Pottering Up To The Potteries

After a wet night, the morning was forecast to be dry, before more rain came in, so we set off for a short run to Wolseley Bridge. As usual, we stopped at the first space we found and Sue went ahead to then see if there was anywhere better. Through the bridge there was one space that was much more open, with better access to sunlight for the solar panels but just as she was calling me to come down, another boat arrived and pipped us to the post! Such is life but at least we had the space we had already secured.

One reason for stopping here was to visit the Wolseley Centre, run by the Staffordshire Wildlife Trust, just up the road. Despite the forecast rain we decided to go up there, anyway and see how it went. The centre turned out to be a really well-run place, with an excellent café for some lunch and a nicely laid out range of woods, ponds and meadows to explore.

Worseley Centre Boardwalk

At one point a couple of lambs decided to come over and say hello to Archie. I think he was more confused than they were.

Lambs To The Slaughter

We had one heavy shower, with some hail and thunder mixed in but were lucky enough to be standing by the gazebo at the time and could shelter until it blew over.

A Convenient Refuge

We stayed here overnight and set off on foot the next morning for a walk up to the Shugborough Estate at Great Haywood. Apart from the towpath, by which we intended to return, we couldn't find any way to get there other than walk along the A513 for about twenty minutes. It wasn't the most pleasant stroll but the road wasn't too busy and after about a mile, accompanied by the steady rattle of gunfire from the Oakedge clay pigeon shooting centre on our left, we reached the boundary of the National Trust estate at Sweetman's bridge. From there we could walk along the River Trent and through the parkland to Park Farm and Shugborough Hall.

Shugborough Estate

The estate is  bounded by the river but close to the junction of the Trent & Mersey and Staffordshire & Worcestershire canals, so, after a coffee at the dog-friendly Park Farm café and a tour of the gift shop, we could just cross the bridge to leave the park and pick up the towpath. As we left, Archie picked up a bag of very posh treats from the lady at the exit. Apparently they had been handing these out for the Coronation Day celebrations and had some left over.

There was a quite fierce, ten minute, cloudburst as we emerged onto the canal bank. We were lucky again to find ourselves right beside the bridge below Haywood Lock and could shelter there until, as suddenly as it started, the rain stopped and the sun came through again. From here we could follow the towpath all the way back to the boat at Wolseley Bridge.

On Thursday, we managed another four miles or so, aiming for a forty-eight hour mooring shown near a place called Ingestre. We passed the route we had followed back on foot the day before and as we arrived at Haywood Lock, the heavens opened again. Not so lucky this time, we had to work through the lock and move up to Great Haywood junction in the rain to tie up, soaking wet, at the Anglo Welsh base there. We basically needed all the services and took the opportunity to top up the diesel tank. By the time we had moored up, the rain was stopping and the sun came out to dry us off quite nicely. The bank opposite was lined with work boats and a range of contractors vans behind them. We thought they might be from HS2, which is intended to despoil the countryside north of the junction soon but actually they turned out to be working with CRT on towpath improvements between the junction and Tixall Bridge on the Staffordshire & Worcestershire. What they were actually doing was sitting on the bank in the, now warm, sunshine, fishing.

This part of the canal has long stretches where the bank is too rough, shallow or overgrown to get in to the side. When we reached our destination, we found that the section with mooring rings was only long enough for one and a half boats, with one already there. We could tie up the front rope and luckily we were just able to haul the back in, through the silt, to allow us to secure the stern line to a couple of pins.

It was quite a nice spot, in the middle of nowhere and we had wondered about stopping more than one night. Our neighbours had a couple of cats, apparently, so we needed to keep Archie on a lead. Then, I went out to explore what looked like reasonable access to the villages around and found that the paths shown mostly just led to signs warning that the track beyond was private with no public access, so we moved on the next morning through Weston and Salt to Sandon Lock.

Approaching the lock we, again, initially, stopped below the lock to ensure we didn't get caught out and this seemed to cause some confusion for "Itchy Feet", coming up behind us, although we were nowhere near the lock landing. However, there was a boat coming down so, once they had worked it out, they were very happy to go ahead and take the empty chamber. It turned out that there was a much nicer space above the lock and no-one turned up to pinch it while we made our way up, in our turn.

