The End of Another Wonderful Season!

Friday 20th and Saturday 21st September 2024 back at Aston Marina.

We both decided that it would be nice to go home on Saturday, so we set off for Stone early.

Over the last few years we have watched this old warehouse in Stoke-on-Trent being transformed into a hospitality venue with a very large apartment block in what had been a railway yard behind. It now seems to be almost complete and appropriately named the "Goods Yard". Pleasing to see, as Stoke is very much in need of this kind of restoration.

Trentham lock is the last lock before Meaford and Stone. We had forgotten how beautiful and rural it is, yet so close to Stoke-on-Trent.

Finally, we arrived at the outskirts of Stone, having been delayed for half an hour by a queue at Meaford Top lock; the problem was caused by a broken paddle, meaning only one paddle was working so it was very slow to fill.

In Stone, the old Joules Brewery building is being redeveloped at last. Again, it was encouraging to see this, as it is a very handsome old building and had been allowed to fall into disrepair.

The development includes the new "Crown Wharf Theatre" that is about to hold its first performance in November and looks fantastic.

 

We moored up MM near M&S and, as it is the last night of our summer cruise, we treated ourselves to dinner at our favourite "Pasta di Piazza" restaurant in Stone. Our waiter was a delight and, as always, the food was excellent. Two large glasses of red wine completed our happiness!

On Saturday morning, we needed to do some shopping for home in M&S and so started with breakfast -only to be joined very unexpectedly by Mel and Peter who were out walking their dogs. It was lovely to see them and the best way to start our last morning.

After we completed our shopping, we moved on to our final lock of the season, Lock 26, just outside Aston Marina.

There was a boat coming up through the lock and we were delighted to see that it was nb "Capricorn", a very famous former working narrowboat.

Capricorn was built in 1935 by Harland & Woolff and, during the Second World War was one of the training boats for the "Idle Women", skippered by Daphne French and described in Margaret Cornish's book titled "Troubled Waters".

 In 1964, Capricorn was sold off by British Waterways, shortened to 49ft and converted to a pleasure craft; however, it still retains its original engine. We wondered what Daphne French would have made of her now. We feel sure she would have been astonished yet very proud. This was Capricorn in her working days.

So, finally, we cruised back into Aston Marina, as ever with a mix of emotions on the last day. It has been an incredible summer, shorter than normal and our progress was delayed by broken locks no less than three times, but it was full of fun and our month with Shelley and Harley on "Lazy Bee" has to be the highlight, topped off by our second visit to Liverpool.

As we will be back near to MM and Aston for two weeks at the start of October, we didn't do all the usual things that we do to get MM ready for the winter; we will do all that in October. Instead, we just jumped into the car and drove home.

Two Days: 10 miles, 12 locks and 5.9 hours.

Trip: 295 miles, 150 locks and 150.1 hours

Since Launch: 5,833 miles, 3,511 locks and 3,794.9 hours.