All present and correct.

Martin and Margaret meet Judit!

After the successful arrival of our third crew member, Judit, on Saturday, we stayed in Great Haywood for one more night to attend the marina's annual Hog roast and general knees up, before setting off up The Staffordshire and Worcestershire canal on a reasonably bright shiny Sunday morning. Having survived wind rain and sun in rapid succession and sometimes together, we moored up at Penkridge where we treated ourselves to a roast beef dinner in The Boat, whilst taking the opportunity to catch highlights of the Hungarian Grand Prix and some glimpses of the Olympics, which we left east London to avoid!

Waterproofs on, waterproofs off, sun lotion on!

Monday evening brought us to the Fox and Anchor at Coven, although we did not venture in this time, but had a tasty home-made curry and some nice South African red wine. And now we are safely onto the Shropshire union canal and have moored up for the night just short of Brewood, (pronounced Brood), this time with no pub in site!

Not the comfy armchair!

The ill fated chair

Today we sawed a chair in half, as you do. The previous owners of our boat left a dark brown leather look bucket chair on board. We wondered why they didn't take it with them..that is, until we tried to get it out of the boat, to facilitate use of the new sofa bed! We tried it every which way and it was no go! I think they must have built the boat around it! Our guest is arriving tomorrow and needs to be able to sleep on the sofa bed. So out came the saw and with much puffing and not a few harsh words the sad chair was dismembered and finally exited the boat. It felt  really cruel to be destroying a perfectly good chair, but it had to go.The saloon now looks twice the size and the sofa bed clic clacs out nicely. Still feeling guilty though, it was comfy!

We're here and to prove it, we've arrived

Arrived back at the boat this afternoon ready for  Mike's 60th birthday tomorrow and away from the start of the Olympic games almost in our back garden,  followed by a hog roast on Saturday evening.
Looking forward to the arrival of our good friend Judit tomorrow...I hope she finds it ok, as she is driving solo for the first time, after years of being the co-pilot.

Home again, home again jiggety jig!

We got back to Great Haywood marina late on Tuesday afternoon after a leisurely four hours cruising. Another little voyage over. Wednesday proved a more pleasant day and was spent cleaning the boat from top to bottom,  bags were packed , the car loaded and we set off home at around 4 o'clock, sad to leave on such a beautiful day, when further boating beckoned. However, arriving home, it was good to see sons and cats (including a new addition, who seems to have adopted us!) and my, how the rhubarb has grown!

Nearly home.

Only one day's cruise away from the marina, we are moored up for the night near Aston,but not really anywhere. Quite noisy from the railway line, but it'll quieten down later I'm sure. After a day off yesterday for Mike to recover from an overdose of locks, we pushed on through Stone today, pausing only to take on fuel and replace a gas canister. This journey is nearly at an end and time to go home and sort out a bit of "real life". We didn't choose the name The Great Escape, the boat was already named, but it's turned out to be very appropriate.

Tails of the unexpected!

The Wedgwood  factory and visitor centre at Barlaston

Water stop at Etruria junction

A heavy day yesterday coming back through Stoke on Trent and back down to Barlaston, but just beyond the city centre, I saw the strangest thing. Looking into the water as I went along, a small branch was sticking up and on it was a small round, mud coloured disc about the size of a tea plate. As I drew level, a pair of beady eyes looked up at me, showing an orange throat, and into the water slipped a substantial terrapin! Not native to British waters, I suspect it was once a pet that got too big or aggressive for the terrarium which had  been released to take its chances in "the wild". They're fierce little creatures I've heard. Watch out ducks!

At the end of a long day....

Rain, rain go away...

Rain seems to have been a recurring theme in my blog this year. After the threat of drought and an ensuing  hosepipe ban earlier in the year, it has hardly stopped raining since or so it seems. Today we stayed put as the rain began at about 4 a.m this morning and has finally stopped at around 7 p.m. As we have 12 locks and 3 lift bridges to do on the next stage of the journey, we decided that today was not the best day to move on. I suppose if it's raining tomorrow we may have to bite the bullet anyway, and just shower dodge as best we can. Meanwhile, a little bit of blue has finally emerged with a hint of sunshine, so we're enjoying it while we can.

But it was worth it!

At Flint Mill: I expected a hobbit to walk round the corner at any moment!

Having trailed through the not so pleasant environs of Stoke earlier in the week, we had a slightly negative attitude to what we would find beyond. But a few days down the line and despite vast amounts of rain, I can truly say that it was worth persevering with the Caldon canal.

We have seen some stunning scenery, moored in some great places and last night visited The Hollybush, a lovely pub which served real ale, and good "pub grub"  food. There were subtle changes as we got into the Staffordshire moors: dry stone walls and cottages made with local stone, sheep on the hillsides.
The woodland areas along the Leek arm of the canal in the sunshine today were delightful. 

Approaching the Leek tunnel, not too scary , only 130 yards long!

We shall definitely return again, hopefully in better weather.

To Stoke and beyond!

Waiting for the lock, Stoke city centre.

We made (for us) an  early start because we wanted to get well clear of the city before we moored up for the night. No offence to Stoke on Trent, but it's not the prettiest of canalside cities, with every  effort spared  to embrace its canal history. We chatted briefly to a couple of Irish gentleman slightly worse for wear as they drank their cans of beer by the towpath and passed the time of day with three people occupying a bench where they were enjoying a blue plastic bottle of Diamond White (an extra strong white cider, 7.5% proof). Of course, there were joggers, cyclists and dog walkers too, but the former stuck in our minds and firmed our decision  to pass through  before nightfall.

We pressed on through five fairly deep locks and made the turn onto the Caldon canal in intermittent heavy rain, passing through the  fringes of the former pottery  making area Etruria where Wedgewood  and Claris Cliffe made their names.

Former pottery kilns in Hanley  

We  moored up at last  near a small town called Milton on the first good mooring spot we found. Then, finally, the sun came out! There seems to be some sort of event going on at the local pub with a DJ playing music outside, mainly old stuff, some of which we recognise. Let's hope it doesn't go on too long, it being Sunday night...but I think we may well sleep through it anyway. Must be getting old!