Nutbush City Limits on the Trent and Mersey Canal

Tuesday 13th June 2023.

Great Harwood and the merging of both the Staffordshire and Worcestershire and Trent and Mersey canals, Tuesday 13th June 2023 (Author’s Collection).

Yesterday was a strange day as I explored yet more canals in the waterways of central England, and on yet another scorching sunshine filled Summer’s day. For those not keeping score:

Last Summer I walked roughly two thirds of the three canals nearest me, namely the Shropshire Union, the Llangollen and the Montgomery. Some sections of the locally known “Monty” have re-opened recently and are ripe for a visit but the other two much larger canals have been, in the most part, conquered, with the southern most tips of each explored as far north as a daily travel there and back (as well as a canal walk) will allow. So yesterday I deviated away to a brand new canal and of course sections of the canal I will never have seen before and it was a mixed bag to say the least! Any new stretches of canal are planned only via the use of the brilliant waterways map online and with a start and a finish point etched into my notebook, I’m away. No preview images or reviews. Just a beginning and an end or a special journey to a particular set of canal locks or the ever pleasing scenery surrounding a canal junction.

So Rugeley (a market town in Staffordshire near the River Trent) was largely underwhelming, Great Haywood (where the Staffordshire and Worcestershire and Trent and Mersey canals merge) was undergoing many renovations that ended any possibility of picturesque images from a quite beautiful site, Stone (market town between Rugeley to the south and Stoke to the north) was a marvel and as we say here in the UK, a “corker” and ripe for an article all of her own, and despite Stoke-on-Trent (“world renowned for its pottery industry) having large swathes of the canal “cut” running through the heart of its industrialised and heritage laden city, I chose the most uneventful and boring 3 mile stretch imaginable!

Whilst you patiently wait for my follow up article “A rolling stone on the Trent and Mersey Canal” and a special from the market town of Stone, here are some sunshine filled images from Rugeley, Great Haywood and Stoke-on-Trent, as well as a little teaser from beautiful Stone.

Put your feet up!

Rest those weary legs!

Here’s a pictorial stroll in the sunshine from the Trent and Mersey Canal on Tuesday 13th June 2023:

Two pleasure boaters approaching Bridge 65 of the Trent and Mersey Canal or “Mossley Bridge” — Part 1.

Two pleasure boaters approaching Bridge 65 of the Trent and Mersey Canal or “Mossley Bridge” — Part 2.

Ducks and reflections. Reflections and ducks.

In case you were lost! Preston Brook is the most northern point of the Trent and Mersey and which then seems to (on the map at least) peter out as various waterways merge before the Manchester Ship Canal.

A favourite image of the morning from Rugeley with Bridge Number 64 or “Brewers Bridge” as seen from Bridge Number 63a (un-named).

Say hello to “Bubbles” on the outskirts of Rugeley.

Welcome to Great Haywood!

Great Haywood Marina, with the canal lock just visible up ahead and yet more vital reconstruction and drainage works that surround this beautiful picture postcard area.

The Potteries? Trent and Mersey Canal. Wolverhampton? Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal. The Trent? A river!

Say hello and goodbye to “Wendy Woo” at Stoke-on-Trent.

A fully working smoke stack on the industrialised and unexciting stretch of canal through Stoke-on-Trent.

Say hello and goodbye to “Y Wurri” at Stoke-on-Trent.

I did promise you we were on the outskirts of the city limits of Nutbush didn’t I?

And as promised, here are three from Stone. Much larger article coming soon!

A sneak peek at Stone on the Trent and Mersey Canal — Part 1.

A sneak peek at Stone on the Trent and Mersey Canal — Part 2.

A sneak peek at Stone on the Trent and Mersey Canal — Part 3.

Thanks for reading. Please feel free to visit my “UK Travel” library here or alternatively, here are my three most recently published articles from this Summer of 2023:

Sunday in Market Drayton beneath thundery Summer skies

Adderley Locks amid thundery skies

Salvador Dali in the sunshine of Shrewsbury