The Final Leg - Four Counties Ring Complete!

Up until Nantwich we had been taking our time with no schedules to keep, spending as much time at each stop as we liked. Rachael now needed to go to Scotland on 17 July for a few days so we had just enough time to get back to Stoke-on-Trent to get her on the train and I could moor in the marina to do a few bits and pieces on Serafina. The cruising has still been pleasant averaging around five hours cruising each day, broken up by a lunch stop on the side of the canal wherever we found a nice spot.

The cruising from Penkridge to Great Haywood was through some very pleasant countryside with very few locks to slow the trip. The overnight mooring was just a kilometre from the Haywood Junction at a place called Tixall Wide and as the name suggests the canal widens here to approximately 70 or 80 metres. Nothing here really, just a nice spot to moor for the night.

Tixall Wide

We got underway for a short run into Great Haywood where we moored up and walked the few hundred metres into town. Rachael and I had a quick look around, bought a few things and headed back to the boat. The main attraction here is The Shugborough Estate, we had seen narrow boats moored from across the paddocks when we visited here several weeks ago, now we were looking at the estate across the paddocks from the moorings. On our stroll we came across a nice tea house and with time on our side we couldn't resist! An hour later and back on the boat we turned back on to the Trent and Mersey Canal at the Haywood Junction heading for Stone.

Stone is another old canal town where the canal runs straight through the middle. We arrived mid-afternoon, moored up straight away and walked into town for a look around and eventually get to the supermarket. Rachael was keen to give away some of her novels to one of he local charity shops and buy a few extras. The television reception is usually very poor so there is always plenty of time to read, blog and work on the boat.

Our carpenter had planned to meet us here in the morning to take some measurements for the new dinette. We had always said we wanted a raised dinette on the boat we bought but Serafina doesn't have one, it will soon! Besides Rachael being able to see outside when we are at the table we also gain a significant amount of storage, a valuable commodity on a boat. The carpenter also dropped off some decking off-cuts so I can do the modifications badly needed to cut down engine noise.

Stone's friendly locals

Measurements complete we were off again back to Stoke, our final leg to complete the ring. Again, it was a beautiful area to cruise, our lunch stop was in Trentham next to the estate and right next to the Wedgewood Pottery. Unfortunately, no free samples but some of the locals came over to see what was going on.

Trentham lunch Stop

After cruising through some beautiful countryside we finally got to the outskirts of Stoke, an old industrial city. Once again the canal goes almost through the centre of the city, we moored up on our way to the marina and picked up Rachael's train tickets from the central station, just a five minute walk from the canal. We finished off the last mile with the final five locks of the trip, several of which required lots of ducking to get under some very low city bridges.

Old bottle kilns on the way through Stoke

Serafina is now moored back in Stoke-on-Trent for a few days while I wait on Rachael to get back so we can set off again. With The Four Counties Ring complete as well as several side trips, I'm now planning our next long trip. This will probably be our last long cruise before returning back home to Australia. We have a short cruise to do first as we need to go back up to Scotland quite soon.

Moored up at the marina amongst the hire fleet



Totals for the trip: 195 miles, 114 locks
Four Counties Ring 109 miles, 94 locks
Several trips between Nantwich and Middlewich: 28 miles, 6 locks
Nantwich to Ellesmere Port and back to Barbridge: 58 miles, 14 locks
NB: Barbridge is where we continued our tour around 'The Ring'.

*The link used in this blog is the property of Canal Holidays, Skipton, UK