We started walking up the hills and boy it's hard work on your legs walking in snow:
and we soon made good progess to the top and this is looking back to where we had walked from:
Here's your favourate rock lord:
Here's my best mate contemplating where we are walking to and the best way to get there:
This is looking back to the hills of Derbyshire:
Onwards we marched, it's always important to be concious that daylight time is so limted on a winter walk:
We came across some cows with their "winter suits" on:
Me again:
We make a new friend (Dave took this one):
We leave our new friends:
and head for the canal:
and to get to the canal we walked through this wood which was a lovely winter wonderland:
at last the canal, which was frozen to that point it's now possible to walk over:
Things are so cold that any drip becomes a Stalytight:
and then we had some much needed dinner and a flask of hot coffee on this concrete "thing":
A few weeks ago I took a picture of a barge at these locks and this was the view today from the same spot:
This is the Harcastle Tunnel, (the tunnnel on the right was built in 1777 and is now closed), the main tunnel is still in use but not today with the frozen canal, at this point we left the canal as we can't walk through the tunnel:
and on the walk between the two stretches of canal we came across this interesting building built with public money which with it being Stoke is empty (good to see our tax money isn't being wasted):
and two miles later we come to the tunnel exit (entrance depending on your direction):
and with day light running out we pushed on:
One of the beauties of walking on the canals in Stoke are sheer variety of buildings you see on there, some are in a terrible state and some are in good health, all reflect the state of the pottery industry, I'll post a thread of pictures from previous walks when I get time in the future:
There is a canal under that snow and ice somewhere:
This factory has been abandoned:
Here we have a former potbank, where the plates were fired, it's a very sad site seeing it abandoned:
From there we left the canal at Burslem because Dave had hurt his leg and we were running out of daylight so we headed to the nearest train station via the pub for a well earned J20. One of the things I noticed about the area here is it's utter state of decline, it makes Lytham Road look like a thriving metropolis.
Pubs were shut, shops were shut, houses were empty, everywhere there were tolet signs:
This pictures gives you an idea, it's right next to the little train station at Longport, can you count the Tolet signs:
Drink anyone at the main pub next to the station, perhaps not:
and the station is itself you guessed it Tolet:
They look after their punters here, these have to be the steepest and slippyest steps I've come across at a station:
Anyway we caught our train and we had a brilliant brilliant day, lots of fun and lots of laughs and we did about 12 to 14 miles as well.
Here are two tired chaps waiting for their train home:
The Daredevil stepped over barbwire just to give Live from Blackpool an Awesome Report 
Hope you had a great walk, and that is typical Stoke!
