Captain Scott on Granny Buttons
I spent Easter going from Kidsgrove (near the Harecastle Tunnel) to Froghall on the Caldon Canal.
I travelled with an old friend, Peter Hampshire, who's never steered before, but proved extremely adept. He even managed to steer in the Easter snow, looking for all the world like Captain Scott before snow blindness overtakes him. 
Have you noticed how some people 'get' steering instantly, and others take ages (or never) to understand why the stick goes in one direction and the boat in another?
Good Friday 21st March: Kidsgrove to Etruria Junction
Saturday 22nd: Etruria to Leek. In a full moon I went walking over the top of Leek Tunnel for a couple of hours, adding to my stock of night photos.
Easter Sunday 23rd: Leek to Froghall. Yikes! My camera's stopped working! I had to fall back on my mobile phone camera. Dammit.
Monday 24th: Froghall back to Cheddleton. (Peter jumped ship before I left). Before I left Froghall, I met Andy Lawrence and his new boat (and blog) The Maisibert.
Tuesday 25th: Tied up at Cheddleton and walked back to my car at Froghall, where I found it wouldn't start, so I had to call the AA.
(This is a particular disappointment, not least because I'm still working out how to pay a £1300 bill which the garage gave me a couple of weeks ago for 'fixing' the very problem that occurred again today.)
My walk from Cheddleton back to Froghall this afternoon (Canalplan says nearly six miles) took just under two hours.
I found the Caldon Canal anti-climactic. People have told me how beautiful it is, but much of the first part is depressingly urban, and much of the famed Churnet Valley seems to have too many light industrial units.
Or perhaps it's because my camera failed at Leek. So, no photographs beyond Leek, sorry, and none of Hazelhurst Junction either. More and more, my camera helps me 'see' these days. I did see so much to photograph, and I felt like a eunuch at the orgy.
Maybe I'll get some photos of Hazelhurst Junction when I take Granny Buttons back there in ten days. Assuming my camera can be repaired by then.
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