Caldon Canal ~ Denford
A landscape photography blog by Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire based landscape photographer Rob Thorley Photography.
It felt like I was on a bit of a roll. I’d really enjoyed my outings along the Caldon canal at Stockton Brook, and Froghall. The autumn colours were quickly disappearing, and with that in mind I decided on one last outing along the Caldon canal (for now).
This morning I opted for Denford. My thinking was it was going to be a lot busier than Froghall had been, and I wanted to shoot a bit more video of narrow boats going about their business. Spoiler alert . . . whilst there were a few more people about I didn’t see any traffic on the water whilst I was there for around four hours, or so.
I parked up at Deep Hayes country park, which is just a shot walk to the canal towpath. Coming from the country park . . . right takes you towards Cheddleton, but I opted to go left to Denford. The plan was to go as far as the Hazlehurst junction if time permitted. One thing I’d found on my previous trips is that progress is slow when there’s so much that’s new, and worthy of a photograph.
Boat reflections en-route to Denford.
Once again the weather was a little disappointing. The forecast of a nice sunny week just hadn’t materialised and it was grey and drab once again. The only saving grace as before was that it was very still, so there were some nice opportunities to get some reflection shots.
I think I missed an opportunity with the image above from bridge number 38. In hindsight I think I should have got down lower to ground, and that would have given me a much better reflection of the cottages in the canal.
Once past the Holly Bush Inn I came upon the Hazlehurst aqueduct. The aqueduct is classed as a grade II listed building and carries the Leek branch of the Caldon canal over the main (Etruria to Froghall) branch of the Caldon canal.
The Hazlehurst aqueduct over the Caldon canal near Denford.
After too many hours for such a short journey I found myself at Hazlehurst junction. This junction is where the Leek branch starts.
After a little mooch around Hazlehurst junction i made my way back towards Denford. When I got back to the aqueduct I decided to go up and follow the Leek branch for a little bit.
I snapped away as there were plenty of images to be made, but unfortunately the wind was getting up a little, and disturbing the reflections. With no light and the reflections gone I decided to call it. I continued along the Leek branch of the canal to bridge number six. At this point I walked up the steps and rejoined the road. From here it was then just a short walk down to Deep Hayes country park where my car was parked.
If you haven’t done any canal photography I can highly recommend it. Especially in autumn. Next year I will be mindful of getting back to the canal earlier than I did this autumn. Whether it’ll be the Caldon canal, or another I’m not sure, but I’ll definitely be back.
You can view more images of the Caldon Canal and my gallery of other Staffordshire locations.
