Thursday April 19th, Barlaston to Etruria Junction, Stoke on Trent

Mooring at Barlaston

Yesterday afternoon, evening and night brought the worst rain we have seen for a long time. Several torrential downpours punctuated the evening, and in between it was just heavy drizzle. Delightful!

We had decided to press on today as we remembered the Countryfile weather forecast saying that Thursday was likely to be better than Friday. If that remains the case, we must expect downpours of biblical proportions tomorrow as today has been just as wet as yesterday! ‘President’ & ‘Kildare’ are being launched on their journey to the Queen’s Jubilee Pageant Cruise tomorrow from Etruria Junction, and we fully expect to see Noah’s Ark accompany them.

Wedgewood Factory

If it is fine, we will both feel pig sick as we had a decidedly “moist”time of it today. Mind you, it was fine when we set off at 8.15, indeed there was a hint of something bright in the sky. Or was that my imagination?

By the time we got to the Wedgewood Factory, the gloom had come back and it was novel to see the firm’s lettering on their huge logo was actually blue – every time we have been by in the past the sun has always been in our eyes as we looked across and they just looked dark grey!

Trentham Lock, almost 12 feet deep

Trentham Lock inevitably was full – it always is for us. Despite a relatively remote location, it has anti vandal gear fitted on the top gates as it has been subjected to the attentions of the local wildlife on several occasions.

A short distance beyond and you enter the no doubt desirable Potteries suburbs of Trentham and Hem Heath. Fortunately the canal traveller is spared the worst excesses of 1970’s house builders, the canal being in a low cutting for most of the journey through. A pair of bridge abutments mark the site of a long lost railway bridge that carried the North Staffordshire Railways branch to Trentham. This marks the beginning of the end of the suburbs and there is a return to greenery of a sort.

Land to the left, and right (across the main line railway) is the site of former coal mining activity and nature has found it tough going in its attempts to reclaim the land.
        
After the collieries closed, part of the area was used as a sewage works, and part as an unauthorised tyre dump. However, a lot of redevelopment work has gone on in recent years and the land on the far side of the railway, and opposite the Britannia Stadium (home of Stoke City FC) has been turned into a large industrial estate and new ‘parkland’ areas have been opened up for the locals.

Once past here, and the vast City Council incineration plant with its huge chimney, “King Road” takes over. For the next couple of miles, the communities have been swept aside to make way for vast new dual carriageways. At times the canal is hidden from view behind modern high brick walls, sadly the never free of the unceasing din of the motor car and HGV.

Yet, occasionally, there is something of interest to quicken the senses. The former site of Kerr Stuart, the railway engineers is passed. Tom Rolt served part of his engineering apprenticeship here and the site still seems to have a railway connection as a collection of (newly built?) wagon or carriage bogies are lined up.

Soon after, a derelict pottery works quietly crumbles away, ramshackle additions give an almost romantic feel, punctuated by a surviving bottle kiln. A derelict boatyard with even more derelict looking boats follows, the boats optimistically “for sale”. The boatyard sign offers “Indoor Rifle Range, Bait & Tackle, Boats and Engines and Country & Western Line Dancing”. An eclectic mix of activities on offer!

The River Trent is then crossed on a modest aqueduct. It is much smaller in size than when we last crossed it at Great Haywood on our return from Tixall Wide. Despite its modest stature, there was certainly a lot of water pouring down its channel thanks to the rain we have had over the last few days! Ahead lay the former engineering workshops of the North Staffs Railway Company – now occupied by a host of small businesses.

Stoke Bottom Lock

The road network then takes over again with a four lane carriageway monstrosity roaring alongside until the canal dives into the bottom of the Stoke flight’s 5 locks. Even here the canal has not been left alone. The 1960’s road ‘improvements’ meant the line of the canal had to be altered and as the new road bridge over the canal crossed it at the then bottom lock. That was demolished and a new much deeper bottom lock was built to incorporate the bottom two locks.

Cockshutts Lock

Once through the bottom lock with its now private 1960’s lock cottage, the canal passes under some extremely low railway bridges to Cockshutts Lock, its name taken from the adjacent railway sidings.

Old Bottle Kilns at Twyford's Works

The canal now passes between a vast cemetery on the right, and the site of Twyford’s Cliff Vale Pottery Works. Only a pair of restored bottle kilns, incongruously sandwiched between modern apartment blocks, and the main road façade remain.

Through Twyford Lock, it is just a short distance to the top two locks taking you past Jesse Shirley’s ‘Etruscan Bone & Flint Mill’ with its attendant moored boats (‘Lindsay’ & ‘Keppel’ on this trip) to Etruria Junction itself.

We met boats at each of the last four locks which aided our progress no end. Having reached the canal’s summit level, we reversed back into the Caldon Canal to visit the sanitary station to empty the loo, fill up with water and get rid of the rubbish before returning very slowly (we had picked up a blade-full of gunk) to the junction and the visitor moorings just beyond it.

It has rained for most of our trip today, and, with a cool breeze, has been rather unpleasant. So much so that I will defer the delights of the weed hatch until the morrow! If tomorrow is fine and dry, I will say something unmentionable about Countryfile and its weather forecast.

We will remain here until Sunday morning, so we can make our rail trip to Sheffield and back on Saturday to see Kathryn in her G&S show.