{"id":2455,"date":"2019-05-29T20:49:19","date_gmt":"2019-05-29T19:49:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/toby200.net\/oliver\/?p=2455"},"modified":"2019-05-29T20:50:04","modified_gmt":"2019-05-29T19:50:04","slug":"day-17-farewell-sarah","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/toby200.net\/oliver\/?p=2455","title":{"rendered":"Day 18 &#8211; Farewell Sarah!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Today we headed for Kidsgrove on the far side of <a href=\"https:\/\/canalrivertrust.org.uk\/enjoy-the-waterways\/boating\/boating-blogs-and-features\/boating-team\/boating-through-harecastle-tunnel\">Harecastle Tunnel<\/a> so Sarah can catch a train back to Oxford for her &#8216;supercharge&#8217; drips at hospital. We cast off before 07:30 with the aim of getting there for the first passage at 08:00, and it all worked perfectly &#8211; we were the only ones there, moored up outside the entrance and ready to go!  The lovely Derek from C&amp;RT gave us our safety briefing and we were soon on our way.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-gallery columns-2 is-cropped wp-block-gallery-1 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex\"><li class=\"blocks-gallery-item\"><figure><a href=\"http:\/\/toby200.net\/oliver\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/DSC02489.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1440\" height=\"1080\" src=\"http:\/\/toby200.net\/oliver\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/DSC02489.jpg\" alt=\"\" data-id=\"2456\" data-link=\"http:\/\/toby200.net\/oliver\/?attachment_id=2456\" class=\"wp-image-2456\" srcset=\"https:\/\/toby200.net\/oliver\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/DSC02489.jpg 1440w, https:\/\/toby200.net\/oliver\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/DSC02489-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/toby200.net\/oliver\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/DSC02489-768x576.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1440px) 100vw, 1440px\" \/><\/a><\/figure><\/li><li class=\"blocks-gallery-item\"><figure><a href=\"http:\/\/toby200.net\/oliver\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/DSC02491.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1440\" height=\"1080\" src=\"http:\/\/toby200.net\/oliver\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/DSC02491.jpg\" alt=\"\" data-id=\"2454\" data-link=\"http:\/\/toby200.net\/oliver\/?attachment_id=2454\" class=\"wp-image-2454\" srcset=\"https:\/\/toby200.net\/oliver\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/DSC02491.jpg 1440w, https:\/\/toby200.net\/oliver\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/DSC02491-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/toby200.net\/oliver\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/DSC02491-768x576.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1440px) 100vw, 1440px\" \/><\/a><\/figure><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">After the tunnel we turned on to the much nicer Macclesfield Canal, and moored up just after the aqueduct that takes it over the Trent &amp; Mersey,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><a href=\"http:\/\/toby200.net\/oliver\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/DSC02518.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1440\" height=\"1080\" src=\"http:\/\/toby200.net\/oliver\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/DSC02518.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2447\" srcset=\"https:\/\/toby200.net\/oliver\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/DSC02518.jpg 1440w, https:\/\/toby200.net\/oliver\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/DSC02518-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/toby200.net\/oliver\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/DSC02518-768x576.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1440px) 100vw, 1440px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Once we&#8217;d got settled in, Sarah packed her bags and we walked the short distance to the train station at Kidsgrove, where Sarah caught her train.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><a href=\"http:\/\/toby200.net\/oliver\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/DSC02523-e1559157668771.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1080\" height=\"1440\" src=\"http:\/\/toby200.net\/oliver\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/DSC02523-e1559157668771.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2448\" srcset=\"https:\/\/toby200.net\/oliver\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/DSC02523-e1559157668771.jpg 1080w, https:\/\/toby200.net\/oliver\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/DSC02523-e1559157668771-225x300.jpg 225w, https:\/\/toby200.net\/oliver\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/DSC02523-e1559157668771-768x1024.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1080px) 100vw, 1080px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">After waving farewell, I caught the bus into Tunstall (back on the other side of the tunnel) to get to Screwfix, and then walked back over the tunnel to get home. I paused for lunch to eat my sandwiches by  <a href=\"https:\/\/ianweightman.co.uk\/feature\/citys-sculpture-trail-turns-golden\/\">Golden: the flame that never dies<\/a>, Stoke-on-Trent&#8217;s answer to the Angel of the North!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><a href=\"http:\/\/toby200.net\/oliver\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/DSC02525.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1440\" height=\"1080\" src=\"http:\/\/toby200.net\/oliver\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/DSC02525.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2449\" srcset=\"https:\/\/toby200.net\/oliver\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/DSC02525.jpg 1440w, https:\/\/toby200.net\/oliver\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/DSC02525-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/toby200.net\/oliver\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/DSC02525-768x576.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1440px) 100vw, 1440px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The route over the tunnel follows the path that the horses used to take all those years ago, when boaters had to &#8216;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.atlasobscura.com\/articles\/narrowboat-legging\">leg<\/a>&#8216; their boats through the tunnel. The cows in the field weren&#8217;t very friendly, so I ended up taking the long way around after they started moving to surround me!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-gallery columns-2 is-cropped wp-block-gallery-2 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex\"><li class=\"blocks-gallery-item\"><figure><a href=\"http:\/\/toby200.net\/oliver\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/DSC02528.