The Curse of Stone

So we have headed south from Congleton, down the Macclesfield canal and on to the Trent and Mersey canal, through the Harecastle Tunnel and into Stoke-on-Trent. Ian’s famous last words as we set off from Eturia were “It’s not raining- we can do these locks”

He was right, it didn’t just rain, it hailed and it blew up a small storm, I think it was practising for Storm Dudley. So this is Ian at Cockshutts Lock 37 . It’s a challenging lock because of the cramped space up against the railway bridge and yes, the trains are very close and very loud when they go past.

10 locks and about 6 miles later, the curse of Stone struck again! Two years ago the tiller fell off in Stone making it extremely difficult to move the boat. This time we’d headed into Stone and moored up to do some shopping. We’re about to pull out and a little voice calls through from the stern “We’re not going anywhere, the engine won’t start!”

Despite Ian’s amazing knowledge and skills, he couldn’t fathom the issue so we had to call out the RCR (River Canal Rescue), the boating version of the RAC or AA. A 20 year old wire had finally given up the ghost underneath the engine, But, by the time we were fixed it was too dark to move on. As pretty as it looks, sleeping in a town centre can be risky as you never know who might come banging on your roof in the middle of the night.

Today we made it to Tixall Wide, just close to Great Hayward. It’s a bit of a resort destination in the summer but as Storm Dudley is upon us, there are only three other boats here tonight! The wind and waves are bobbing the boat about, so I think we’ll be rocked to sleep tonight.