Previous Year : 2007 The Bona Boater's Trips Following Year : 2009

2008 - The Leek & Caldon Canals.

Crew : Pete W, Dave, John, Chris, Stan, Ernie, Alan, Pete M

Boat : Tap Dance [again.. the same boat that we had last year]

From : Anglowelsh , Great Haywood.

Route : Great Haywood > Stone > Hanley > Stockton Brook > Consall Forge [w] > Cheddleton > Denford > Leek [w] > Stockton Brook > Hanley > Harding's Wood > Rode Heath [w] > Harding's Wood > Burslem > Stone > Salt > Great Haywood

Coverage : 81 Locks and 90 Miles.

Notes : Yet again, the boat was ready early, so we set off without going to the pub. Ernie showed off his punting skills on the very tight turn at Hazelhurst Junction, the Coachmaker's Arms in Hanley was the pub of the trip and the Stilton in The Leopard in Burslem took the prize for the cheese of the trip.

Saturday 17th May

Lunch : Great Haywood. Just like the previous year, we arrived at the boatyard nice and early to be told that the boat was ready, and by 13:00 we had loaded up and were setting off. As we could only get the boat out pointing the wrong way, Pete W reversed the boat out, back past the boatyard under the watchful gaze of the staff, and out under the bridge and winded at the junction. Amid heavy showers, we set off for Stone where we had arranged to meet up with Stan.

we set off into the showers.

Evening : Stone. Pete W managed to grab a quick pint in The Star Inn at Stone, as we locked up through Star Lock (lock 27) alongside the pub. We moored above Meaford Top lock 34, but the walk back to Stone seemed much longer than it looked on the Nicholson's map. We went to The Swan for some Joules Stone Ales & guests. It was very busy, and with and a band about to start there were no seats available. After a couple of pints here, we left and had a curry in The Royal Crown followed by taking in the 'cabaret' in The Wetherspoon's pub The Poste of Stone - watching drunks being escorted off the premises by the bouncers.

Sunday 18th May

Lunch : Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent. After quite a long and unexplained delay at the locks at Etruria Junction, we finally made the very tight right turn onto The Caldon Canal.

Once onto The Caldon Canal, we quickly arrived at the staircase locks at Etruria to find a boat had already started its descent. This meant that we would have to wait until it had cleared the locks before we could start our ascent. We knew that we would have to refill the top lock before starting our ascent, so once the other boat had left the top lock and had begun draining the bottom one, we opened the top paddles and began to refill the top lock in readiness. Unfortunately - the top gates did not have a good watertight seal. There was a patch of wear most likely caused by boats 'nosing' the gates open. As we filled the top lock and the water level reached this point, it began to send a jet of water straight down onto the unsuspecting steerer below. To make matters worse, there was no way we could stop it once it had started. Even shutting the top paddles would only stop more water entering - it would not get rid of the water that was already in the lock. If you are that unfortunate steerer reading this... we're sorry !

The dry dock and the Industrial Museum at Etruria Junction.

How to use a staircase

As we filled the upper lock, patch of wear on the gates sent a jet of water down on to the unfortunate steerer below.

Having climbed the staircase with no further incident, we eventually stopped by Br. 8 near Hanley. We first tried Oggies but found it had no real ale. We had wanted to try a pub called The Coachmaker's Arms, but the most recent GBG entry said that it would be closed on a Sunday Afternoon. Instead, we decided to go looking for a pub called The Unicorn. To our surprise, on the way to find The Unicorn, we walked past The Coachmaker's Arms and found that it was actually open so we went in for some much needed refreshment. What a find ! The Coachmaker's Arms is an absolutely super pub but it is under imminent threat of demolition. After several pints of Titanic Mild, we signed the petition to try to save the pub, and we vowed to come back to this pub again on our return trip back down The Caldon Canal in a few days time.

The Coachmaker's Arms, Hanley.

Inside The Coachmaker's Arms

Evening : Stockton Brook. We left Hanley and continued along The Caldon to Stockton Brook. We went to The Hollybush at Stockton Brook for some Hancocks HB & guests and Fish & Chips. Surprisingly, this was the only food they had on. After eating, we moved on to The Sportsman for some rather nice Marston's Bitter - another excellent pub that we vowed to return to later in the week.

Monday 19th May

Lunch : Consall Forge. With discretion being the better part of valour, we decided not to attempt passage of Froghall Tunnel. Froghall Tunnel is very low in places, and many modern boats cannot pass through. In addition, the winding hole immediately before the tunnel was too short to wind our 70' boat so if we found that we couldn't pass through the tunnel, then we would have to reverse the two miles back to Flint Mill Lock. With this in mind we decided to wind above Flint Mill Lock 17 and go to The Black Lion at Consall Forge. Another super pub in a super setting with several real ales and magnificent views of the trains on The Churnet Valley Railway which passes the end of the pub garden.

We heeded the sign at Flint Mill Lock.

We returned to Consall Forge

The Black Lion,Consall Forge.

Afternoon : Cheddleton. After an excellent lunchtime session in The Black Lion, we moved on to Cheddleton for an afternoon stop. A brief respite in The Boat Inn for some Marston's Bitter was followed by a visit to The Churnet Valley Railway. We were surprised to find the preserved Deltic Locomotive D9016 Gordon Highlander sitting there ready for their diesel gala the following weekend.

