belief in...

On Sunday morning I was back at the boat, and chatted to new arrivals Nick and Jackie on Gloriana - Jacquie wanted to go straight into town to find a Quaker meeting, I was on my way back in anyway so we walked in until we found a local to give directions. Interesting conversation, about religion, how we come together to celebrate religion, also gender balances. This I thought about for a while - my acquaintance with druidry (a very ethical, moral approach to life, no prescribed deities or dogma) has been leading me to think about spirituality/community within in, what for me is an atheist basis - and it works, it does. I've long thought that religious teachings can be taken as models, analysises and metaphors for a way to behave, which mainly all come down to 'let's be nice to each other, guys' - which I think is actually a Douglas Adams quotation. I've also been thinking about how religions treat gender - mainly preferentially to the male - after a discussion at Climate Camp, too - that tends to be tied up in history & dogma, though - thankfully druidry, and as it turns out Quakerism, is a very equal thing, working with the individual rather than the label. It is 2008, after all.




With all this in mind I walked into Cheddleton Church - I'm always fascinated by how much churches make me feel - and it's generally very little. Moved by the passion to build in the first place, moved in this case by all the colourful individual kneeler cushions (they really gave a warmth, a welcome to the place), but moved by the presence of people, not the holy spirit. As I experienced in a church in Kerala some years ago, I'm often jealous of those who have a strong, all-encompassing faith in something other - I'm left with a faith in my fellow humans, and to be honest I struggle with that, even on the canals. As I said in a conversation at a lock recently - 'it's a pretty much white middle class hobby (sad but true), but some of us read the Guardian and some of us read the Daily Mail'. ;-)

So yes, anyway, internal travelling as well as physical. A good time to mention friend (and artist, writer, teacher) Dierdre who is travelling in south America at the moment (without baggage, in various ways), and blogging it too. My trip is different, but in no way lesser or greater - just different. Each to ability & need. It's not a bad way to see life.

Stockton Brook to Rode Heath Tues 12th Aug

Rain & lethargy meant a fairly slow ten thirty start, through the boring bit of the Caldon again (and once again did one lift bridge solo, the other with offered help) and back to the Trent & Mersey. Filled up with diesel at the Black Prince boat hire base at festival Park, Stoke (36l in tank, 10l in cans, I'd put the remaining spare 5l in earlier in the morning). While moored there, a storm broke with thunder and an impressive hail storm; I set off again once I'd got waterproofs on as I wanted to make it to the Harecastle tunnel before four (passage guaranteed as long as you get there by then). The sun came out as quickly as the rain had started.

I didn't have much time to wait at Harecastle; David the BW lockeeper had been an electrician, gave it all up when there were more regulations & tests than anything else, and ended up looking after one end of a canal tunnel; not bad. It's narrow, so one way; they put a batch of boats in, then shut the doors (quite ominous) and pull air through with a big fan, which is quite odd. I played a bit more bad accordion in the tunnel, which the people in the boat behind me heard, surprising over the engine noise. Took me 34 mins, which the far end lockeeper said was fine; it's even harder to judge speed in a tunnel than out in the open air.

After the tunnel there's the junction with the Macclesfield canal & the north; then it's locks, locks and more locks. I managed two flights, and moored up at Rode Heath, which may be called Thurlwood, I'm not sure. On the way down met a kayak-er called Andrew who'd left from Manchester and was heading down to his daughter's in Worcester; my comment about him going 'the long way round' went unremarked, but I met him again on the way back when he admitted he'd meant to head south east towards the tunnel, not north west... interesting chap, though, was carrying camping gear, his kayak had a trolley to haul it past the locks, but they did seem nearly as much of a procedure as if on a boat. They're so much easier on a bike, I recall. ;-)

Without a drop touching my lips, I managed to get cheap white wine in my laptop keyboard, and it started playing up... me being me I removed it from the machine, lit the the stove and hung it up to dry. After a pint in the Bourton Arms (quiz night, I should have gone to the other one) I reinstalled it... working so far, but there may be long term effects. Oh well.

Llangollen is very much within reach now; I did here today that traffic is actually pretty quiet. I guess that canal boat hire - an expensive luxury - is an easily dropped expense. Good for me, less good for the hire boat companies...

11th Aug - Froghall to Stockton Brook

Ah, the lovely Caldon canal - some sections on the hillside way above the river are too narrow for boats to pass; I sound my horn and take them slowly, but didn't meet anyone anyway...

I filled up with water at Consall Forge, by the weir; normally water points are woefully low in pressure, this one you could use as a pressure washer, and of course I got soaked; at full the hose wouldn't even stay in the filler hole, leading to comedy hose wrestling exploits.

I'd promised myself a wander around Cheddleton, so moored up after the locks, and even managed to take a few black and white film pics of the flint mill, and explored the village a little - you can have a filling or buy a jacuzzi, even some stamps, but not buy a newspaper or food. We're only a few miles from Stoke on Trent, but capitalism strikes again.

