Etruria Junction, Caldon Canal

Today we ascended 50 feet over the course of 3 locks and turned right off the Trent and Mersey Canal onto the Caldon Canal arm. This junction is called Etruria Junction and has good services, allowing us to dispose of rubbish, fill with water and use their shower.

There had been signs pointing towards Etruria for some time. Josiah Wedgwood named the area after the Italian region in 1769 when he opened the 4th Wedgwood pottery factory here. The factory has since relocated to Barlaston, but regeneration of the area began in the 1980s with the Stoke-on-Trent Garden Festival. The former bone and flint mill that we moored beside now houses the Etruria Industrial Museum. It only opens on Fridays but luckily we were around and Will payed a visit.

Etruria was home to a sizeable flock of Canadian Geese who had grazed and fertilized the grass opposite so that it was covered in a carpet of Daisies. Unfortunately two people with a strimmer and mower removed these on the second day we were there and the geese seemed to like to wake at 3am every morning, loudly welcoming the dawning of each new day with loud honks until they quietened down around 6am!

We'd taken our canoe, Little Green off Rainboat's roof and attached her tow rope to the stern because of low bridges. When Will was out fishing one day he was approached by a local who asked if he'd consider selling her. We'd had her nearly 20 years and she was pretty beaten up but still good to paddle. We'd been thinking of replacing her with a shorter, lighter boat that would be easier to lift and take up less room. The guy already had a couple of sit on canoes but wanted one that he could take his staffy dog paddling in so we agreed on the sale and he returned with a trolley. She's given us a lot of happy memories and we hope she goes on to give this man and his dog many more!Read more