Got away about 7:30 this morning for the drive to Stoke-on-Trent to drop off the car and pick up the narrowboat. We planned to have breakfast along the way but that didn’t happen. Had a quick look at Chester on the way through and then hit the motorway for the trip to Stoke-on-Trent. We had quite heavy rain along the way so we were hopeful that it would fine up for the afternoon.
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| 'Downtown' Chester |
Caught a cab back to ‘Black Prince’ at 12 o’clock and was shown over the boat (Charlene) by Colin. He also took us through the first two locks which were just out of the marina on the Trent and Mersey Canal. We had chosen to do the Four Counties Loop which would mean we would need to be motoring for about 8 hours a day to complete it in our 7 days on the boat. The Trent and Mersey Canal is 150.5 km long and we were on it from Etruria Junction (at Stoke-on-Trent) to Haywood Junction. It is quite narrow for much of its length, with most of the locks being only big enough for a single narrowboat, 2.1 m wide by 22 m long.
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| 'Charlene' at the Black Prince Marina |
As its name implies, the Trent and Mersey was built to link the River Trent at Derwent Mouth (in Derbyshire) to the River Mersey. The plan of a canal connection from the Mersey to the Trent ("The Grand Trunk") came from canal engineer James Brindley. The canal was built from 1766 -1777 and has 70 locks and five tunnels. The Grand Trunk was a part of a larger scheme of Brindley's to link the four main rivers of England (Trent, Mersey, Severn and Thames) in a project known as the "Grand Cross".
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| On the Trent and Mersey Canal |
It didn’t take long to get the hang of the locks – open the paddles to let the water in/out; open the gates to let the boat in; close the gate and paddles; go to the other end of the lock; open the paddles to fill/empty the lock; open the gates; drive the boat out; close the gate and the paddles; and you’re through. We need to do that 94 times on our trip. It doesn’t sound as if it will be too relaxing.
Initially, we travelled through the built-up area of Stoke. Lots of defunct industry sites. Historically there was a lot of ceramics and steel production happening here. Soon, however, we were out in the country and followed the canal for the rest of the afternoon past Barlaston to Stone where we tied up for the night.
We had a bit of a walk back for dinner but this is not a problem. All the canals have a towpath along their banks, used originally by horses to pull along the narrowboats. Today they’re used by walkers, cyclists, anglers and others. Like the public footpaths, they are a great asset to this country.
Dinner was at the Starr Inn (built in the mid 1700s), a quaint jumble of differently-sized rooms with low ceilings, solid beams and stone floors. A notice outside informed us that it is listed in the ‘Guinness Book of Records’ as the English pub with more levels to it than any other. We were very happy with our meal.
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| The Star Inn, Stone |
The town of Stone itself is an old market town and it was here that the Jacobite advance on London (that we heard so much about while in Scotland) came to an end. After dinner, Jill and I went to see if Morrison’s would be open early in the morning (no such luck) and we went for a walk down the cobbled main street before returning to the boat. The town was quite busy with lots of restaurants doing a roaring trade.