On through the afternoon, and even doing the Stockton Brook flight in the evening again (even seeing the same couple walking through). The pound between locks 7 & 8 was low again; possibly not even entirely the fault of the hire boat crew coming up who didn't seem to know which order & when to open paddles (who also tried to close the lock gates I'd just opened as I cruised towards it. They seemed to be having fun, mind.

Moored up just below the last lock with an inspiring view, ready for a trip through Stoke tomorrow. Less inspiring was the fresh dogshit left behind by a few locals & pets in the few minutes it took for me to walk back to the lock and close the gates - I'm sure there has to be a country somewhere in which it's lucky.

Sun 10th Aug - Leek to Froghall

it rained most of the morning, but I made it out to the car boot (as documented) and to get more diesel (5l in tank, 5l in reserve) from the garage. The fuel gauge is now a lot more healthy than an extra 15L should have contributed - it's even more non linear than I thought, but still better than nothing.

Around midday it cleared enough to make it worth leaving (although I would have done by that point anyway, I think), back down the Leek branch, down the three locks and under the Leek branch towards Froghall. It's a lovely run on the canal, another steam railway competing with space (a station platform is on a ledge about the canal at one point - very close to where i nearly lost my chimney on a low bridge.

Very close to the end of the canal there's another tunnel, this one subject to historical subsidence and very low in the middle, passable to some boats but not others. At the last lock there's a profile gauge;



It's actually the new box handrails that met each edge, even with the chimney & boiler flue removed; I reckon if I'd removed (ideally moved) the headlight I may have made it through, but it didn't seem worth the risk (although the water point was on the other side, and I was dangerously low). So at least I've proved myself as a non-obsessive-completist, or possibly just a wimp.

I turned just before the tunnel mouth, moored and went for a wander, then cooked dinner, and ate out on the front deck.





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Car Boot Sale Report

One undoubted advantage of having access to the internet is finding local events - specifically car boot sales (although I should try to do it with folk clubs too, but that would involve some kind of planning ahead on my part). So there I was, 9am, in the drizzle... quite a good haul, though, and have added to the menagerie of instruments on the boat (none of which are worth anything, if there's boat burgulars reading this). The new item is the tiny blue accordion; quite a handy beast, actually, 12 bass and 22 treble notes (not quite the ful two octaves, frustratingly). I'd been thinking abotu bringing one and hadn't, and this one is quite playable. I do wonder if anyone else has driven a canal boat along the Caldon Canal whilst playing 'Theives like us' by New Order on the accordion...

The guitar & mandolin also both came from car boot sales, I realise, the guitar isn't bad sounding (and a bargain at £8 a couple of years ago), the mandolin was £25 and is very beaten up, but also very old, possibly a century's worth. I've noodled occasionally, but I really should do some blasted recording, or learen some new tunes, or something...

Leek Pub Report

It was Saturday night, after all...

First Stop was the 'Quiet Woman', which turned out to ber a fairly default modernised pub. The pub sign has a headless woman on it, but the landlord had 'no idea' of the real origins of the name - the current building is victorian. He's heard stories that it might come from a woman who was killed by the round table for telling their secrets, but doesdn't belive them., They had a covers duo - 'Red hot and Blue' who knocked out a fair range of songs - , Sunday Afternoon, Midnight Hour, Man in the Moon, all sorts- vocals, guitar & backing CD.

Next pint in the Wilkes Arms, a Proper Real Ale pub. Being vegetarian I get a pint of lager if I'm lucky, but it doesn't stop me liking real ale pubs - nice vibe, barstaff (dreadlocks & musician respectively) and jukebox (Freebird, then something by Hendrix). I would have stayed for another...

...had I not spotted a band (Bak A Gen - possible worst band name ever, I did wonder if they were a Genesis tribute band after seeing that) loading in to The Unicorn earlier. So third pint was with 60s/70s rock covers - more Kinks, of course, lots more R&B stuff. A tight three piece, both live acts reminded me of the fun of playing gigs with a band, and also how much better a musician I'd have to be to be able to do that. I've my niche, though, that's OK. A chat with the bassist/vocalist and he also plays mandolin in a folk band... there's definitely some connection about those upside down strings.

So sorry Phil, no detailed beer report, the best I can say is that the Grolsch was OK and the Stella (as usual) generally rank. But a fun night out, nevertheless...

Aug 9th - Stockton Brook to Leek (in the rain)

I managed a walk around Stockton Brook before the rain kicked in, apparently the
railway only closed eight years ago (according to a local, although wikipedia says the station itself closed in 1956) - the track is still there, even, albeit very overgrown. I had hoped to walked along the track through the village, so whilst I got up on to the track from the canal easily enough, the only existing tiny path being away from the village. If it was used for goods until recently they may be keeping it for possible reopening, but it's a shame the village ignore it rather than opening it up as a village footpath.

Once back I drank some tea, drank some more tea and decided that I wasn't going to bother to wait for the rain to stop before I left, and it didn't until well after I reached Leek, or rather a quiet little canal terminus just behind an industrial estate in Leek, which swallowed up the last half mile into town as soon as it could. It's marvellously contradictory, it feels like I'm in the middle of nowhere on the canal and yet a mile away there's a town centre and all that goes with it. I think I quite like it, although I could do without the desolate industrial estate route.

