From suevbutler@compuserve.com Thu May 6 20:58:55 1999 Date: Fri, 31 Jul 1998 16:27:54 -0400 From: susan butler Reply-To: canals@blacksheep.org To: Messages for newsgroup Subject: Adventures of Jemima D on the Caldon [The following text is in the "ISO-8859-1" character set] [Your display is set for the "US-ASCII" character set] [Some characters may be displayed incorrectly] 24/25 July - On the move again Barleston to Stockton Brook 15 locks, 3 lift bridges, 13 miles, 8.5 hours While we have been away, Jemima and friends have wandered on up to Barleston, just south of Stoke. Once again we are driving down on a Friday evening, hoping that the directions we have been given make sense when we get there! This time she is visible from the road - and parking is easy at the Wedgewood visitor centre. Saturday morning Neil fits and paints the locker as we chug slowly towards Stoke. We double-up through the narrow locks with Jimmy Macc (based on the Macc - how did you guess!) This tidy little boat is the first we have seen that looks anything like Jemima - but she is definitely the smarter of the two! It is nice to see how Jemima could look - and we take photos of the pair of them together! At Etruria we didn't see any sign of the 'helper' on a bicycle! We did however, moor up at the junction and spend a happy couple of hours looking round the Bone Mills, and visited The Duke of Bridgewater! (Excellent baked potatoes!) Then we turned up the Caldon, and headed up the staircase and toward the lift bridges. At one of the manual ones we delighted 4 boys with an inflatable, who tried to run up the bridge as Neil lifted it. They had the sense to stay off it as Jemima came through - but I don't think they made Neil's life very easy! Their inflatable had deflated, and it was obvious that they had managed to 'do a Guy'. Although it was a sunny day, it wasn't very warm, and they were shivering with cold! At the electric one, we end up in the middle of a 'fun run' and I have about 20 runners milling around looking for their next 'marker'. Some try to help with the barriers, while others just get in the way! One or two of these grown men have far less sense than the boys at the manual bridge - and try to jump across the gap as the bridge is lifting. Fortunately they made it across - but I wish they would all just go away. Once Jemima is through, and I have lowered the bridge I wish them all back again, as I rush back and forth trying to make the barriers contact the right points long enough for me to extract my BW key! We head on for Stockton Brook, where we decide to go up through the locks that evening. This is a mistake! So far the Caldon has offered plentiful moorings - the towpath is clear, and we have not been at all concerned about where we might moor. As I work us up the top lock, I glance ahead, through the bridge hole and realise that the canal is about to abruptly change character. A quick glance at Nicholson's tells us that if we want to eat out tonight we will have to stop here. Once through the bridge it is clear that things are not going to get any easier so we resort to a drift into the bank - avoiding the rocks - and a session of nettle-bashing to get to the towpath. We probably didn't find the best pub in Stockton Brook, but the Harvester serves meals til 10.15, and provided for our hungry bellies! Getting back onto the boat was an interesting experience after a few drinks though! 26 July 4 miles, 3 locks, ~2 hours Stockton Bridge - Cheddleton A nice easy day this one. Hazelhurst locks were lovely. I was looking around trying to visualise where the previous locks had been. (David's map has since revealed all). This is a beautiful spot - well worth a gongoozle in my book! We certainly didn't hurry through. At Cheddleton we moored up just before the Mill. This was a real déjà vu for us. We have a really lovely picture of two boats in the winding hole at Cheddleton on our living room wall. My mother gave it me last Christmas. We both recognised the place immediately! And what a lovely place. We decided to go no further, and leave the rest of the Caldon for another day. We visited the Mill, and the Red Lion, did some painting and tidying. We had a mishap when Neil dropped his lighter (a much loved Zippo) in the cut. We ended up with Neil stripped to the waist, and me sitting on his legs while he fished around. No luck! Fortunately we found a boat with a sea-searcher, and within a few minutes up came the lighter. Within half an hour it was working again - it didn't even need a refill or a new flint! Later I went for the car, and we sadly left Jemima alone. Not for long - she was off on her travels again on Monday, and who knows where she will be next time we see her? Sue and Neil Happy were we on Jemima D