A new oat crop in the early morning light
Our last ever view of Mow Cop
About to make the turn onto the Trent and Mersey Canal
The sign post at the junction
- we should be going through Burton on Trent a week tomorrow (that's if Lawrence has worked out his time, mileage and locks, lift bridges etc calculations correctly). On our way there though, we will be taking a little side trip up the Caldon Canal.
We arrived at the entrance to the tunnel to find no other boats waiting, yay. The plan had been to have bacon and eggs while we waited but the CRT man said they had let the 2 northbound boats in early and that we only had about 20 mins to wait. So Lawrence had to settle for muesli instead.
A little about the tunnel. The original tunnel was designed by James Brindleys, took 11 years to build, was 1 3/4 miles long and opened in 1777! There was no towpath and for 50 years the boats had to be legged through which took 2-3 hours per boat. Not surprisingly the tunnel became a serious boat bottleneck and the canal company commissioned Thomas Telford to dig another bore. With advances in technology over the 50 years, the second tunnel, equipped with a towpath, was complete in less than three years, opening in 1827.
Both tunnels were then in use - Brindleys taking southbound boats and Telfords north - until 1913 when Brindleys, Riddles with subsidence problems was abandoned. Telfords tunnel was closed between 1973-77 to deal with subsidence and during that time the towpath was removed.
The tunnel is 2676 metres long (and feels every bit of that).
The first northbound boat exits the portal
And five minutes later the second boat appeared
To a joyous reception from the CRT man cos the boat was delivering him a jar of coffee sent through by the CRT man manning the southern portal. If you are wondering about the colour of the water, it's red because of the iron in the soil hereabouts.
Now it's our turn, we entered the tunnel at 8.52am
You only get those two lights, then it is pitch black and the only light is the tunnel light on the boat, which, on hire boats, are not particularly good. Lawrence concentrated on steering and I concentrated on the ceiling height, which in places is exceedingly low, alerting L when he had to duck. We did a magnificent job; L didn't hit his head and we didn't touch a side, not even a kiss, the whole way through.
We emerged from the tunnel 42 minutes later. Next stop was Middleport Pottery, the home of Burleigh. The visitor moorings were full so we had to hang Aqua Life off the car park railings. Which meant, most unfortunately 😉, that Lawrence had to stay with the boat while I made a quick foray into the shop all alone🙂. Betty's order fulfilled, there was room in the box for a couple of more items and it seems a shame to waste the space! The. It was time to pay up (a bit of a shock) and supply a delivery address.I was stumped. Tradewinds is no good, the local parcel delivery guy won't come up our road and the shop would t accept a PO box - then the light went on, George and Rhondas new house in Bermagui - perfect.
Betty, remember I took some photos of your blue calico ware? I showed the pics to the shop staff, one of whom served us in 2014. They were really chuffed and exclaimed over some of the older shapes/styles, saying we should be making this and that again and borrowed the iPad to show her boss.
I could have taken much longer, so much to look at, not only in the shop, but in the museum and the other artisan shops and gallery's that have opened up in the complex, but Lawrence was on a mission to get well up the Caldon Canal today and I thought it politic not to linger.
Leaving Middleport pottery
One of their bottle kilns
Not many of the old potteries like Middleport have been saved, most are derelict, like this one or have been bulldozed
Heading down toward Etruria
At Etruria we made a left hand turn onto the Caldon Canal. We went partway up this canal with Betty and Geoff on NB Emily. This time Lawrence is determined to get to the end. We stopped at the services block for a rubbish disposal and just around the corner was a staircase lock, and the. A bit further on a single lock. Now I remember from our trip with Betty And Geoff that one of these locks had the most appallingly stiff ground paddle that Geoff and I had terrible trouble with. However in the intervening period CRT has done something magical, and so far these are the easiest winding gear and lightest gates locks we have encountered this year.
The first part of the canal is fairly drack or suburban, but then I t opens up into countryside
It drizzled and rained on and off most of the day and it was the first day we felt the cold
We ended up stopping short of our goal as Lawrence felt quite chilled. I was okay because I had been hopping on and off the boat and walking opening and shutting lift bridges and locks whereas Lawrence had been standing in the one spot, with slight variations for steering for most of the day.
Boat cleaning is on the agenda for tomorrow morning. We are due to pick up Tim and Mike at Cheddleton about 12.30 as they join us for our last week on Aqua Life.
16, maybe 17 miles, 10 locks, 3 lift bridges, 1 v.long tunnel in 9 1/4 hours
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