There's no boatyards for diesel on the Caldon, not that I can find; I bought 10L in Morrisons garage at 50% more than canal price, as things are looking a little low - I really should have stocked up when I could, or rather I really should have checked...

It's stopped raining for a bit. Time to go and look at Leek's nightlife... (quiter pubs have been recommended include 'The Quiet Woman' - I have fears about the story behind that one in sexual politics terms. ;-)

Fri 8th Aug - Barlaston to Stockton Brook

A lateish start (10am) and a definitely late finish (8pm). Did the run up & through Stoke; I had planned to stop once on the Caldon (and through my first ever staircase locks) for a wander around Hanley, but found nowhere good to stop - well, I did, but the towpath was closed for reconstruction, so I wouldn't have been able to get out if I had...

On the way into Stoke I spotted a boatyard that wasn't shy about diversification:



'Tacle [sic] & Bait Air Guns Boats & Engines Country & Western Line Dancing'

The Caldon winds out of the Stoke area - another shallow, slow canal, but lots of corners you have no idea what's around... hero had been one lock ahead of me on the way up to Etruria & the first few locks, but they waved me past later, struggling with draft. Not only is it shallow anyway, but appears to be low anyway - one pound between locks was very low, I filled it a few inches after leaving the lock and grounding as I pulled in to do the next one.



I'd been warned about the lift bridges - one walking couple offered to do one for me, but the next was down to me. They're hydraulic ones operated with a windlass, so not counterbalanced well enough to be lifted by heand and held up with a pole. Instead I took the boat close, crossed & lifted, and pulled the boat past by hand. Worked on this one, but may not always.

Tomorrow - up to Leek (somewhere that has to be visited, not least from childhood railway reading about the Leek & Manifold Railway), then back down towards Froghall, the end of the canal. There's some respectable contour lines on the map, I'm looking forward to them a lot.

Kairology

The Plume of Feathers in Barlaston is nowhere near as good as it's Weedon namesake - I fancied a quiet read, but in the pub; the lounge bar was closed, and the public bar was full of shouting, aided & abetted by jukebox, tv and quiz machine all blasting away. Certainly not the place to be reading 'Pip Pip' by Jay Griffiths, an extraordinary book that throws so many ideas & facts at you it itself can go at quite a frenetic pace...

It threw up the perfect concept, though. Along with Chronos, the greeks had Kairos (Choas?) - things happen when they should, you eat when you're hungry, and time goes slowly or quickly depending on what you're doing. Hence kairological time, which is very much where I'm living now (I suspect closely aligned to Pagan Mean Time) - canals, festivals and friends. I'm well away from chronological time, which governs my job, employment - from the nanosecond timing of colour subcarrier to timecode in hours, minutes, frames, to the count in to a live show. It's a fairly fundamental (and possibly obvious) part of a holiday, or travelling (at your own will), but I haven't seen it quite so well crystallised before. I've been told of another book by Jay Griffiths too, which I'll certainly be looking for at some point.

Thursday 7th Aug - Stone to Barlaston

This is the view out of the window - therw's a very picturesque field opposite, the bank has brokenm down either side of the tree and it's a general hangout for geese & ducks. With the main line to Stoke & Manchester a field away (which I myself used earlier) it may not be the quietest of nights/mornings...

I left London late lunchtime, thankfully didn't have to wait too long for the hourly bus to Stone, and was here in time to buy veg & perishables in the supermarket and an 8' pole in the chandlers to attempt to prop open lift bridges. I realise I could have brought along a spare 8' length of 2x2 timber I know I have at home, but wouldn't have been entirely practical... ;-)

Looks like there's more traffic around now than a couple of weeks ago - useful as there's more chance a boat will be coming out of a lock I want to go in to, but also more chance I'll see an empty lock be hurriedly filled as I approach it, as happened on the Meaford flight this evening. I'll assume they didn't look.

It's great to be back on the canal again - been away for a couple of weeks for guests, a festival and a couple of days at Climate Camp (welsh policemen friendliest, indeed nmost likely to treat you as a human being). Yes, leaving that early to get back to a diesel engine was kind of incongruous, but so was the extra driving involved by a very generous friend to get my pedal powered PA kit to the festival. In the latter case I tried (and failed) to get a lift with someone doing the same journey anyway, but I can't control whether people volunteer or not. Anyway, I digress... I'll be comparing CO2 emissions from the trip this summer to a flight, when I'm done, could be interesting.

Tomorrow - Stoke, I'll be trying to find some hidden beauty in there somewhere. Perhaps Etruria has an ancient meaning, but it sounds so much more appealing... I should be out the other side on the Caldon by the evening, anyway.

(this post brought to you by new web gadget. Turns out you get 3Gb on it to start with anyway - I'm still having fun & games woith setting up, after have to borrow a PC to get the text message on the SIM with the web password on, I find that for some reason the only website I can't get at when connected is the 'my 3' one that tells me how much data allowance I have left.)