Up the Caldon

Saturday 23rd June. Etruria.

In to Hanley in the afternoon to look through the museum, The Spitfire is away having it's restoration completed and should be on display next year. in the meantime there is a modern skeleton of a spitfire where it will go. A visit to a mall to forful a Diana need then back to the boat.

Sunday 24th June. 4 miles 3 locks, 2 lift bridges.

Diana walks to the first 2 locks which are a staircase. Has a think about it for a while then sets them with the bottom one empty and the top one full. we are going up. All works according to plan and we wander through some sharp corners as we leave Stoke on Trent. I remember having trouble getting Llanarrow around them 8 years ago and now having the same trouble with a10ft shorter boat. We pull up at a pub just before Milton to see if they do Sunday Roasts later in the day as Jim & Anne will be passing through. Place not suitable so we move on a few hundered yards and moor up. Jim gives us a call mid afternoon and we pass on our location. They are just 9 miles away and we are soon together. We decide on a canal side pub at Denford that we are driven to. A couple of pints and a meal then time to go back to the boat so Jim & Anne can drive home to Preston.

Monday 25th June. 7 1/2 miles, 5 locks, 1 tunnel.

We continue up the Caldon to the point where the Leek branch diverges to the right then crosses over the main line which is now 3 locks below. This is new to us and is a lovely canal but which after going through a tunnel terminates short of Leek. After turning the boat ready for the return trip we moor up have tea then walk the 1/2 hour into Leek. We had been here before by car with Alan & Marian. Diana remembers a lot more than I had. Some interesting brick and other buildings which had us taking photos till dusk before a long trek back to the boat. absolutely buggered.

Tuesday,26th June. 5 miles. 5 locks, 1 tunnel.

Back track down the Leek Branch to do a you turn back onto the main line. Down three locks, under the Leek Branch and then just around the corner is the Holly Bush Pub. This is where we had eaten on Sunday. It is lunch time with no moorings outside we go around the corner to find one and walk back. A long lunch, a pint, hot day, two more locks and we are done for the day. We soon find a wall to moor up to. It is a bit high for Diana to climb off the boat but time out is required..

Wednesday 27th June. 1/2mile. 30miles on a stream train.

I take a walk and find a spot right outside The Boat Inn at Cheddleton and across from the Railway station. We buy an all day rover ticket. The Tea and scones special was full so missed out there. It was a bit of a pity as the dinning car was called "Diana". The train, pulled by a small Tank engine travels west to Froghall where we are off for 30min while the engine changes ends before heading east past Cheddleton to Leek Brook Junction. There is no station here so we stay aboard as the engine swaps ends again before returning to Cheddleton. What next? Do it again but this time we get a bite to eat at Froghall during the change ends performance. So thats it twice, remember today is a day for taking it easy so we do it again, They only do three trips a day. For a variation we get off at Consall, the stop before Froghall. This is a station in the middle of bush which is proudly looked after as part of the Vintage railway scene as it was in the 50-60's. Plenty of photo oportunities here. Talked to an engine driver who had much knowledge of steam operations. More photo's as the train came to pick us up and complete the last run of the day. Sitting on the boat The Boat inn looked inviting so after a pint and a meal it was bed time.

Thursday 28th June. 5miles, 3 locks.

A bit of a different start to the day. I was up early to put some paint on the boat before the heat set in. About 7 we get a knock on the boat asking to borrow a phone. This dog walker had found a deer stuck in a lock struggling to get out. He rang 999 and I picked up a windlass and rope before heading down the towpath to a lock he said was 3 miles away. 30 mins later, either a fast walker or a short 3 miles, I find the deer still struggling in a full lock. Best option is to empty the lock and hope he can stand on the bottom I hooked the rope around his antlers to hold his head above water. He couldn't touch the bottom of the empty lock so I talked to him as we waited the 10 min for the emergency services to arrive and take over. It was not to long before we opened the gate and negotiated him out of the lock and eventually he bolted across some farmlad towards the bush.
For the rest of the day Diana and I set off past the lock of drama where I explained what happened. After stopping for water at Consall Forge we continued past the Consall Railway station. The station and canal are so close that we pass under the cantilevered platform. The next lock was the limit of our travel in 2010 as it was the last place to turn a 70ft boat. With Molly Rose at 60 ft we could now continue to Froghall. Well almost as there is a low and narrow tunnel 400 yds before the end. We moored up and walked the rest to take the photos. We have now completed the Caldon Canal and Leek Branch. An interesting event was when in a narrow bit of the canal we meet two boats comingthe otherway (only boats we had seen all day) they decided to back up and we passed further on.

Friday 29th June. 51/2 miles, 5 locks.

We walked back to the Froghall Basin to look at the basket making place and visit "Hetty"s Tea Shop" which had been recomended by one of the boaties we passed  yesterday. I would say the best cafe type food we have had here and at a reasonable price too. It has my recomendation for boaters and other travellers to partake. After that Lunch we head back up the canal and end up outside the Flint Mill at Cheddleton. Take the evening walk into town, visited a School Fayre and ended up at the Black Lion which had been recomended by a local a few days ago.