Barlaston is a popular spot for an overnight halt. There are plenty of moorings, the refurbished Plume of Feathers on one side of the bridge and a handy mini-supermarket and Post Office on the other.
Barlaston Bridge
It’s a couple of miles from here to the locks, passing the site of Meaford Power Station. this coal-fired electricity generating station, built in two stages between 1948 and 1957, was the furthest upstream in the Trent valley, known as Megawatt Valley for it’s profusion of power stations. It was formally closed in 1991 and mainly demolished by 1996.
Part of the site is now occupied by a modern power distribution hub with impressive security…
…and the spur line bridge still crosses the canal from the West Coast Main Line.
Meaford Top Lock is the one to be drained and inspected tomorrow.
The problem is a leaking top gate, although we’ve seen worse…
We’d had drizzle and a bit of “proper” rain as we cruised to the locks, but the cloud cleared and we had sunshine as we dropped down the four locks, at least until we were coming out of the bottom one.
Coming down Meaford Locks
Clouds gather again as Mags enters the bottom lock
We pulled in on the straight below the locks. We could have gone onto the 5 day moorings above Limekiln Lock, but it’s quieter here.
Locks 4, miles 2¾
1 comment:
Looks as though you'll be swapping with Festina Lente. They're in the dry dock at Stone at the moment.
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