Stoke on Trent - The Potteries

Another lovely day saw us carry on through Stoke on Trent, passing the huge recycling plant / incinerator on our way.

The area around Stoke on Trent is known as The Potteries for obvious reasons. It's been the centre of the British pottery industry since the 1800's and one of the dominating features of the region are the 46 remaining bottle kilns which have been preserved as listed builings and can be found at various places along the canal system.  If you'd like to know more about The Potteries and bottle kilns you can read about it  HERE

 This pair of bottle kilns stand between 2 blocks of flats beside the canal at Hanley.

At Etruria C&RT have posted advisory notices on the locks.

You see plenty of boaters dropping the paddles instead of winding them down and I'm all in favour of trying to re-educate these people, but this particular paddle gear is physically incapable of being dropped. You HAVE to wind it down.  It's just typical of the old BW and new C&RT that the sign is posted in the wrong position. It would have been far more appropriate to post it on the lock below.

We moored for the night at Westport Lake.

It's the last mooring before Harecastle Tunnel which we'll be going through on Wednesday morning.  I'm not sure yet if I'll travel through the tunnel on the back of the boat with Roger, or make an excuse of doing the washing up and hoovering and hide inside. I'll let you know how I get on.