Last night we decided to moor above the fifth lock in the Stockton Brook Flight and save the fifth for the morning. John made one of his delicious soups for supper and as we were all beginning to feel the cold, despite the fact that we had turned on the heaters, we all headed for an early bed and read our books before going to sleep.
During the night the clouds cleared from the sky and the temperature plummeted. According to my weather app. the temperature in Stoke on Trent this morning was 2 degrees Celcius! Waking some time in the darkness I found that my feet were freezing despite being under the duvet. I grabbed my seater and wrapped my feet in that, then doubled the duvet over me - it was really freezing.
This morning I discovered that all of us, at some point during the night had been trying to keep warm!
We discovered to our joy this morning that we had great comms, so set about being in touch with home. As we communicated the sun came up -
Having navigated the fifth lock (seen in the picture) in the very chilly wind, we passed two swing bridges - which we allowed Stan to operate (John had opened them on the way out, and Stan really wanted his 'turn'), locked down Engine Lock (the deepest on the Waterways system at 12 feet), where John reported from the helmsman's position at the bottom of the lock that although he was out of the wind, the lock was freezing cold; and then moored at the foot of a beautiful meadow.
A flock of spurwing geese we had met on the canal need a mention - there were so many of them!
We all had a hand in making breakfast together as the heaters were on again and we needed to warm up. We had a great cook up as we are trying to clear the cupboard and fridge - eggs, bacon, tomato, baked beans, toast and coffee. That will keep us going until this evening when we plan to have supper together at the pub alongside the Black Prince marina.
The villages drift past - Norton Green, Milton and Northwood. Soon we will be on the outskirts of Stoke-on-Trent.
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