19 October 2023

Admiral Jenny was piped (well, saluted at least) onboard this morning. At last! Someone is in command!

Time to don the wet weather gear (again) and blow off the cobwebs! We had a date with the Harecastle Tunnel today and we didn’t want to be late.

John had been in constant contact with our good friend Rachel, at Black Prince, to book our passage through the Harecastle Tunnel. We have revised our ETA several times over the last few days and we were hoping not to do it have to do it again. The Tunnel keepers will only allow boats through in a certain direction, at certain times of the day and even then only a few can be in the tunnel at any one time. We had heard however, that we didn’t need a booking in the morning. Although we had booked for 4 pm, we were well ahead of schedule and would possibly arrive at the entrance at midday. There were two possible outcomes: the gate keepers would let us through at midday, or we would have to sit around twiddling our thumbs for a few hours til our booked time at 4!! The race was on!!

I allowed John, today’s Galley Slave, above decks to steer Ellie through this morning series of locks.

We worked our way efficiently through the 12 locks leading to the Harecastle.

The horses and cows watched as we “ zoomed by”.

As the weather improved the canal water, murky at best, began to turn that bright orange colour indicating we were getting close to our goal.

In just over two hours we had reached the tunnel, ready to plead our case to the gate keepers. They welcomed us with open arms. They were very happy to not have to wait around til 4 pm either.

Safety briefing and checks done and we were off. Putt- putting into the dark , cold and sometimes wet tunnel. Again!!

Judi and I were determined not to miss the scary skeleton this time. The story behind the skeleton is difficult to trace. One version tells of local students painting it during o-week. Suffice to say, it serves as a warning to all those who enter!!!

Our passage this time was different. There was no “light at the end of the tunnel” for us to focus on and gauge our progress. The doors at the southern end were kept closed while the big extractor fans at that end sucked the diesel fumes out of the tunnel enabling us to breath. The gate keeper only opened our gate with about 100 metres to go.

30 minutes after entering, we emerged into sunshine. Grahame (cabin boy ) did a sterling job delivering us (almost) safely through.

We putted our way back through the outskirts of Stoke-on-Trent, enjoying the industrial scenery. A real contrast to the country scenes of the last few days.

Before we knew it we were at Etruria and Ellie’s home port. A day and a half early. Can you believe it? After all our delays at the start of the trip, we had made excellent time and had some up our sleeve!!

Let’s go up the Caldon canal for a day?? Why not??

We veered left just past the Black Prince Marina. There was James Brindley standing proudly over his creation, The Trent and Mersey.

Our first lock was a 2 lock staircase which we negotiated with ease.

We made our way through industrial suburbia, amazed at the effort locals went to in creating back yard nirvana. Lots with a sense of humour.

“The Potteries” is the industrial area encompassing 6 local towns which now form the city of Stoke on Trent. The area became the centre for ceramic production in the early 17th century due to the local availability of clay, salt, lead and coal. (Josiah Wedgwood founded his Wedgewood Company here). The remnants of the pottery trade were evident along the Caldon Canal.

We had the opportunity to stop traffic yet again at a quiet little road crossing at Ivy House Lift Bridge.

It took a while but we finally made it back to the countryside.

It was getting late in the day as we made our final push towards Stockton Brook with a plan to visit the local pub for dinner. There were no moorings at the bottom of the five locks leading into the village and we had no choice but to push on.

Push on we did. Five locks later it was getting dark and still no moorings presented themselves.

Uh oh. Now it was really getting dark. I went ahead, at least a kilometre, along the tow path , searching for somewhere to stop. Ellie and the rest of the crew, now with spotlight on, found me further up the canal and we agreed we needed to “Free- range” moor at the first suitable spot.

Too far from a pub, we dropped anchor, and we made do with what we had on board for dinner.

Given the late mooring debacle, I felt it my duty to hand in my Admirals badge. Failure to find a pub was definitely worth a demotion.

Judi and Grahame won the Euchre game tonight leaving us with a very interesting score card. John, Grahame and I are all on 7 points and Judi is on 3. Tomorrow night ( our last) will be a biggie!!!