Thursday 9th June 2016  Post script to last night: Last night Maples and Toque met a new friend called Sally at the convenience store in Congleton. We assisted a gentleman so that he could go into the store and purchase some items. So today will be spent cruising for a few hours and then on … More The 12 locks of Bosley

Wednesday 8th June 2016 Earliest start yet as we had to have the pooches down at the pooch parlour for their 8.00am spa treatment. Whilst they were off getting pampered we went to a greasy spoon for breakfast. Oatcakes filled with bacon and cheese plus the obligatory cuppa tea. Oatcakes are particular to the Potteries … More Congleton

Tuesday 7th June 2016 Off into the little town of Kidsgrove this morning to get an early start with the laundry – oh the excitement of it. Need to mention here that once again we have superb weather. Di was deposited with all the whiffy washing at the local laundrette where she met a few … More Kidsgrove

Monday 6th June 2016 This morning was spent doing a fair bit of organising for pooch grooming, podiatrists and laundrettes. We are learning a valuable lesson that when opportunity knocks you take it. If there is a water point you fill up even though you might still have half a tank of water. If there … More Hanley Park to Kidsgrove

Sunday 5th June 2016 Wandered off to the festival this morning with pooches in tow to give them an outing. Yet another gorgeous day. Very colourful with a carnival atmosphere. Lots of people there with varying degrees of strangeness. These affairs tend to bring out some of the zanier types. The history of the canal … More Eturia Heritage Boat Festival – Eturia

Saturday 4th June 2016. We actually managed to drag ourselves out of bed at 8.00am so that we could be cruising by 9.00am as we needed to make it to Milton to pick up the new battery for the computer. It was rather a nice experience cruising at that hour as it is very still … More Back to Hanley Park

Friday 3rd June 2016 – As last night’s stop point at FrogHall is at the terminus of the Caldon Canal, all we need to do now is turn around and head back the way we came. It took us 4 days to come up the Caldon from the Trent and Mersey at Eturia junction but … More Heading back and first Mechanical

Today we traveled from Cheddleton to the terminus of the Caldon Canal at Froghall. Here the canal runs through the Churnet Valley and it really is a bit of a hidden gem of the inland waterways system. It reminded us a lot of the very famous and hugely popular Llangollen Canal in Wales that we … More The Churnet Valley – Thurs 2nd June 2016.

Today’s travels were to start with a quick visit up to the town of Leek a 20min walk from our mooring. We were expecting a small village but it ended up as a proper town in the full throttles of market day. Leek is a lovely town with its main street packed full of some … More A visit to Leek – Wed 1st June 2016