Calamity on the Caldon

 2IJ had headed off to Westport Lake the day before to meet up with their son so they could take temporary (we think it should be permanent) guardianship of the dog, Toffee. David and I stayed overnight on the facilities mooring at Festival Park, then moved off about 7am to head towards the Caldon. I was keen to get away early so we didn't upset the apple cart for Black Prince. There's being given a favour and there's taking advantage. And I don't like doing the latter.

At the junction, we emptied the cassette, filled with water, ditched the rubbish, chatted with the CRT guys (I talked with them about the outsourcing as much of the canal maintenance has been contracted out and they have been told it's cheaper - it's not, I bet...) 

The statue of James Brindley at the Etruria Junction.

 

And then we headed off to the set of staircase locks. They are pretty deep and the flow is quite fierce. It's a good thing that I have adopted Irene's practice of being in reverse and backed up to the bottom gates, I reckon. The water surges can be disconcerting.

 

The bottom lock of the staircase. Those are very tall gates!

Looking back into the bottom lock.

 

I really don't like the first part of the Caldon up through Hanley - it's full of rubbish, the canal is shallow and overgrown, the surroundings are a bit blah in parts - industrial or run down. Some really nice terraced housing on the canalside though. 

A fairly derelict building beautified by buddleia...

The canal is winding and narrow and the bridges seem to be on tight corners!

In Lock 3 I saw that there was a small food market on an adjacent street, so I said to David we would get the boat out of the lock and he could hold it while I dashed over to do a last minute bit of shopping. So I went to drive out of the lock. No power, I tried again, and then the engine stalled. So I restarted it, engaged the throttle, but the noise wasn't normal and we stayed still. We thought there was something around the prop. So I tried to turn the engine off, David tried, I tried again. But no, it was going to stay on... We realised that bolt on the start solenoid had loosened and the stop function wasn't operating. The engine was too hot for me to get down beside to pull back on the lever.

So we rang Ian for advice. Although they were about to come back down to Stoke and were on their way, he said he would walk from Stoke to join us and sort the problem out.

We had pulled the boat out of the lock and used spikes to tie up with right beside the Stoke on Trent College, and I made cheese scones - if all else is falling around my ears, make scones I say.

Ian arrived in the rain, got down into the engine bay, and bravely leant over to de-activate/activate the solenoid. He wasn't afraid of the engine's heat! He noted that the thread on the bolt was worn, so that went on Ed's list to replace.

Ian, bum up head down: it hadn't occurred to me to reach the solenoid that way - I had always stood either side of the engine to reach it. Ian's way is much less exposing of the inner thighs and nether regions, especially for someone as short as me.

Ian fitted a string to the solenoid so if the it fails again, I can pull the string to activate it.

Once the engine was stopped David was able to take off the weed hatch lid and then pulled out a substantial piece of carpet!

Now how did this get in the canal?

No wonder the engine stalled...

Needless to say, I didn't get to the foodmarket!

Scones, coffee, and Ian went back to Stoke with additional scones for Irene. She was keen for him to get back as she couldn't light the gas stove. Being Ian, he can fix anything. He took the hob off and pulled things apart, and he realised that the pillar on the temperature selector was stuck in, rather than out and unable be pushed in. Therefore the safety was off. He flicked the igniter and the gas that had built up in the oven lit and BOOM! The oven door flew open and the flames shot out. Luckily Ian was standing to the side of the oven - otherwise roasted nuts, goodness gracious, great balls of fire.

The oven didn't suffer and he finished fixing it - application of WD40, I think and reassembled...

While he was carrying out his dramatic turn we continued on our way, in reasonably clear weather. Until I got something else around the prop at the same time as the heavens opened. David had to pull the boat into the side and in the bridgehole so I could get down in the weedhatch under cover. It was a piffling little computer cord, but it still had badly affected the revs and the steering.

One of the lift bridges - such power to be able to stop traffic...

And lowering the bridge. And an inconsiderate boater moored on the bridge landing...

We were aiming for just before Bridge 20 - 2IJ had told us there were nice moorings there. And there were very few places suitable for mooring before that - overgrown towpath where, even if you could jump to solid ground, you'd need an 8 foot plank to climb off and on the boat. We don't have an 8 foot plank, and I would not be leaving the boat - my confidence in my balance is not high ...