The little village of Sandon was the other side of the railway line so we had to go up to the road and follow it up to the junction with the A51 by the gates to Sandon Hall. It was less than a quarter of a mile but the narrow 'B' road, with no footway, crosses the railway on a blind dogleg and you feel you are taking your life in your hands since the approaching traffic has no idea you are there and you can't see them coming, so you have to proceed by ear.

If you make it safely, you can cross the busy main road, by the pub on the corner and access the footpaths through Sandon Park. It is a wedding venue these days and not open to the public but you can walk through the grounds and we followed a pleasant route through fields and meadows, up a steep escarpment and past Pitts Column erected in tribute to the memory of Pitt The Younger. It is a twenty-two metre high column set in the specially planted Monument Plantation. It was obviously intended to be seen from miles around, including from the canal. Unfortunately, the plantation has grown up so well that the column is barely visible.

On the way, we passed an impressive "timber framed" house with some genuinely impressive chimneys

'Timber Framed' House in Sandon Park

as well as this magnificent folly standing entirely isolated in the sheep fields.

The Restored Trentham Tower Folly

Originally part of Trentham Hall, which was demolished in nineteen ten, it was re-constructed here in nineteen-twelve. It was fully restored in two thousand and sixteen and looks in great condition.

We descended to the valley and crossed the canal at Salt Bridge, which seems to be a standard canal bridge design with an ornate top, presumably to be in keeping with its location by Sandon Hall.

Salt Bridge - Unusually Ornate

Saturday, was fine and dry with a pleasant breeze so we set out on a walk in the opposite direction. Skirting round Pea Hill we went through a hamlet called Hopton up to Hopton Heath. We were intrigued by an old farm building that we passed. It seemed to have always been a a barn or stable but it had very ornate patterns of brickwork in its construction.

Posh Brickwork For An Old Barn

Perhaps people had actually once lived in one part of it.

We had climbed steadily up to this point and were now on a ridge that was the site of a small but significant battle of the first civil war, in which both sides ended the day claiming victory. From the names on the map, there must have been some brick-making industry here and the many small coverts along the ridge suggest it must also have been a managed shoot, perhaps for Sandon Hall.

There was construction work going on here, some sort of large wooden chalet being erected without foundations. It was very substantial and we had some reservations about the way the piers the building was sitting on had been put in.

Quite A Large Structure For Such Rickety Piles

The stacked slabs of concrete paving, padded out with bits of brick looked rather unstable to our untrained eye.

Passing through woodland we emerged from the trees and found we hadn't appreciated quite how far we had climbed. We now had a really good view over the valley and looking down on the village of Salt, between us and the canal below. We dropped down to Salt, itself, arriving through a series of paddocks and met one very embarrassed looking young horse.

They Made Me Wear This - Honest!

Arriving in the village we stopped for a coffee at the Holly Bush Inn, before picking up the towpath and following it back to the boat.

About six forty-five along came the Black Prince boat 'Iola'. Approaching the lock from the north the boat was all over the cut, so it seemed reasonable to suppose that the all female crew, all of a certain age and with a strong northern flavour to their accents, had picked the boat up in Stoke-On-Trent that afternoon and were on their first ever trip on the canals. They were broadside on for the third time and trying too hard to fight the silt they had drifted into. I let Sue be the one to offer them hints on helmsmanship but from the towpath they were too far away for us to take a line or physically help them. They had a go at backing up and were veering in towards the moored boats. The owner of one, clearly in fear of a collision, had come out to give them more advice. We were on our way out at the time and couldn't stay to watch the end but looking back from the lock, we could see that the other boater was now on board and at the tiller to help them get onto the lock landing.

