A misty start....

.....but a lovely day.

This morning was chilly and misty when I awoke at about 7:30, at 8:15 I went on deck with a cup of tea and liked the look of the sun rising through the mist behind this electricity pylon.

We headed off just after 9am through the narrow winding section skirting around the village of Milton and then the sharp left turn past The Foxley pub.

It was about 3 miles of open country cruising

to reach our first obstacle, the electrified hydraulic lift bridge (11), as  Rod was leading he opened the bridge allowing me through, I then tied up and closed the bridge once he had passed through, this type are easy with the controls on the towpath side and adopting a ‘leapfrog’ method reduces the waiting time for vehicles on the road.

Me first

Then Rod

Bye bye, another one done.

We then continued on skirting around Hanley with its mixture of run down property and new developments.

 Another preserved bottle kiln protruding through a roof, although the sun shining behind both adds to and spoils the picture in my opinion, probably needed a decent camera with a filter!

There are a few tower blocks close to the canal looming high above as you pootle beneath.

At Planet lock (3) Rod locked me through first and I went ahead to set the staircase lock for him, but as it happened there was an unofficial volounteer so I didn’t need to do much other than let Rod go first, and with me and the helper working the lock Rod was able to stay aboard, then I went down staying aboard as well while the helper worked the lock for me, he wanted to, it is something you find now and again, a person who just enjoys helping at locks and getting out in the fresh air to get some exercise.

In the top chamber

Moving from top to bottom chamber

Looking back at the middle gates

We moored back at Etruria junction, just passed the staircase lock but beneath some trees, Rod found out two boats were about to move from just around the corner so we moved there as soon as they left, a nicer spot in the sunshine.

Current mooring:

Totals today: 5 miles : 3 locks : 1 moveable bridge

We will stay here for the weekend.