Aston Marina

It's been another glorious day and the solar panels have been working well.

We set off down through Stone locks meeting boats at almost every one.  There were people everywhere, presumably because of the Food & Drink Festival still being on, and we had quite a large audience at Star Lock.

We got to Aston Marina at 1.30 and moored on the vistor moorings for a couple of hours while we recorded the Grand Prix and went in the Bistro for a really good Sunday roast lunch. Later on we moved into what will be our new home for a while and I've been chilling out in the sunshine while Roger caught up with the GP.

We're really impressed with what we've seen of the marina so far. The facilities are superb and everyone is really friendly.

Chico seems quite happy here too......

Stone to Stoke

When I opened the blinds on Sunday morning I could hardly see across the canal and the bridge which was 50 yards away was just a hazy outline. It was thick fog, the first we’ve had so far this year. That didn't deter a hire boat though, as it went rushing past at 8am with all the curtains shut and a solitary figure on the back clutching his mug of something or other. He didn't slow down when he went past us and next thing there was a loud bang as he'd driven into the bridge. He must have been in one hell of a rush to get somewhere as it hardly slowed him down and I heard the revs increase again when he finally made it through the bridge hole.

By 11am the fog had burnt off and it was another glorious day so we carried on to Stone and found a mooring quite easily. We had a wander over to the Food and Drink Festival but they were charging £6 each to get in and the beer tent was run by the Titanic Brewery and Roger doesn't like their beer, so we didn't bother. Later in the afternoon I was shopping in Morrisons and overheard a conversation where the people were complaining that they'd been to the festival, but they thought everything on sale inside was very overpriced and they wouldn't bother going again.

There's a new Aldi supermarket in Stone and after a quick trip to re-stock the cupboards this morning we carried on up Stone and Meaford Locks. Most of the locks on the Stone flight leak badly, this was one of the better ones!

We're now moored near Stoke on Trent, opposite Stoke City Football Club. It's a lovely spot, just a shame we're right beside the busy main railway line.

A long days cruising

It's been a long day's cruising today, by our standards anyway. We set off about 10.30 and went down the locks through Stone to fill up with water just below Star Lock. While the tank was filing Roger nipped into Stone for some compost to plant up the tomatoes as they'd outgrown their pots and were ready to go up on the roof.
It's been threatening to rain all day but we actually managed to get away with only one light shower and I was inside washing the dishes at the time so it didn't bother me.
There have been quite a lot of boats moving today, luckily they were mostly going in the opposite direction and we managed to time it right at about half of the locks so that we went in as one came out. I'm getting quite good at steering the boat into and out of the locks now. I might just have to carry on and let Roger do all the hard work. At Hoo Mill Lock there was a rusty old steam engine hidden in a shed in someone's garden, such a shame, it was crying out to be restored.

We arrived at Tixall Wide too late this evening. By 5pm all the moorings were taken, so we turned round and went back down to the junction and moored on the main line.

We'll move back to the wide tomorrow when some of the boats leave. As it happens it turned out for the best, as just after we'd moored up Ned from Cabincare phoned. He'd seen us passing Great Heywood Marina and was inviting us out for a meal tonight. That's wonderful! I couldn't decide what we were having for dinner so now I don't have to cook anything and someone else can do the dishes too!

On to Stone

It seems there have been several incidents of vandalism at some of the locks on the Trent and Mersey canal and BW have now installed the same type of anti-vandalism devices here as we found on the Huddersfield Narrow canal. Lock nos. 35 (Trentham Lock) and 40 (Etruria) now need handcuff keys to operate them.

Fancy lock marker at Trentham Lock

Passing through Barlaston we came across this mobile library, complete with huge satellite dish for mobile internet access.

We're now moored on the visitor moorings above Stone. It's a fair walk into town, but we took the granny trolley and went to Morrison's to re-stock the fridge. When we got back we'd been joined by 2 other boats, one of which is obviously growing potatoes as there were 2 large sacks on the towpath. They must take up a lot of room in the cratch when they're travelling.