on the Leek Branch crosses over the top of the route to Froghall.

Both branches have tunnels towards the end.  The Leek tunnel is longer and higher.

What surprised us was there isn’t much earth above the tunnel.  It’s surprising this wasn’t made into a cutting rather than a tunnel. 

Even more interesting was the tunnel appeared to be lined in stone rather than the usual brick. 

We winded Waiouru before the end of the branch and then reversed down it 70 metres onto some armco piling.  The canal terminus was almost disappointing ending in a small overgrown basin beside a scrapyard.  There is a welcome plaque but no signs directing you towards the town.

The nearest supermarket (Morrisons) is a 20 minute walk from the basin and the town centre a further 15 minutes.  Jan and I did a trip to Morrisons and then I walked back into Leek to have a look around.  As usual, much of my time was spent looking upwards to identify any interesting buildings.

It’s a school…. With a rather grim and Victorian look.  I can imagine Harry Potter attending!

Roebuck Hotel.  Not a straight horizontal or vertical line in it.  There is a plaque stating 1649AD.  I love it!

In the centre of town is the rather new looking war memorial clock tower.  I assume it was built after WW1.

By contrast a couple of the churches look much older.

The Methodist church

The stonework on this one looked interesting.  I don’t think this tower is part of a church but unfortunately I wasn’t able to establish it’s purpose.

This is one of the better facades I’ve seen in Staffordshire

The domestic batteries have been consuming a significant amount of water since fitting the automatic top-up system.  The bulk charge usually starts at 165 amps and my assumption is they are gassing at the beginning of the cycle.  Morrisons had three 2.5 litre containers of battery water and we bought all of them.

A Quiet Day

Well for the first time we’ve not had internet coverage which meant the daily blog posts couldn't be published.  A weak signal has been captured by the aerial so this is yesterday’s post.  Today’s will be published this afternoon when we stop.
So here is yesterday’s post………………
If anyone thought there was no post on the blog yesterday then you probably didn’t realise for some strange reason Blogger decided to insert the post between the posts on the 20th and 21st.  I didn’t realise this had occurred until Jan asked why there was no post?  That’s when I realised there was a problem.  I had to go into the Blogger setting and change the date on yesterday’s post to accurately reflect the published date.  This rectified the problem.
The first task for the day was my regular weekly Skype call to dear old mum back in Perth, Western Australia.  She purchased a new cordless phone during the week and we now no longer experience the call dropping out after an hour.  A new battery probably would have fixed the problem, however she is determined to spend my inheritance before she heads off to meet the devil!
We must have cruised less than a kilometre today finding a vacant 24 hour mooring Endon where there are CRT facilities.  It was a relatively lazy morning before wandering up the lane to the Toby Carvery in Endon for lunch.  There was nothing wrong with the meal but the service was slow.  Jan had eaten her lunch by the time I returned to our table with mine.

The walk to the Toby Carvery took us over a railway line.  Actually there’s nothing particularly unusual about that as many of the canals have a railway somewhere nearby.  The canal surveyors looked for the most level route to minimise the expense of building locks or major earthworks.  The railway builders just copied them! 
This particular railway didn’t appear to be used very much.

The track has been sprayed to kill the weeds but the sleepers are timber and the rail is fish-plated.  The railhead has rust on it.  All signs of low traffic levels.  We crossed it again in Endon and this time it was more apparent that the line is disused.

Ironic that the railway probably replaced the canal and yet the canal has survived!  However some further research has revealed this is the closed Churnet Valley Railway and there are plans for its restoration with the Churnet Valley Railway Company reporting plans to reopen the line to Endon.  But even more research indicates reopening the line between Stoke and Caldon is being done by Moorland & City Railways.  They plan to return the line to commercial use.  Just like the canal, the railway may once again return to use!
Back at Waiouru there was time for some maintenance.  The faces on the oak veneer interior rear steps are becoming scuffed and stained by the toe and heel of shoes entering and exiting the boat.  Today I used the two non slip pads we purchased Crick to cover the face of the lower two steps.

The pads were going on the cratch gunwales but we’ll now have to buy four more.  Two fir the cratch and another two for the remaining stern steps.

Five Locks

It was yet another relatively early start to the day but on turning a bend we found a couple of young fishermen with a problem.  One of then had managed to catch something rather large. A tree on the opposite bank.  They looked even more worried about their predicament as Waiouru rounded the bend and headed towards them.  Much frantic waving on their part but we’d already noticed the problem. We nosed Waiouru’s bow into the bank on their side and called out for one of them to jump onto the bow.  Then we manoeuvred the bow to the opposite bank enabling him to free the line.  Finally we moved the bow back to the towpath side enabling him to alight.  Apparently we made his day as his mate told us he’d always wanted a ride on a narrowboat! 

