Rolling on to Stone

It's been another showery day, as we made our way up to Stone.

There have been a lot of other boats on the move today, so we have sometimes waited to go up the locks, but there has also been someone waiting to come down. so no closing gates. The girls have been good at getting out to help despite the rain. The youngest one tried walking on water today, fortunately I had hold of her as she was getting back on the boat, so only one leg got wet!
In between locks we have filled our time with playing around with paper and scissors, keeping a 9 year old busy has been fun.

We had a wander around Stone this afternoon, once an important stopping point on a turnpike road, London to Holyhead, there were many coaching inns to refresh both the horses and travellers.
The River Trent, running through the town has been used for carrying cargo since Roman times, though there were limits to how far inland boats could go.
James Brindley devised the scheme to build the Grand Trunk Canal to join the Mersey and the Trent. With backing from Josiah Wedgewood who could see the advantages for his potteries, the scheme was put into action and in 1772 opened from Wilden Ferry to Stone. It brought raw materials to the potteries and transported the finished delicate wares away with far less breakages than previously on the rough track roads. Now known as the Trent and Mersey, we are enjoying it today despite the rain.

7 miles, 6 locks