Monday 19th September

We had 2.5 miles and 6 locks to do before we got to Endon Basin where we had arranged to meet Robert and Laura. There are 5 locks at Stockton Brook and two of them had very interesting walls made out of different stones and other things! Stoke-on-Trent Boat Club have been very helpful and are storing the car in their secure car park while we are away. Mary H had a spring clean – inside and out! Millie appears to be moulting and the carpets were covered in her hair – I had been putting off hoovering until today but in hindsight I should have done it before. Our guests arrived at lunchtime then we set off to Park Lane Wharf where we got water and made sure we had empty toilet cassettes as there are no more emptying facilities until we pass this way again! There are three locks at Hazelhurst Junction which we did in record time :-) Hazelhurst is where the Leek Arm goes off and crosses over the Caldon. Originally there were staircase locks but these caused a bottleneck for the heavy traffic of limestone boats from Froghall so in 1841 the present layout was formed. It seems so strange to see that there was heavy traffic as nowadays you hardly see another boat on the Canal. We moored up just before Cheddleton where Robert made a new friend! We had an early night as Laura had taken part in the Great North Run yesterday and was exhausted – not surprising as her time was 2 hours 45 minutes, she says she was 32728th out of 54000 which sounds good to me!