Trip to the Gladstone pottery / Westport Lake 11-08-2012

Bus	From	To	Service	Operator
FJ10 BJY	Middleshurst, Packmoor	Gladstone Pottery Museum	Charter	Aiming High
FJ10 BJY	Gladstone Pottery Museum	Middleshurst, Packmoor	Charter	Aiming High
N295 DWE	Middleshurst, Packmoor	Westport Lake	Charter	Bennetts
N295 DWE	Westport Lake	Magdalen Road, Blurton	Charter	Bennetts

Today Matthew was going on a short trip with Aiming high. We asked him if he wanted to go for a walk afterwards to which he said yes. So we planned to go to westport Lake afterwards. Matthew got up a little after 08:00. After breakfast we set off around 09:00 as we had to be at Middlehurst for 09:30. On the A500 we passed to Copelands Tours coaches doing pickups. First we saw MIB 986 and then we saw MIB 236. They had trips to Blackpool York and Llandudno so we probably saw the Llandudno and Blackpool coaches. On the way we also saw Z Carz V690 EBC and then we saw D104 XAN. They had trips to Blackpool and Southport. We arrived at Middlehurst just before 09:30 whilst they were still cleaning out the minibus ready for the trip. Matthew got a picture of the bus before saying goodbye and going inside for short while. Todays bus was FJ10 BJY.

Aiming High FJ10 BJY in Packmoor

Shortly afterwards they set off for the museum. Today they had a pottery class and made pottery masks. Here is the clay face before he started to put features on it.

Making a face at the Gladstone Pottery Museum

After they finished the face they headed back to Middlehurst. Next was Bennetts minibus N295 DWE done from Middlehurst to Westport Lake. They got back around 12:40. When we met back up with Matthew we decided to go find somewhere to go to eat. as we travelled down the tunstall by-pass towards the A500, mum spotted a sign for a snack van. After a short drive around we spotted the burger van in the car park of Wickes in Tunstall. The burger van overlooks the by-pass and from there you have a great view of the valley and all the woodlands surrounding the A500. We had some burgers and bacon baps between us before setting off for Westport Lake. On the way we decided to drive down Chemical Lane instead of going on the A500. We stopped for a short while on Peel Street because I wanted to see if the steps you can see on the A500 as you head North from Porthill can be accessed from here. I had a quick walk to the top of the hill and I discovered this to be the case. We also saw something which I hadn't seen in a very long time. 'The Thing' graffiti.

'The Thing' off Chemical Lane Lake

Back in the 1980's it used to be everywhere around Stoke-on-Trent and we even saw it in Rhyl once! Longport used to seem to be the centre of 'Thing' activity, but most of the concrete fences that use to be his canvas had disappeared. As we carried on along Chemical Lane we saw 2 class 66 locomotives parked up behind Longport Railway station. We then headed onto the A527. when we arrived at Westport Lake we parked up and headed off around the pool. we decided to go around the smaller pool and then we did a path from the far corner that eventually took us to the footbridge near Longport railway station. We walked back to the little lake and we stopped to feed the birds for a short while. It was mainly Mallards but a couple of swans came to feed.

Swans at Westport Lake

Matthew took another picture just to be sure...

More Swans at Westport Lake

We walked back to the main pool and then started to walk around in a clockwise direction. I wanted to walk in the woods towards the railway line and so when we saw a style we walked through. Mum stayed behind and had a rest. The path quickly turned very boggy and walked along the path for about 100yds which was at least an inch deep in mud all the way along. It's a good job mum didn't come this way in her sandals. We eventually got back onto the main path and headed to the North West corner of the site. As the path turned back towards the lake we spotted a clearing by the fence. We stopped for a while so we could look at the site of the old LPG terminal. In the 70's and 80's we used to see a train most evening heading up to this terminal. We then headed back onto the path on the lakeside. We called up mum and arranged to meet her up near where we left her. We met up and then decided to feed the birds again.

A collection of birds at Westport Lake

This time as well as the Mallards, there were coots, Black headed Gulls and Canad Geese. Matthew particularly liked the Canada Geese and spent most of his time feeding them. We walked back to the main building where Matthew used the facilities and also tried to clean his boots up a little. We got an ice cream and headed back to the transport. It was around 15:00 now and Matthew wanted to go on a bit of a tour before we headed home. We went through Tunstall town passing First buses 40147 and 40148 on the way. We then headed through the Mill Hill estate and towards Chell. We then went through Fegg Hayes and at the end of the road we turned right towards biddulph. As we climbed the hill we passed First 40142 in the new livery. We went through Biddulph, passing the Hollinshead coach depot and the big sainsbury's store, we then headed along the road ans passed Congleton railway station before heading through the town. Passing the bus station and Morrison's we saw a Beartown Bakerbus and of the new Arriva double deckers on a #38 Macclesfield - Crewe service. We then headed south down the A34. we saw First Potteries 34311 on a #20 Crewe service. We headed through Talke and onto Newcastle. As we passed the First Newcastle garage around 16:00, we passed 30029 on a Northbound #34A service. We then headed back onto the A500 through Basford. Back on the A500 we headed south to Sideway and then onto the A50. We decided to go past the Z Carz garage to see what was there. The only bus visible was DAF minicoach W344 WNS

Z Carz W344 WNS at their Longton depot

We went passed the willow road site of the depot too and that was empty of buses. We then headed back home passing First 40003 and 40171 on #23 Hanley services. We got home around 16:20 and we settled down for the evening. Tea tonight was the usual sausage and mash...Mark