We passed more bottle kilns at Longport and Middleport potteries. The kilns themselves are works of art in brick and are probably protected by being listed buildings. Other industrial building are in disrepair or turned over to residential use. Middleport Pottery covers quite an area alongside the canal and is still busy producing pottery.
We paused to fill up with diesel at Stoke Boat builders Yard which still has it’s original cobbled stone frontage. Full with fuel we carried on to moor beside Westport Lake before moving on to tackle the Harecastle Tunnel. This is the third tunnel to be built, the other two having sunk down due to mining in the area.
There was a short wait as one boat was coming through, then it was our turn, with one other boat behind us. When we reached the other end one and three quarter mils away, there was a queue of 8 boats waiting. If you are interested it took eight and a half million bricks to build this tunnel, quite some undertaking eh? The water is a strange rusty colour as the water drains down through the ironstone all around. Visited Tesco's from our overnight mooring at Kidsgrove. Many of the locks are duplicated along this stretch of canal, which speeded things up. After 11 locks we moored at Rhode heath and decamped into the pub for a well earned lunch.
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