Good deed done for the day we moved on and almost immediately we came to Stocktom Brook Locks.  A flight of five separate locks in a reasonable short distance.  The scenery was rather pretty and until you reached the third lock you might have thought the area was rural.  But the busy Leek New Road crosses the canal and you suddenly realise you’re surrounded by buildings behind the trees lining the canal.

This time I remembered to take a photo of the split footbridge across the lock.  We had read about this design but hadn’t particularly noted one until today.  Actually I assumed they were only found on the Stratford & Avon Canal!

You should be able to see the gap in the walkway in the above photo.  The design allowed the tow rope between the horse and the boat to drop through the gap avoiding the need to unhitch the hose and boat.  My assumption is the handrails are a later health and safety addition.
Waiouru had been manoeuvred into the top lock and Jan was closing the gates when I noticed the symbols carved into the stone on the lock walls.

A star

Triangle

Inverted triangle
The stonemasons would have been illiterate sub-contractors paid by the piece.  Each mason had their own symbol which they would use to identify their finished work and would be paid accordingly.
The canal from Stockton Brook Locks onwards is new territory for us and we had read it started to get quite attractive from this point.  Jan noticed a canalside property she decided would suit her.

But subsequently changed her mind when she saw this one!

Room for a pony!
Steering got a little tricky as we approached Endon Basin.  There was an obstacle in the middle of the canal and the gap to port didn’t look very wide.  However many other boats have been this way so there must be room to pass.

Looking back
We managed to get the end mooring on the 24 hour moorings located between Endon and Stanley.  That will do us for the day. 

Up the Caldon Canal

There are CRT services at Etruria Junction so we stopped to dispose of the rubbish and top up the water.  It’s a lovely spot and we might spend more time here on the way back.

James Brindley is watching us! 

I hadn’t realised this famous canal builder spent much of his life in Leek which just happens to be our current destination!  This isn’t our first time on the Caldon Canal.  In 2005 we hired a Black Prince boat for two weeks and completed the Cheshire Ring with a couple of days to spare.  The additional time allowed us to go up the Caldon as far as Engine Lock.  Later we read this was probably the least attractive part of the canal!

There is a staircase set of two locks at the start of the canal.

Looking back down the flight

A passing boater advised us there was a submerged double bed in the pound above the next lock.  Whilst we didn’t see a bed a four foot wide mattress floated past us.  I didn’t stop to retrieve it as our bed base is five foot!

Whilst there are mooring rings on the edge of the canal adjacent to the park above Planet Lock and the area looked tidy we didn’t stop as it seemed to be too close to a residential area.

It’s been eight years since we were last this way and the redevelopment is obvious.  New residential dwellings are replacing derelict factories.  It looks like some thought has also been given to improving the state of the canal with a long line of new moorings between the A50 and the lift bridge.

Two bottle kilns remain.  Hopefully they will not be demolished as they add ‘character’ to the area.

Note the new housing on the opposite bank.

The canal then starts to give the impression it’s become rural but if you look closer you’re never far from housing.  The towpath surface along this part of the canal is wide, well maintained and has a good bitumen surface.

We were hoping for a mooring near The Miner’s Arms pub but they were all occupied and so we pressed on finding a straight piece of armco piling just short of Engine Arm Lock.  Despite appearing to be rural we had numerous walkers and cyclists pass Waiouru well into the evening.

Long day and a reminder of Mr Moose

We weren’t the first away from our mooring this morning but we were still on our way before 7.30am.  With six locks between us and Etruria Junction it was obvious most of them would be against us.  And so it turned out.  Unfortunately the majority of the locks were towards the end of the cruise which had poor Jan working in the heat.

Just me attempting to be artistic

The Stoke locks all appear to be very deep.  Although we passed this way in 2003 on a hireboat only the last two were familiar. 

Some of the entry and exit angles are also slightly awkward.

I wonder how many boaters pause in the bottom of a lock and think about the weight and volume of water being held back by that gate!

It was Stoke Lock No37 that really caught our attention.  The road bridge immediately prior to the lock (Osborn Bridge) has a canal related plaque in the abutment.

What a nice tribute to Pat & Millie by their friends on the waterways.

Looking back and up from inside the lock there are two bridges overhead.  One is a rail bridge and the higher one is probably for pedestrians.

