We use various maps and guides to help us navigate the canals:
Inland Waterways of Great Britain – a useful Christmas present, gives a good overview of the canal network, a bit of history, which canals join with each other, overall distances, number of locks, it’s a handy book but has no day to day detail on water points etc.
Nicholson’s Guides (thanks Alan & Liz) – about 20 years old as on 200 year old canals what can change, right ? well so far a few bridge numbers, no problem, but we have been caught out once with a sanitary/water point – which was on the map but no longer there, the Canal & River Trust office had moved from the Fradley Junction and taken their services with them. No great problem we motored on to the next one.
Open Canal App is a good app for the canal- up to date water points, navigation updates (i.e. avoid the lump of concrete near bridge X). This app has also been great for walks from the canals, showing all the local footpaths.
Canal & River Trust website for updates on closures of canals, so far plans that have changed are that we can’t visit the Macclesfield canal as it is currently closed until at least end of June.
Google Maps for finding shops/supermarkets, walking around towns/cities
J.M Pearson & Sons Ltd – Canal Companion 4 Counties and Trent & Mersey Canal – this has by far been the most entertaining guide for example it describes the Caldon Canal “Running through the upper valley of the Trent, a narrow lacklustre stream …… the Caldon Canal struggles to extricate itself from the urbanisation of The Potteries” and “Beyond Cheddleton the enchantment deepens as the Caldon engenders an almost Amazonian sense of solitude …” the Caldon Canal is pleasantly rural, with plenty of narrow twisty bits for a challenging drive, the Amazon it is not.
We did both arms of the Caldon to Leek and Froghall – “Life in Slow Motion” is too tall to go through the Froghall tunnel, so we walked the last 200 metres, to Hetty’s Tearoom to buy Cake!
Another really quite canal, not many boat and lots of wildlife, including an evening watching bats flying around the boat at Park Lane.
Then back down to Stoke on Trent to re-join the Trent & Mersey Canal, and on to the Harecastle tunnel, 2926 yards long, got through mostly in one piece, however we did leave a little bit of paint in the tunnel!
First visit to the trip to a Lidl in Kidsgrove and beer at 33 pence per stubbie (1p cheaper than Aldi), and purely in the interest of research had to buy some, they are also pretty good.
This morning (Sunday) we realised that the water level was dropping in our section of the canal. As Rog left his granola to go and investigate, he spoke to a woman who reported that a lock pound further along had been completely empty, so she was filling and emptying locks from our part of the canal to remedy this. It was not long before a man from the Canal and River Trust was on hand to make sure that all was well. There is never a dull moment.
The weather forecast is rubbish for the next few days, well it is a Bank Holiday! So we have now moored up below the Red Bull Lock flight (named after the pub, not the energy drink!). Hot showers and other boater facilities here which is another attraction.
Travurple 