Etruria

Before 7.30 this morning when we set off two boats passed us heading towards Stoke. We followed on through drizzle with short spells of heavy rain and even shorter spells of sun.

Just before the Stoke locks we passed this derelict bottle kiln

Two pints please

Shortly after these two kilns have been preserved in amongst a residential estate: standing like two giant milk bottles

Access to several of these locks involves  crouching down to avoid being wiped out by a low railway bridge

Sometimes the railway is so close it encroaches onto the canal and interferes with the lock operation.

It is really quite difficult to get away from the railways on the climb up to Etruria.

Around 10.30 we tied up at the service block opposite the statue of James Brindley, the surveyor and engineer for the Trent & Mersey Canal.



The pottery has long since gone but I remember when the lower stretches of the Caldon Canal were teeming with catamarans with outboard motors moving part processed pottery from one plant  to another.