Two Day Trip: Stoke to Hem Heath and Back

Rachael's back on board fresh from Scotland and she brought a traveling companion, her cousin Johnny. Johnny was here for three days so we spent the night in the marina and planned a short trip so he could have a run on the boat.

 

We had planned to get going early but after some discussion with our marina neighbour we needed to test the leisure batteries. The battery management system was telling me that after four days in the marina, on a shoreline, they still weren't fully charged. Mmm something wrong here! Serafina has a bank of four, 110 Ahr leisure batteries and a smaller single starter battery. I hadn't pulled the batteries apart since buying the boat and now they needed checking. All the terminals were disconnected and each battery was load tested, all checked out ok but every terminal connection was loose especially the main positive terminal. All reconnected tightly, the alternator output also checked, the new battery reading on the monitor read 'Full Charge', we were off.



Johnny taking it easy while the lock fills on the way out

Preparing to go into a lock in Stoke

 

We headed out to Hem Heath for an overnight stop, it's a nice spot on the way to Trentham, just three hours cruising from Stoke-on-Trent. We arrived in plenty of time to look around and take in a few pints of cider in the evening. The next day we walked the three quarters of a mile to the Trentham Estate for a spot of shopping. The Estate has some beautiful gardens that are very popular, after shopping and a cream tea it was time to head back to the boat for the trip back to Stoke. The trip back starts off in beautiful surroundings and slowly builds up into an old industrial city that is Stoke. We negotiated the five locks in Stoke and moored at the top of the final lock for the afternoon, ready for dinner and a few pints afterwards at the local pub.



Last lock done, ready to moor back in Stoke

With Johnny back on a train heading for Scotland Rachael and I thought we would head up the Caldon Canal. This trip is a nice little one week tour along a canal that has two terminus', one at Froghall and one at Leek. We have to be back in Stoke in a weeks time to head up to Scotland again, this time for three or four days.

Once back from Scotland we plan to do another canal ring, this time The Cheshire Ring. Our guide tells us this tour can be done in one week, we plan to do it in a leisurely two weeks. We hope to be back in Stoke with a few days to prepare the boat for the English winter, pack our bags and head off.