Day 6 Thursday

Thursday

Once again off to our usual early morning start, this time it's 0530 and we had enjoyed our marvelous overnight mooring near Endon. Now it's time to head toward the village of Milton. We may stop for the night there, or perhaps before or after, not too sure at this stage.

Not long after leaving our mooring we went past the arm that is home to
Stoke on Trent Boat Club. It's a nice secluded spot yet not far from the city

Shame about the barriers as this would have been a nice photo with the bridge
reflected in the as yet undisturbed water. Can't be helped, the work has to be done

One of the five locks that make up the Stockton Brook flight
Well maintained and a pleasure to work. As they all are on this canal

The impressive Stockton Brook flight of locks soon came into view, everyone against us as is the way of things. Then on a particularly tight bend we managed to meet a waterway maintenance boat towing a massive dumb boat. This we negotiated successfully thanks to the skill of the maintenance man and good luck on our side it has to be said

The feeder from Knypersley reservoir gently mixing and adding to the
water from the upper pounds

Seemed like a good time to have breakfast and so we moored just beyond the canal feeder from Knypersley reservoir, after the lift bridge

One of the old lift bridges that are to be found on this canal. Now hydraulically
operated but in years gone by these would have been opened by hanging
on to a chain attached to the balance beam. Brute force as we recall

What we had not realised is that not too far from this mooring spot is a village pub that goes by the name of The Foaming Quart. It's about six hundred yards along the track accessed at the lift bridge. Had we known of its existance we might well have stopped here the previous night, then again we had a barbecue so  maybe not. It is one to remember though

Setting off once more we discussed the wonderful weather we were experiencing, it was the best day so far and getting quite warm.

Milton soon came into view
After mooring we had a wander into the village and once again went into the café known as The Village Kitchen. Just as nice as last time and the ladies in there remembered us (probably because of our good looks) It is a nice café with friendly service and a nice choice on the menu at reasonable prices. We knew this as we had visited the same place on last years holiday. Another late breakfast/lunch and we wandered into the local co-op for some provisions and with that task accomplished we headed back to the boat

We had to visit this cafe after last year. Just as good now as it was then

Dave and Trev decided to partake in a spot of fishing whilst Malc wrote up more notes in the diary for the Blog. Malc also attempted yet again to get onto the Blog but as the app on the mobile phone didn't want to work he tried using the laptop and tethering the mobile phone to it. This worked ok but was dependent on a decent signal and it kept dropping out. Malc elected to continue making handwritten notes and bring the Blog up to date on his return home in another week or so

Excellent moorings at Milton and plenty of shops (you can even get a tattoo here)
Don't want to dwell on it but for a small village it is well served with shops
There's a great book shop here as well. Even the Pearsons guide mentions it

Dave had spotted a fish and chip shop in the village and so we decided to get fish and chips for tea. Smashing place (or should that be plaice) and that particular meal went down very well. In fact it was superb

After eating we discussed the merits of our boat and agreed it was the best yet. We had used the heater a couple of times in the wet weather and found it to be very efficient. Even little things like sliding galley windows to help ventilation were noted. There were lots of little extras that you might take for granted and perhaps would not get with other firms

Trev. Relaxed and ready to talk politics or football

An early night beckoned as we needed an early start tomorrow for we hoped to get back to base to enjoy the delights of Stone on the last night of the holiday