Bartimaeus

We left Edinburgh in the morning. We had a change at Crewe and while walking to our platform a bride in full regalia and groom with an untied bowtie dangling from collar ran past us. She paused to gather up her piles of netting that was getting caught on her not inconsiderable heels. I wondered if they were late for their train to their wedding as they hurried round to the platform opposite. A train pulled out, but they were on the platform. They didn't look upset and were talking to a man with a tripod. Was this a shoot for film or 'content'? They had no friends or family with them. Only the day before I had seen a similar small group in the Portrait Gallery but that seemed more believably a wedding venue and all seemed calm.

We reached Stone with time to travel on but stayed put so Nick could visit with a new modbus. While we waited I was well occupied as I was just starting a 'knitalong'. I cast on the night before and had been unsure of my mix of colours, especially in evening light, so was experimenting with several different contrasts. Nick had more success with this modbus, so it was a successful visit. As usual, he was good enough to ask about my knitting progress. He had remembered that last time I was having a problem with the cardigan and I was having to adjust things as the pattern wasn't right. I was able to say it had worked out in the end. It seemed the Kensa communication had too. Happy days!

We were now free to get moving. I was starting afresh with my scarf pattern now I had more or less chosen my colours. The pattern is called Born Trippy, so I liked the idea of doing it while travelling and the main colour was bought in Weedon Bec and called navvy. The others are autumn colours and all leftovers from previous projects done aboard. There is quite a risk it won't be finished in autumn. I do have other scarves aboard though.

Shane mostly drove while I was knitting but he wanted to work the locks so I took over then. One of the locks looked a bit dodgy if you were a lone boater and needed to use the ladder. I don't know how it got squashed like that.

We were looking a space to moor. A man on a bike with a walking pole stopped at a gap and said he thought it would be long enough for us. It was, just. He was interested in Shane's technique of driving to the side. The people in the boat in front were fishing off their bow and and one called, "Have you got side boosters?" We haven't heard that name for bow thrusters (or indeed stern thrusters), but it made perfect sense and we are adopting the term.

The next day I did the lock and on the way met the same guy on his bike. He had the pole as an identifying feature. I got quite a bit of his life history and other people's life history, before getting to the lock. He had another chat with Shane while I worked the lock. He was a very friendly fellow.

My knitting was coming along but is a bit curly. It was fairly windy. I liked that the leaves being blown on to the deck matched the colours (and were also curling) so I was in the midst of autumn colours already.

We moored up not far from the Wedgwood factory with the intention of visiting it in the morning. On the walk there Shane thought he might have been overoptimistic wearing shorts. It was at least sheltered from the wind in the woods. We saw some people from a photography club there. One had a plastic scorpion he had placed on a bench. This wasn't local wildlife, thank goodness. We had seen a squirrel on a fence and a goose on a gate, on the way.

We found a trail of photos of wildlife scattered through a small area in the woods. It was obviously a children's activity and we soon found a collection of small tents, hammocks and stick shelters. A few children were arriving for forest school or some such ... in the heart of the woods but also a stone's throw from the town. 

Wedgewood, wasn't just a local businessman, he was one of the main instigators of the canal to make the business successful and expand the transport. Transporting heavy materials, such as coal for the kiln and flint for the fine china ware, was more efficient by water as one horse can pull a much heavier load on a boat. But even more importantly canals carry ceramics much more safely than roads and he enlisted James Brindley to build a canal to link the Trent and Mersey. Staffordshire became the heart of the ceramics industry. He started with white pottery that was all the rage at the time and changed when he sensed people wanted something new. He was always experimenting for new ways to create colours. 

He was helped by being a purveyor of bone china to Queen Charlotte. But he also made items of practical use, not just high fashion decorative sets, though the high society designs may have been more in demand. They will have needed more innovation and development too.

We decided that as well as looking round the museum we would take the tour. We were told our guide was Penny and as we waited we noticed a Wedgwood mosaic of plates.

There was a surprisingly large group, but as we all had earpieces, we didn't need to huddle together and she didn't need to project. She seemed to be simply having a chat with us rather than lecturing. She started in the museum and at first I wondered if this might be repetition, having just been round it but she wasn't long there and still added a lot of interesting new information. I hadn't even noticed the wooden fire engine.

Josiah experimented with chemicals for colour and what heats were right to produce each shade. His scale for temperature was not one we would recognise..."degrees Wedgwood" Penny called it. 

Going round the factory, we could watch the staff at work, through perspex walls. Penny spoke to them but most were concentrating too hard to chat. We watched the workers painstakingly hand moulding, cutting and painting the clay to make different pieces. Each had their own specialty. We could handle pieces and pause to watch each skill. We saw the meticulous process of Jasper ware made by placing an intricate white clay picture on to a coloured pot. These were done by hand without any guide or measure. Most of their orders come from China. You would think they would make their own but English china is apparently much sought after in China. 

Afterwards we had simple fare in fancy surroundings - a hearty local lunch of stuffed Staffordshire Oatcakes on rather fine plates.