Nick prepares home made biscuits in honour of Ro's visit

Stoke on Trent,

the Caldon Canal,

and a visit from Ro.

Plenty of lift bridges to keep us amused

not much room either side though.

Well, the guide said there was an obstruction here!!

Ro gets back on the tiller.

overspill weirs make for interesting lock approaches.

and gets in some locking practice.

lockwheeling's fine on a sunny day.

but Alan's not used to it!!

Rather leaky locks here - but BW's supposed to be doing something about it in the winter.

A well deserved rest - all this boating's more than a hard working student can cope with!

Always pleased to help a fellow boater with a puncture.

Cheddleton

a lovely place

The water mill

What big cogs you have Grandma.

What big spanners you have Grandma.

We also heard the tantalising sounds of the railway - but couldn't afford the time to investigate further - apologies to Mark!

James Brindley oversees the junction of the Caldon and T&M. I bet he has a good laugh at all the boats trying with varying degrees of success to negotiate the tight bends and the staircase locks!!

(No pictures - too busy helping!!)

It doesn't look tight here, but when you lose all steerage due to rubbish round the prop AND a boat is coming the other way...................!!!!!