Etruria

Tuesday 24 June 2014 – Etruria, Trent and Mersey Canal

Last Thursday I had an uneventful run to Stone where I moored for the week-end while I took a quick visit to Kendal, coming back yesterday.  The weather was full on sunshine, very unlike the Lakes as the hikers were in Tshirts and shorts rather than waterproofs.

Today was a late cruising start as I had a bank run to do first so only headed off at 09:50.  The run through the Measham Locks was uneventful and I was through by 11:00.  There is then a long run until the Trentham Lock just south of Stoke on Trent.  When I arrived at 11:55 I was the fifth boat then waiting, earlier there had been a queue of nine.  The holdup was because the Patron of the Caldon canal was paying a visit to commemorate the 50^th anniversary and the canal had been closed and I guess had also been cleared as there were very few boats moored up.  Oh the Patron is the Prince of Wales who required two boats one just for the security detail.

There was a group of us ‘Ice Breaker’, ‘Tolerance’, ‘Shadow’ and ‘Paws 4 Thought’ and it took us until 17:00 to get through from Trentham and the Stoke locks a run of 10 lock-miles which should’ve been only a bit over two hours!

The weather has been overcast for most of the day with only a few patches of blue, and just after mooring it threatened rain but only a few drops – just enough for those on the towpath to break out the umbrellas.