Heron – Narrowboat Firecrest

From Stoke to Stone

Whilst we were living it up in Alnwick, Firecrest was enjoying a peaceful weekend in Stoke’s Festival Park Marina.
It’s not somewhere we’d choose to moor permanently, the power hook up trip is only 6 amp and the H&S fairies shouldn’t be allowed to look at the state of the pontoons. But for a few nights, it’s ideal. It gave us peace of mind, the staff are friendly and helpful, it’s got facilities, and a big Morrisons close by. And the Iris were in bloom so it was pretty as well.

I’d collected the replacement solar panels from home, so our plan was to cruise towards Stone, looking out for a suitable mooring for some serious DIY. Cause those panels were too big to be stored in the boat for long. We’d also treated ourselves to a new boat pole that was still being oiled ready for its life under the elements.

not an ideal storage place for the panels…. or for my temperament

We’ve cruised through Stoke a few times, and love the heritage buildings along the canal

I’d love to know more about what goes on at a Bone and Flint mill

Some have been preserved and are still in use, Whist sadly, some are ready to fall down if they don’t recieve any care and attention.

The conical kilns of the potteries might not be unique but they are a special part of our heritage and should be valued.

But mooring in central Stoke isn’t the most appealing so we cruised on to Barlaston for a rural view.

And some ducky company

No, you can never have too many photos of ducklings

We thought we’d be able to do the panels here, but the spring pollen, blossom and seeds were swirling through the air fast and furious, which meant that by the time we’d got to washing one end of the roof, the first end was already covered in bits that would pollute the glue. So pretty though it was, we moved down through the equally pretty Meaford lock flight.

And onto the Whitebridge Lane moorings at Stone,

Looks like Eric can wash the roof here to his hearts content

With a Heron for company and trees that wanted to keep hold of their spring leaves.

Plan C is to travel south, aiming towards Rugby by mid summer. We might take a detour through some of the Birmingham canals that we’ve not yet cruised but we’re taking full advantage of our new found freedom to decide later.

First we were going to call in to Uplands Marina for an overnight stop. We had completely forgotten to include the side hatch window inserts in the repaint contract, and honestly who would want blue curtains on a green boat. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ As soon as we realised, Nick offered to do them whilst we cruised up to Lymm.

Sometimes blue and green make the perfect combo

Plus we still had some electricity left on the meter so we might as well charge up the batteries, especially as we still haven’t replaced the solar panels that were removed before our repaint. Not having our full solar capacity was most frustrating when we were enjoying a mini heatwave.

Leaving the lovely spring greens behind

we travelled through the 2000 year old salt mines and brine pits of Eastern Northwich, past the Victorian Lion Salt works, which is now a fascinating museum and well worth a visit.