Tuesday 22nd September, 2015 in Stoke-on-Trent.
Thankfully, the rain eased overnight and, after treating oursleves to a classic "big breakfast" of middle-cut bacon, eggs and tomatoes, we set off from the lovely mooring at Westport Lake.
The old bottle kilns are, in many ways, the classic symbol of Stoke-on-Trent's past. There used to be over 3,000 of them, belching out black smoke as they fired the ceramic products produced by hundreds of factories.
Now only 35 remain and, although they are listed and "protected", that does not mean that they are looked after. Just last year another one collapsed after the theft of the encircling metal bands that help to keep them stable.
In contrast to the old bottle kilns, the modern Steelite factory is new, clean and bright. It specialises in hotel and restaurant ware using the most modern techniques.
Soon after, we came to nearby Middleport Pottery which still makes its ware using original Victorian methods, although now using modern gas kilns rather then the old bottle kilns. There used to be seven bottle kilns on the site, just one survives but only because it was built into the side of the factory building thus making it impossible to demolish it without the factory falling down.
There is even a welcoming mooring space for two narrowboats and so we moored up outside!
Middleport has been the subject of an £8 million renovation funded through the Prince's Trust. It is now not only a museum, but a fully operational factory mass producing pottery in the old fashioned way. The factory tour is fascinating and you can get right up close to the people making the pottery. It is said that each piece produced in the factory goes through 25 pairs of hands. The factory has retained most of its buildings including the original entrance archway and offices.
R, who was in dire need of a coffee, made a beeline for their café, which is housed in what used to be the packing house, next to the canal where the finished goods were packed for shipment.
The walls of the café are decorated with motifs from some of their most popular designs!
M couldn't resist ordering the homemade plum crumble and a hot chocolate - well, it was technically "elevenses", after all!
Then she realised that they did sausage sandwiches too and had one of those as well (note from M: R was meant to keep that secret!!!). The comfy settees in the photo were apparently chosen by Prince Charles. Very comfortable they were too!
The teapot apparently floating over R's head was actually one of Middleport's manufacture, put to novel use as a lampshade; it looked rather surreal!
After visiting the lovely gift shop, we set off towards the centre of this big city. We moored by Festival Park, site of the original Wedgwood pottery, paid a brief visit to the Royal Doulton outlet shop (just to look this time) and then wandered up to the shops for a "few bits". On the way back to MM we stopped off at a familiar establishment.
M had purchased the roses in the supermarket and asked R to pose with them rather than the "few bits" that he had been carrying!
We thought that we would carry on a bit further through three locks to one of our favourite mooring spots in Stoke. The lowering sun through the trees created a pretty dappled effect on MM.
Our mooring is next to two beautifully restored bottle kilns (more of this tomorrow) and opposite a vast cemetary - so it's very quiet!
Today: 3 miles, 3 locks and 3.3 hours.
Trip: 349 miles, 279 locks and 270.6 hours.
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