Caldon Cruise: Day 6

A lovely sunny day, which was just as well as we had plans to meet family.  We set off from the boat at around 9.30 and walked along to the end of the arm.  There’s only enough room for a small boat to turn here; straight ahead is the feeder from Rudyard Lake, and to the right is the aqueduct over the River Churnet which used to take the canal into Leek itself, but which was filled in.

We took the path alongside the feeder, then crossed the A53 and picked up the path again.  It passes through lovely wooded areas, and there are country parks on one side and a golf course on the other.  Occasionally there are little bridges over the feeder.

Then the views open up as you walk along the valley, always with the feeder alongside.

About three quarters of the way there, we took some steps up next to an old railway bridge, onto the bed of the Uttoxeter to Macclesfield line.

Our initial destination was Rudyard Station, the start of the Rudyard Lake Railway, a 10 and a quarter inch gauge line which runs a mile and a half up the side of Rudyard Lake.  My sister, her husband, and one of their daughters arrived (the other is busy revising for GCSE exams which start next week) and we bought tickets for the 11am departure.  The carriages are a bit of a squeeze, and the train trundles alongside the lake, with nice views across.

We had a little stretch of the legs at Hunthouse Wood, the end of the line, where the engine changes end, then returned to Dam station, which is at the end of the lake.

The dam has a massive overspill weir at one side, and the canal feeder starts at the other end, with some control towers above.

We had lunch and an ice cream at the Rudyard Lake visitor centre, and watched some people paddle boarding and others getting their rowing boats ready.  Then we walked along the feeder back to the family’s car near Rudyard Station.

We said our goodbyes, then we continued along the feeder, completing the bit we’d missed on the way up.  When we got to the railway bridge we went up the steps again and followed the route into Leek.

Leek turns out to be a much more substantial town than we’d been expecting, with lots of shopping streets and some nice buildings.  There are also streets of terraced houses, and we liked this corner one.

The war memorial is surely one of the most impressive in the country — it’s certainly one of the tallest, at 90ft.  It was commissioned by a local businessman and his wife to commemorate their son who died at Ypres, and others from the town who died in the First World War, and no also has plaques for those who died in the Second World War.

We may not have done any boating miles today, but we have walked well over 10km.

0 miles, 0 locks.  (26 miles, 25 locks)