Although it meant braving the road walk again, we had booked ourselves in to the Dog & Doublet for a birthday meal. Originally, this coaching inn was named The Pack Horse. According to the fun fact framed in the bar by the current owners, the Lewis Partnership, in the eighteenth century, villagers were so taken with a performing dog at the local fair who wore a doublet, that they renamed the pub after it. I did find another theory on a local history site. They claim the inn was renamed following a local murder, when the victim's dog dragged his blood stained doublet to the inn, thus raising the alarm. Whatever the background to the name, this was another establishment that appeared to be very busy and operating at full bore, suggesting that the entertainment industry isn't suffering quite as badly as they would have us believe. Our only, rather perverse, complaint was that the service was too quick. We had barely drawn breath after the last mouthful of starter before the main course was bearing down on us. Hardly the worst problem imaginable.

Sunday Fourteenth May took us up to Stone, quite a famous name on the canals, although the excellent chandlery there has disappeared. We had a good run up, hot on the heels of a boat called "Whisper", who were also planning to stop here overnight. They told us they were moving their boat from it's base at Great Haywood to a new home in the marina at Cropredy, Mike & Leslie Fielding's adopted retirement village. The couple on "Whisper" have now moved house to Plymouth and believe the boat will be more accessible in Oxfordshire. I did point out that they were going a very long way round but they said they were not on any schedule and just fancied one more trip to Stone, after which they would turn round and start their journey in earnest.

I took Archie for a long walk out to the east of Stone, starting with a very steep climb that repaid the pain with some great views of the countryside around.

On the way back we had a look at a plaque near Star Bridge that describes the origins of this canal.

Stone's Canal Story

Wedgwood was a key driver for the plan to build a canal to link the Trent and the Mersey. It seems a meeting was held on thirtieth December in seventeen sixty-five (no two week break for Christmas in those days) at which it was agreed to apply for the Act required. There were objections from both of the river navigations, the packhorse owners and the waggoneers. These protests were all dealt with and the Act successfully passed on fourteenth May seventeen sixty-six, less than five months from the first agreement to apply for it. They knew how to get things done in those days! Stone became the headquarters of the canal company and the canal was popular with the local people who celebrated the opening of the Stone section and the arrival of the first boats in November seventeen seventy-one with great enthusiasm and the repeated firing of cannon. Sadly, this caused the collapse of one lock and a bridge and badly damaged another bridge such that the boats were then unable to return.

They also had an elaborate 'Welcome To Stone' sign that I thought was very impressive.

Welcome To Stone

We left Stone on Monday morning, heading for Barlaston. We were booked in to Festival Park Marina, a Black Prince base in Stoke On Trent, on Tuesday, ready to leave the boat there for a week or so while we took a trip home. From memory, on our previous trip up this stretch we had found good, safe mooring here at Bridge 103 and it allowed for a good run in to the centre of Stoke and the security of the marina the next day. Next to the bridge is the Plume of Feathers, a canal side pub owned by Neil Morrisey, a fact heavily leveraged in both the décor and in its advertising. If anything, the area seemed even more genteel than we remembered from four years ago. We were just one bridge short of the Wedgwood Visitor Centre but despite a sign saying they were open every day we had checked and they were closed on both Mondays and Tuesdays, so we couldn't visit after all. Instead I took Archie out for our walk up to the village of Barlaston via the park around the Hall.

Barlaston Hall

The pub looked sad and closed, presumably failing to compete with the allure of a landlord who had starred as Rocky in 'Boon'. The village green was very neat and pleasant with a special Coronation bench recently installed.

The New Coronation Bench

Barlaston Village Green

Sadly, the village church was rather less appealing

Barlaston's Rather Disappointing Parish Church

Heading along neat, well-defined footpaths we made our way down to the railway bridge south of the Plume of Feathers and took ourselves back up the towpath. On the outskirts you pass a property that looks absolutely ideal for the canal enthusiast. A good sized house with a mooring and its own little dry dock in the garden.

The Perfect House For The Canal Enthusiast

Chatting to a boater heading back from the local shop we heard it had just been sold but neither of us felt we had the wherewithal to have made a bid of our own. A bit further on was an amazing display to brighten up the towpath.

Archie Inspecting An Impressive Floral Display