We were both quite tired and David walked ahead, as soon as he saw the openness of the gentle hillside across the cut and the armco on the towpath, he stopped and pointed down. The message was clear - we are stopping here. So we did. And once again, we were just in time - the pram cover was up and we were inside as the rain started. 

A bit later that evening we walked up to above the lock - just to confirm we had the best mooring spot. Yes we did!

On the way back down we saw a man casting for fish - he wasn't sitting down, but was moving up and down the canal. So we stopped to chat. What a lovely person he was. Three years retired from the NHS as a nurse aid, and determined to be receiving his pension for a fair while into the future.

Back to the boat, and into bed - settled down for a full 24 hours of blobbing - that's how long the rain was due to last! David managed most of the following day in bed, but I got up very early in the afternoon - I had a chocolate brownie to make for last night's dessert and a blogpost to write. David did get up to heat the broccoli and stilton soup I had bought. He had it with slices of the most crusty sourdough - I had defrosted it the previous evening and decided to freshen it up in the oven that day, and promptly forgot it was in there ... However blackened crust or no, it was delicious. But not sensible for it to be eaten in bed: crumbs everywhere!

It's a good thing our bread knife is sharp!

We checked the weather before going to sleep for the trip in the morning:

There was a window of a few hours of clear weather available for our cruise to Stockton Brook...

It was the first time I had seen blue skies reflected in the water for some time! This was below Bridge 20. Really nice mooring - not that you can tell from this picture!

Bridge 20 and the lock. You cannot see it in this photo, but the steps up the side are very well worn. It is lovely to think about all the people that have climbed up and down them over many years.

A not so high tech lift bridge - still automated though but on a path rather than a road.

Does anyone know what this plant is? I haven't seen it anywhere else apart from on the Caldon so far.

 

Yesterday morning, we were aiming to moor near Stockton Brook locks, either above or below them.

There was a nice space below, but we hadn't been on the move for long and I had washing going. So up the locks we went. 

David waiting for me to enter the lock so he can close the gates behind me. The locks on these canals have little bridges over the lower gates - that is such a good idea as it saves a lot of time spent walking around the full length of the lock to close the second gate - if, like David, you are not prepared or able to step across from one gate to another.

 

It was a bit stressful as we cruised above the locks because once again, the towpath was overgrown even where there was armco and there was far too much shade for the solars to be effective.

I was also mindful that 2IJ were aiming to join us and they were starting from the junction so had a fair distance to go and the rain was due about the same time as they were.

Lovely moorings appeared outside the Stoke Boat Club, so in we pulled. I say they were lovely but there were a lot of nettles growing. So before I had the pramcover up I got the loppers out so I wouldn't get stung as I fitted the side panel on the towpath side. Then once the pramcover was up without my being stung, I set to clearing the vegetation in the length that 2IJ would be mooring at. Lots of runners, walkers and a few cyclists came past as I worked. I asked all of them if they had their strimmer with them. Sadly none did.

But I had some cool conversations - that is the real boon of this boating life, the interaction with people we will never see again, but making a connection with them anyway.

2IJ obviously set a cracking pace and David had rung to ask where they were. Just entering Lock 5 on the Stockton Brook flight. So while I did towpath gardening with loppers, he walked back down to help them up the locks. I was pleased that the weeds and grasses were still floating below the armco so that they could see how hard I had worked...

Part of my towpath gardening completed.

Dinner was onboard nb Waka Huia - toad in the hole with veg sausages, peas, carrots, mashed potatoes and mushroom gravy, followed by chocolate brownie. Toffee the dog came onboard too, and sat/slept/kept an eye out for food under the dining table. She's a lovely dog.

This morning the long gas lighter finally ran out - David had been trying to tell me it wasn't working since before we left Debdale... Now we are using the short stubby one. I don't like it as I cannot put the kettle on the ring and poke the lighter underneath it to ignite. I am going to find another long one asap!

Today we have our lovely Ed on board doing some work. So more cheese scones and onion soup.

David took all the guff out of the lockers under the sofa and from under the bed because one task is to remove one of the additional heaters that Tim installed in the lounge because they were onboard through two winters. The guff is on our bed, so no nana nap for me!

The bed - princess and the pea came to mind...

 But not to worry - Irene is on dinner: veg lasagne followed by apple and rhubarb crumble. Yay!! And it was all very yummy.😘👍

I saw this meme the other day and it rang true to me: