First thing today we needed water and rubbish disposal. So we headed for Etruria services which means entering the start of the Caldon Canal. There is the full bag of works here including pump-out if you want that. Fill was slowish and by the time we had reversed out nb Maggie Ann, with which we had struck up chat with at the Harecastle entrance, was at the Stoke Top Lock landing. We followed them down without too much delay as they were kindly cracking the back paddle for us when leaving ahead, at least for the first three, then we got mixed up with opposite direction stuff. Below Stoke the canal seems quite deep and so fast until Trentham. Below Trentham Lock there always seem to be boats moored, no doubt because of the nearby Wedgwood Pottery visitor centre. Worth a visit!
After Barlaston we found offside vegetation growth troublesome, partly obscuring visibility ahead on corners, but also passing opposite direction traffic. At Meaford, the second lock down has a top paddle culvert obstruction which makes filling very slow, so we had quite a wait at the top as boats were sensibly not turning the top lock round but waiting for the opposite traffic. The problem is posted on the lock beam with a very elegant permanent looking notice promising action, but to be honest it is a very difficult problem to deal with and would, I am sure involve draining the lock just to investigate. If the culvert has collapsed then I imagine that a new gate with a gate paddle would be the way to go. Arriving at Stone there were no moorings to be found in the central area, so we continued on to the end of the line below the bottom lock and the 14 day moorings.
Comments