Cheddleton, 2nd time round

We rose reasonably early to leave Consall but poor Tiger had a fit. After she'd recovered Vicky took her and Leo along the towpath while Will set off on Rainboat. He'd warned Vicky that the first part of the journey would be on the River Churnet so there wouldn't be many suitable places to pull in and pick her up. Vicky wished she'd listened when Tiger began to have another fit on the walk. After a little way Will managed to leap off and Vicky leapt on with Tiger, but by this point the boat had drifted out and got stuck in tree roots on the opposite bank. Will and Leo were forced to walk on to the lock while Vicky freed Rainboat and cruised on to meet them.

Needing to get to suitable moorings but not wanting to stress Tiger any further, Vicky worked the 3 locks with Tiger so she didn't have to go through them in the boat. Vicky was exhausted by the time we got to Cheddleton and went straight to bed.

Happily things got better from there. On Saturday Vicky rested while Will revisited Cheddleton's Black Lion then took the bus to Leek.

On Sunday morning Will woke Vicky in a bit of a panic. An email from the CRT said the canal was closing on Monday due to water shortages! After significant stressing and strategising he re-read the email and discovered it was the following Monday; plenty of time to do what we wanted to and leave. To celebrate, we trundled up the hill for lunch at The Old School Tea Rooms. It was warm enough to sit outside and the food was good and homely. In the evening we watched newly emerged Mayflies darting too and fro in the dappled golden light outside the window.

When walking the dogs on Monday morning we noticed the Flint Mill Museum was open. Volunteers were sorting out items in a garage to get ready for an upcoming music event. They were giving away earthenware plant pots they no longer needed, but we left them for people with a proper garden. Peter asked whether we'd like to look around on our own or have him show us round. He spent over an hour sharing his considerable knowledge of the history of the small site. The miller's daughter Reene had lived in the small cottage until she died 4 years ago at the age of 101 and told him many tales about her childhood when the mill was operational. Her father had died of emphysema at the age of 47 due to the lime dust. Peter really brought the place to life for us.

On Tuesday we had a special delivery (see next post) and took a canoe paddle and wheelchair trundle to the The Holly Bush about a mile away where Will enjoyed a steak and ale pie with local, native or rare breed Dunwood beef sold only to a few pubs. The weather may not have been great for the water levels but we've enjoyed so many warm sunny days eating or drinking outside.Leggi altro