We both woke up early and were ready to go at 8.15am and soon turned right into our first lock on the Trent and Mersey Canal. From here we could see the old Blue Bell Pub sign peeping over the hedge.
Interestingly the side of the bridge was made from cast iron by T.Shore & Sons Hanley Staffs. After shutting the lock gates and leaving through the gap in the wall, I saw the old Gaslight Co sign on the end of a building. We pulled into Red Bull to use the services and went into the hallway of the C & R.T. HQ. It didn’t open until 10 am, but a chap came out so I reported things that we had seen that needed fixing. He assured me they would be attended to.
Most of the locks are duplicate and one side was in our favour until another boat pulled out in front of us. Then we started meeting others coming up, so were able to swap with quite a few. A lot of gates were easy to work as they had been replace in 2010 and the lock gearing had been well greased.Fortunately it turned out to be a nice bright, but breezy day, without the rain that was forecast. So, we completed twelve locks in three hours, to moor up in time for coffee at Rode Heath, perfick.
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