Through the tunnel at last

Thursday 3^rd September 2020

Up early, and we cast off and got under way at about 7am. The effort we had made yesterday in the rain now paid off, and we cruised down to the mouth of the tunnel with no problems, getting there right on 7:30.

Waiting on the tunnel mooring

On the way in

As it turned out we were the first to arrive, and we pulled forward on the mooring until we were at the tunnel entrance. A number of boats rolled up over the next half hour, about half a dozen or so. Eventually the tunnel keeper showed up, initially at a cabin on the other side of the canal, where he had a cup of tea and a cigarette before coming across a bridge. It was just after eight by then – he told us that he was about to be replaced by volunteers, so I suppose that he had no incentive to deliver customer care. Anyway he let himself into a door by the tunnel, and then emerged in a small craft which is used if anyone breaks down inside. After that he checked that we all knew the procedures, and we were free to proceed.

I was leading the convoy, which was slightly worrying, but we had to make a tricky turn to get into the tunnel mouth from the mooring, which took some time. That meant the boats were fairly well spaced out, and I did not feel I was under any pressure. Last time we went through, two years ago, I scraped the upper corners of our superstructure quite badly – the tunnel profile changes sharply several times, which makes it tricky. Perhaps I was going too fast then, so today I took it at not much above tickover, and I got all the way through without touching at all, except on the wooden rubbing beam where it narrows at the exit. The time didn’t seem much longer than on our previous trip, maybe a minute or two more in forty minutes overall.

On the way out of the tunnel, looking much more relaxed

Nice to be on the way again

It was raining, though not hard, and we pressed on towards Stoke – we were keen to reach Stone at least, to visit the M&S foodhall there and pick up supper. Loulie navigated for a few miles while I went below and had a shower – I had skipped that this morning to save time and get us under way quickly. About four miles after leaving the tunnel, in the centre of Stoke, we came to the first lock, and so began the long descent towards Shardlow. The Trent and Mersey Canal is one big humpbacked hill. From the tiny stoplock at Dutton it climbs through Middlewich and Sandbach, then up the 26 locks of the Cheshire Flight to the top pound at Kidsgrove. That runs through the Harecastle Tunnel and on to Stoke, and from that point it is all down hill to the eventual end at Shardlow and out onto the Trent.

There are five locks in Stoke, and then another fairly long pound as you leave southwards, past the Britannia Stadium. After the solitary lock at Trentham we stopped to give the dogs a very late breakfast, and then on to Stone. There are four locks in the Meaford (“meffud”) flight and then four more in Stone itself. This is a much more attractive town than Stoke – although it has a lot of industrial buildings, they are mostly 200 years old, from the heyday of the canals. Below the bottom lock we stopped on the water point and I topped up, because you always should, while Loulie went shopping.

On the waterpoint in Stone

We pressed on a couple of miles more after Stone, going down the solitary Aston lock. A little beyond that we found a very nice rural mooring near the tiny village of Burston. Across the fields on the other side of the canal there was a large but nicely proportioned Georgian farmhouse, and apart from that we were on our own. As we were sitting down before supper we were started by a knocking on the cabin window, which was on the off (canal) side of the boat. It turned out to be a swan, looking for bread, which we gave it. I assume that it has learned that knocking on boat windows has a good chance of producing food.

Mooring at Burston

TODAY: 10:45 HOURS. 19.3 MILES. 15 LOCKS.

Voyage: 26:10 HOURS. 50.1 MILES. 33 LOCKS.