Both Jan and I remember Stoke Lock 39.  It was the first lock Jan had ever done on her own.  We had hired a boat from the Festival Park Marina in 2003 and been assisted through the top lock by one of the marina staff.  At the second lock we had moored the boat on the bollards above the lock and I had gone forward to fill the lock (after checking there wasn’t a boat below) and then opened the gate whilst Jan stayed with the boat.  As I reached the boat Mr Moose appeared from below the lock, scowled fiercely at us and then dropped the raised paddles… And I mean ‘DROPPED’ the paddles, scowled a second time and headed back down below the lock.

Jan worked me through the lock and as the boat exited there was Mr Moose on his boat waiting to enter the lock.  Being a complete novice, Jan was focussed on doing every action in the lock to leave it secure and she started closing the lower gates forgetting Mr Moose was waiting.  I called back to her to reopen the gates whilst Mr Moose roared and bellowed as if his testicles had been caught on an electric fence!   I remember him shouting at me “Go back where you came from!”  Being a gentleman I raised my hat to him and said “Have pleasant day sir!  Apparently this caused Mr Moose’s testicles to become even more entangled in the electric fence as he continued roaring and bellowing all the way into the lock.  Meanwhile Mrs Mouse scurried past Jan with her head down muttering “Sorry about that!”  We’re always going to remember Stoke Lock 39 as Mr Moose Lock!

On the left, just before Etruria Road is GT Thermal, a Calor gas retail outlet.  Dave (nb Sokai) had left a comment on an earlier blog post suggesting we wait until Stoke to buy a 13kg refill as GT thermal have a very good price.

Red arrow points to the location of GT Thermal.  The 13kg refill cost us £17.84.

We carried on cruising reaching the Festival Park Marina where we moored as I wanted to find out whether they could drill two holes in the top of Waiouru’s port handrail for a second cleat.  The reason I haven’t drill the holes myself is because my little battery drill wasn’t up to the task.  The engineer attempted to drill the holes but needed to borrow my 4.5mm HSS bit.  In the end he couldn’t drill the holes and broke my HSS bit leaving the end of it stuck down the hole.  Then there was a protracted operation on his part to remove the broken portion.  I’m making helpful comments like “Don’t make that hole any bigger as I need to thread it with a 5mm Tap”.  Eventually he managed to extract the remains of my steel drill bit and went off to find one from the marina.  He returned several minutes latter with another 4.5mm bit which went through the steel like a hot knife through butter.  So much for the quality of my new B&Q £6 HSS 4.5mm bit (now broken).

Back in the marina office I asked how much they wanted for drilling two holes.  No one had an answer so I offered £10, which was accepted.  I also accepted the engineer’s 4.5mm bit as a replacement for mine.  The holes are now covered with two small pieces of duct tape and a awaiting my attention to thread them before fitting the cleat.

We have winded Waiouru in preparation of cruising the Caldon Canal.

Wedgwood

One of the key characters behind the creation of the Trent & Mersey Canal was Josiah Wedgwood.  Josiah was trained as a potter before establishing his own business at Burslem using the money from his new wife’s dowry.  His problem was the road transport of his pottery resulted in a significant wastage through breakage.  Using a canal to carry the raw materials to his pottery and then the finished product to ports and cities seemed an excellent solution.  In the late 1930’s Wedgwood moved their pottery factory to a large piece of land near Barlaston.  This included a village and facilities for their workers.
Since 2009 Wedgwood has been owned by a USA based private equity company.  Our mooring was close enough to walk to the factory and showroom.

The grounds are well laid out.  The path from the canal leads to a rear entrance into the showroom.  The path through the grounds contained a number of cherry trees allowing both Jan and me to do some ‘fruit loading’!

The back way into the showroom passes some old factory machinery.

Trolley used to move the fired pottery from the kilns

This is a type of spindle mould for shaping plates and bowls.
We wandered around the showroom but nothing particularly captured our interest.  The crystal and china looked too modern for our tastes.  We must be getting old!

The route back to Waiouru required us to cross the rail line.  There was a small white cottage beside the level crossing.

In a previous life it might have been a rail employees supplied home.  The plaque above the arched door stated “Railway Cottage”.
At last we’ve finally been able to capture some photo’s of the local fauna.

Did you see it?

Jan managed to take a photo of a Heron out the side hatch before it flew off.

Meanwhile I was able to take a photo of a big fat pigeon sitting in a tree.

Now moored and inside Waiouru hiding from the heat of the day!