Cruising with John to Stockton Brook

A long, long time ago Will began his teaching career at a school called Wards Bridge High School. One of the pupils he taught here was John Evans. Through the wonders of Facebook John made contact with Will and they've been messaging too and fro for some time. John lives in Brazil now but returns to the UK to visit his parents in the Wirral. He'd been talking about meeting up with Will for a while and on 3rd May their plans came together! Mark got the train from Liverpool to Stoke-on-Trent, then a taxi to Milton, where Will met him outside The Millrace! Not having seen each other for 44 years, the conversation could have been somewhat stilted, but the atmosphere was relaxed as they reminisced on Rainboat and brought each other up to date with their lives.

We walked the dogs, then John and Will visited the nearby Foxley pub for lunch while Vicky rested. After this we untied Rainboat and set off to tackle 6 locks and a lift bridge. The Caldon is particularly wiggly but before long there was a straight bit, so in a teacherly way, Will handed the tiller over to John without giving any guidance, just asking him to 'get a feel for it' 🙈 Luckily John picked up the knack of steering quickly and took us to the first lock. Vicky took over at the stern while he and Will worked Rainboat through the locks. We saw lots of tiny ducklings, bluebells, a swathe of wild garlic in flower and even our first ducklings of the season. There are some rather expensive looking homes along this stretch and the last lock was opposite a golf course.

We moored as soon as we could after this and went for a last drink at a nearby pub; The Sportsman. Vicky took Leo in the chair while Tiger stayed back to sleep off the journey. We settled ourselves in at a picnic table outside and Leo made friends with Kika, a 9.5 stone Great Dane! Time really had flown by with the fun we'd had and after eeking out a second pint John reluctantly called a taxi back to the station. We'd had a wonderful time and do hope he visits again the next time he's in the UK!

The mooring we'd taken was on an awkward bend and had a steep slope of nettles up the the towpath so the next day we shuffled up the canal a little way and moored near a field with bird enclosures. There were a range of birds but the enclosure nearest us had peacocks in it! Beautiful but rather noisy!Читать далее