Kidsgrove to Great Haywood Junction: 25½ miles, 18 locks, 1 tunnel

Cleddau had been delivered to the slipway at Red Bull Basin at Kidsgrove for hull blacking.How did she fare during her enforced stay?Three days into her residency an email arrived from nb Chouette’s Captain. He'd titled it Cleddau on wheels: ”Have just strolled down to see Cleddau on the trolley looking splendid with the hull all shiny black…” it said . And there were photos that followed too. (Thanks, Chouette crew)

 A day or so later a message came from Tony, the hull painter. “Your boat will be ready to collect on Sunday,” he said.Easter lamb was eaten on Saturday evening, the Easter egg was very nearly left behind but in a welcome change the Sunday motorways were free of rain spray and (apart from just one) they were entirely free of lorries too!The boat was already back in the water… thank goodness for the photos which showed the shiny blacking! A tell-tale electrical lead still threaded back into the workshop – and with some relief it was realised that the contents of both fridge and freezer had remained at appropriate temperature…Cheshire Mum is a fan of transport networks: “I’ve checked that trains are running on Sunday,” she said, “I’ll catch a train from Macclesfield to Kidsgrove, collect your car and drive it back here…”And thus it was that on Sunday afternoon Cheshire Mum strolled up the towpath from the station to drive the car back to Macc.Keen to be on the move the Captain untied the boat and set off the last half mile to Harding’s Wood Junction and made the sharp right turn to head south, an enforced overnight pause being made at the Harecastle Tunnel’s north portal. It was a Disneyesque moment, Cleddau the sole boat moored in tomato soup (the orange-stained waters of the area), being ‘first in line’ (positive Disney-speak) for the tunnel next day… It was 0842 when Cleddau emerged from Harecastle Tunnel on Monday morning where five boats were waiting to head through to the north.  There was no time for Staffordshire oatcakes at the Westport Lake cafe – but time to press on, past the Canada geese pacing and parading and preening Blossom and potteries,  bridges and construction sites, ducklings – and even a garden shark!The real effort started then at Stoke Top Lock. There was no sign of any lock keepers and the first two locks are close together. (So this was what the Cleddau crew were volunteering to do…?!) There are five Stoke Locks spread over about a mile and only at the bottom was there another boat heading up.If you know where to look near Stoke’s Civic Centre there’s a glimpse of a very juvenile River Trent – that river will be a close companion for the next 59 miles.Onward Cleddau cruised, past the vast incinerator and a reminder of Stoke’s coal-mining past, past the large much-loved meadow now cleared at Trentham for residential development. Here the locals had campaigned hard to protect their green space. (Maybe the nearby installation of a garden bar was for drowning the campaigners’ sorrows?!) Down through Trentham Lock, past the Wedgewood Factory, to moor with horses in a field on the towpath side, cows in the fields opposite.It’s strangely comforting when you pass familiar boats – why, there was Tipsy Penguin, often spotted at Poynton and Congleton and here, just after Barlaston, was Chouette, northbound after a trip as far as Rugeley. This was Tuesday and Cleddau was heading on down the four pretty Meaford locks to Stone.A mile and three locks further down Cleddau secured a mooring above Star Lock (The Star pub being under refurbishment) and within sight and sound of some serious environmental work at the stream that feeds under the canal. DEEP SUCTION AND JETTING UNIT were the words on the environmental contractors' truck.Surely the new Joules development at Crown Wharf warranted some investigation…?   This was an attractive sign. What could be discovered about the new theatre? The outer shell of the building has been paid for by Joules Brewery, the fitout to be paid for by the Crown Wharf Theatre Charity. It will seat about 200, be used by the community and for touring shows, the opening of the theatre hoped to be this coming September. Curiosity satisfied there then…Another theatre far away had come to mind just an hour earlier. In an extraordinary exchange with the checkout lady at Morrison’s the conversation had led from boats to housing to Scotland to Elgin. A question was then posed: “And did you ever go into Findhorn Foundation?” she asked.“Yes!” came the loud response from both Cleddau crew, and memories swam back of those remarkable performances seen there decades ago in the five-sided theatre. Marcel Marceau  and Ballet Rambert  were big names in the 70s and 80s.A conversation of a much more mundane kind occurred then at the boat. Four giggling young teenagers were hovering outside. Then all four spoke at once. It was hard to decode their message.”’Scuse me, ‘scuse me, me mum says could we borer a bit o suger please?”A mother aboard a hire boat further up the canal had dispatched the giggly girls to find a shop and some sugar, it seemed. Half a bag of sugar was handed over and all went quiet – for about 20 minutes. Then, back they were again, the giggly girls, waving the half bag of sugar.“Me mam sez thank yer very much, that’s enuf forra cup o tea.” And off they went. One wondered whether the mother needed the sugar as much as she needed a bit of peace and quiet!Onward on Wednesday, down through Star Lock and out through the upper Trent Valley towards Great Haywood. It’s quiet countryside here – only one train ran past in nearly three hours, even the Canada geese were calm and quiet. The locks (four of them in 10 miles after Stone) are well spaced. There are bee hives in Weston and plenty of four legged creatures to spot (cows, horses, sheep and llamas).  After Great Haywood Marina is the Canal Shop, crops already growing on the raised beds. Then ahead was Great Haywood Junction. Take a right turn for a diversion along the Staffs and Worcs Canal – where a half mile further on is the delightful Tixall Wide, a favourite mooring spot. Once through the junction bridge and past a small marina the canal narrows across two short aqueducts. Two boats were approaching and tricky reversing was needed to allow them to pass.The news was not good. Tixall Wide “was full,” according to the first boater, and “had no spaces, they’re even double parked,” according to the second boater.So, mooring plan foiled for Wednesday night, what was Cleddau to do?Find out next time… 

Trip stats since leaving Victoria Pit: 50 miles, 31 locks, 2 swing bridges,1 tunnel and 1 cow

Queries about the Tudor rose: 2 (Insistently: "North or south? You're from Yorkshire, north or south...?" and later, triumphantly: "Yorkshire rose!")