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1440\" height=\"1080\" src=\"http:\/\/toby200.net\/oliver\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/DSC02528.jpg\" alt=\"\" data-id=\"2450\" data-link=\"http:\/\/toby200.net\/oliver\/?attachment_id=2450\" class=\"wp-image-2450\" srcset=\"https:\/\/toby200.net\/oliver\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/DSC02528.jpg 1440w, https:\/\/toby200.net\/oliver\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/DSC02528-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/toby200.net\/oliver\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/DSC02528-768x576.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1440px) 100vw, 1440px\" \/><\/a><\/figure><\/li><li class=\"blocks-gallery-item\"><figure><a href=\"http:\/\/toby200.net\/oliver\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/DSC02531.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1440\" height=\"1080\" src=\"http:\/\/toby200.net\/oliver\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/DSC02531.jpg\" alt=\"\" data-id=\"2451\" data-link=\"http:\/\/toby200.net\/oliver\/?attachment_id=2451\" class=\"wp-image-2451\" srcset=\"https:\/\/toby200.net\/oliver\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/DSC02531.jpg 1440w, https:\/\/toby200.net\/oliver\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/DSC02531-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/toby200.net\/oliver\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/DSC02531-768x576.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1440px) 100vw, 1440px\" \/><\/a><\/figure><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I had an interesting encounter at the caravan park with a sweet young girl, maybe 10 or 12 years old, asking if I was looking for &#8216;greenies&#8217;.  I politely declined, but had my suspicions&#8230; googling back at home shows them to be amphetamines (either that or her bogeys!). <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I arrived back at the Kidsgrove side of the tunnel, where you can see the entrance to the older tunnel designed by Brindley, which is now unusable. There was also a queue of &#8216;yoghurt pots&#8217; waiting to go through &#8211; presumably all together as it&#8217;s unusual to see one on the move, let alone a group of them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-gallery columns-2 is-cropped wp-block-gallery-3 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex\"><li class=\"blocks-gallery-item\"><figure><a href=\"http:\/\/toby200.net\/oliver\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/DSC02535.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1440\" height=\"1080\" src=\"http:\/\/toby200.net\/oliver\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/DSC02535.jpg\" alt=\"\" data-id=\"2452\" data-link=\"http:\/\/toby200.net\/oliver\/?attachment_id=2452\" class=\"wp-image-2452\" srcset=\"https:\/\/toby200.net\/oliver\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/DSC02535.jpg 1440w, https:\/\/toby200.net\/oliver\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/DSC02535-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/toby200.net\/oliver\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/DSC02535-768x576.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1440px) 100vw, 1440px\" \/><\/a><\/figure><\/li><li class=\"blocks-gallery-item\"><figure><a href=\"http:\/\/toby200.net\/oliver\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/DSC02537.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1440\" height=\"1080\" src=\"http:\/\/toby200.net\/oliver\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/DSC02537.jpg\" alt=\"\" data-id=\"2453\" data-link=\"http:\/\/toby200.net\/oliver\/?attachment_id=2453\" class=\"wp-image-2453\" srcset=\"https:\/\/toby200.net\/oliver\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/DSC02537.jpg 1440w, https:\/\/toby200.net\/oliver\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/DSC02537-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/toby200.net\/oliver\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/DSC02537-768x576.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1440px) 100vw, 1440px\" \/><\/a><\/figure><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I stopped by in the large Tesco nearby to stock up on the Pimms, and then it was back on board to do a few jobs, before settling in for the evening with a glass of red wine and the Europa League Cup final on TV to watch.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Today we headed for Kidsgrove on the far side of Harecastle Tunnel so Sarah can catch a train back to Oxford for her &#8216;supercharge&#8217; drips at hospital. We cast off before 07:30 with the aim of getting there for the first passage at 08:00, and it all worked perfectly &#8211; we were the only ones &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/toby200.net\/oliver\/?p=2455\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Day 18 &#8211; Farewell Sarah!<\/span> <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":2456,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[34],"tags":[37,38],"class_list":["post-2455","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-grand-tour","tag-harecastle","tag-macclesfield"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/toby200.net\/oliver\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/DSC02489.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8PLyH-DB","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/toby200.net\/oliver\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2455","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/toby200.net\/oliver\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/toby200.net\/oliver\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/toby200.net\/oliver\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/toby200.net\/oliver\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2455"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/toby200.net\/oliver\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2455\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2458,"href":"https:\/\/toby200.net\/oliver\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2455\/revisions\/2458"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/toby200.net\/oliver\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2456"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/toby200.net\/oliver\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2455"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/toby200.net\/oliver\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2455"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/toby200.net\/oliver\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2455"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}