*****Is going there and back to see how far it is.*****













Hi I am Jo…wife, lover, best friend and soulmate to Keith. Lover of all things to do with nature and the canals. I am passionate about the Waterways and its history.


I hope you will join me in my rambles and do please comment – I love to hear from and meet new people in blogland!

Life on the cut through my eyes.

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*****Stay safe and warm out there..*****













Tuesday 6 March 2012

Barlaston to Harecastle Tunnel South Portal.

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Travelled 8.6 miles, worked 6 locks in a time of 4 hours 30 minutes.

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A foggy old start to our days cruising.

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We could hardly see anything in front of us, even the Wedgwood sign on the factory was difficult to see.

We were fortunate that the locks were pretty much in our favour and by the time we got to Etruria, the sun had finally managed to burn the fog away.

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We had a very peaceful run through Stoke Locks and only saw one other boat on the move until we reached Harecastle Tunnel, when another boat appeared having left the tunnel. Whilst in the top lock at Etruria, I went and got rid of rubbish and emptied the toilet cassette, to save us doing it on the other side of the tunnel tomorrow.

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Stoke is very much the old and the new, with the old factory in the background and new apartments in the foreground. There is still such a lot of room for improvement, with vast swaths of land empty of buildings, where the old factories have been knocked down.

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It is lovely to see Middleport Pottery is still going strong though.

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I just love the old bottle kilns.

I had put some sausage rolls in the back cabin stove whilst doing the Etruria locks, which we enjoyed with coffee as we passed Westport Lake.

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The time seemed to fly by on today's cruise and before we knew it we were at Harecastle Tunnel.

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Before mooring up, we topped the water tank up and chatted to BW workers painting the bollards and other things. They had said we could have gone through the tunnel today if we wanted, but we are in no hurry, so said we would wait till the morning which is when we are booked in to go through.

During the afternoon friends Teresa & Andy from Trentham came to see us with their dogs. Keith had seen Teresa in her bedroom as we passed this morning. Apparently she had a perfect photo lined up as we were passing by in the fog, and just as she pressed the shutter, her dog jumped in front of the window and spoiled the photo! In the doghouse tonight for him then.

We are all ready for our trip through the tunnel in the morning now.

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