D9016 Gordon Highlander at Cheddleton Station

Evening : Denford. We left Cheddleton and continued on to Denford, where we moored up on The Leek Branch after some enthusiastic punting by Ernie, a.k.a Gandern-the-Great to get us round the very tight turn at Hazelhurst Junction. We moored by Hazelhurst Aqueduct and walked down to The Hollybush . Can't remember the beer but I do remember the gammon, egg & chips as the chips appeared to contain real potato. Real potato in proper chips - how quaint.

Hazelhurst Aqueduct

Tuesday 20th May

Morning : Leek. We continued on to the end of The Leek Branch. We winded then reversed back as far as we could toward the feeder from Rudyard Lake and moored up. We sent a foraging party into Leek to search for further supplies of Black Pudding, Stilton, Port and money in the form of an ATM - all of which we found at the new Morrisons supermarket.

Lunch : Stockton Brook. After leaving Leek, we continued on to Stockton Brook for lunch, where we revisited The Sportsman for some more of their excellent Marston's Bitter.

The Sportsman, Stockton Brook

Pints of lunch in The Sportsman at Stockton Brook.

Evening : Hanley. In the evening, we returned to Hanley where we visited The Coachmaker's Arms and The Jaflong Curry House which is right next door. Whilst we were in The Coachmaker's Arms, quite by chance we met the CAMRA member who had written the pub's inaccurate entry in The GBG. After both ourselves and the pub's landlord had pointed out the wrong opening times to him, he was suitably apologetic.

Wednesday 21st May

Lunch : Harding's Wood. We left Hanley and headed back towards Etruria. We descended the Etruria staircase without incident this time, and then we turned right from The Caldon Canal and headed north up The Trent & Mersey Canal. We passed through Harecastle Tunnel and on to The Red Bull at Harding's Wood for some Robinson's Unicorn, Top Tipple & Double Hop. For some reason never fully explained to us, the whole pub seemed to be full of smoke - the smoke of the cookery as opposed to that of tobacco or any other variety.

We passed through Harecastle Tunnel

The oddly 'smoky' The Red Bull at Harding's Wood.

Evening : Rode Heath. Suitably refreshed, we left The Red Bull and continued up The T&M to Rode Heath, where Pete W winded the boat above Lock 53. There was a winding hole marked in Nicholson, but nothing obvious to see on the canal apart from a slightly wider and rather weedy bit. Pete W swung round and rammed the bow into the weeds and unusually, the boat swung round perfectly first time. There were only inches to spare between the tip-cat or stern button and the two nice shiny private boats whose owners were watching intently [..or should that be intensely..] I do hope they were suitably impressed. One of them did pass the comment that they had never seen anyone even try to wind there before, let alone manage it in a 70' boat. Having winded, we moored up and went to The Broughton Arms, also known as The Ernie's Teeth Pub (see 1995 and 2001) for a nice steak and some even nicer Marston's Bitter.

Thursday 22nd May

Lunch : Harding's Wood (again). Despite the headaches caused by the surfeit of last night's Marstons' Bitter, we stopped for a few pints of lunch at The Red Bull again. This time there was no smoke !

We chatted with Ivor Batchelor whist waiting for passage through Harecastle Tunnel.

Evening : Burslem. After lunch, we passed through Harecastle Tunnel again after a bit of a chat with Ivor Batchelor. We eventually stopped at Burslem by Br.126, and walked for about 15-20 minutes into the town. We first went to The Bull's Head - which is The Titanic Brewery Tap. After a few pints here, we decided to look for somewhere to eat. While looking, Pete W passed a pub called The Leopard. It didn't look much from outside, but inside he found it had a super range of food and eight real ales. We decided to eat there, and when we had finished eating, we were offered an enormous Stilton to finish off our meal. There was also a 'turn' on the stage in the other room - Johnny Fenton.

The Stilton in The Leopard, Burslem.

Friday 23rd May

Lunch : Stone. We left Burslem and stopped in Stone for lunch, where we went to The Swan again. This time we were all able to get in and even get seats.

We passed by The Star Inn but didn't go in

The Swan, Stone - with BTS1 on The Token

Evening : Salt. After lunch in The Swan, we continued on to The Holly Bush Inn at Salt. It was a very busy and very food-orientated pub with little space for those who just wanted a drink. After quite a long wait outside for a table, we found the food was generally good but Pete W thought his mixed grill was a bit lacking in size compared to some of the other enormous portions he'd seen. At least the Adnam's Bitter & Deuchars were fine. We settled the mess bill and returned to the boat for the last of the Port & Stilton.

The Hollybush, Salt.

Saturday 24th May

Morning : We left Salt at about 08:00, arriving at Great Haywood at about 09:00. After dropping Pete M off, Pete W, BTS1 & Ernie then made their usual pilgrimage to The Karachi Restaurant in Bradford for a curry, a trip to The Al-Halal supermarket for provisions, then set off back to reality for another year.

Previous Year : 2007 The Bona Boater's Trips Following Year : 2009