Fibre & Tan

Fibre & Tan We’re Lee and Gwen, with Harvey the dog and we are narrowboat continuous cruisers. We would love to share our adventure with you !
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We retired in 2025 and are now exploring our way slowly around the UK canal network on Narrowboat Spooky.

12/06/2026

“The gates to Hades opened and we entered the darkness of the underworld….”

Aka: Going through the Harecastle Tunnel 🤣

The journey in the tunnel takes 45 minutes but we’ve sped it up and obviously cut some parts out. The reel is only 2 minutes long!

We hope you join us for as much of the trip as possible, this is a good way to experience what it’s like to travel through a historic tunnel but staying warm and comfortable while you’re doing it 🤣 We’d be pleased if you share our journey and follow us for more.

We’ve been looking forward to this trip for quite a while. Our previous reel shows our journey here from Westport Lake to where we moored up just outside the tunnel entrance.

The Harecastle Tunnel is a historic 1.65-mile (2.6 km) canal tunnel on the Trent and Mersey Canal in Staffordshire and it connects the Staffordshire Potteries to the Cheshire Plains.

The tunnel is actually two separate bores, constructed nearly 50 years apart. One was Brindley's Tunnel: Designed by James Brindley and completed in 1777, the other was Telford's Tunnel: Designed by Thomas Telford and opened in 1827, it was wider, featured a towpath, and is the only bore navigable today.

The water seeping out of the abandoned Brindley tunnel is rich in iron oxide which gives the water the orange colour.

The Telford tunnel is only wide enough for a single boat, traffic is strictly managed. There are alternating one-way passages for groups of northbound and southbound boats. There is a large fan-house and automated gates to extract diesel fumes and improve ventilation. This is switched on when the doors slowly shut and the sunlight disappears.

We absolutely loved this experience. It was exciting and atmospheric. Although it was 45 minutes long it felt like half that time.
In some parts the ceilings are low and you can’t stand upright. Occasionally cold water drops from the ceiling, you can see groups of stalactite like formations hanging down and the wet bricks reflect the light. The engine noise echoes back at you and at some point water pours in from the sides splashing into the dark canal water.
Hope you enjoyed the reel!

Have you ever been through a canal tunnel this long, or would the low ceilings and dark water make you nervous? Let us know in the comments below! 👇


12/06/2026

“The Bridges of Staffordshire County” : Crumpets, Canals, and the Calm Before the Tunnel

We had to be awake and ready very early this morning.

To make things clear, this is probably not everyone's idea of "early"-but I'll be the first to admit that I'm not a morning person, and I move at a snail's pace when I first wake up. Lee is well-used to it by now, and regularly tells me I need to be ready about an hour before the actual departure time. Honestly, it works well!

Two coffees and a mountain of toasted, buttered crumpets later, we were heading towards our much-anticipated journey through Harecastle Tunnel. Watch to the end of the reel to see the tunnel entrance!

But that's for later.

First, we had to travel for about half an hour to reach the tunnel, cruising past Westport Lake and under a series of old bridges. It was gently raining but incredibly peaceful. The sun even peeked out a few times, making the surface of the water steam slightly. Swallows flew past effortlessly, skimming by the boat, while Oxeye daisies spilled over the edge of the canal from the towpath. My favorite moment, though, was seeing a man pushing a pushchair over the bridge-inside was a large, elderly Labrador being taken out for a "stroll."

Are you a morning person, or do you need a mountain of crumpets and coffee to get moving like me?




11/06/2026

Canal Cruising the Industrial Heart: The Rebirth of Stoke-on-Trent

Video from last few days as we approached Middleport Pottery.

Canal cruising isn’t always rural and it’s been interesting going through Stoke seeing the old derelict pottery buildings and the new industrial estates that are being built on this side of the city.

Stoke on Trent is undergoing a massive £812 million regenertion spanning multiple towns but concentrating on the Goods Yard area near Stoke station, the Spode works near Stoke town and the centre of Hanley.

Hopefully this will rejuvenate what appears at the moment as a run down city due to the collapse of coal, steel and pottery industries in the 1980’s.

⁠ ⁠

11/06/2026

Rain? What rain? 🤫

One of our followers asked how we kept warm.
This is how - the Stove is lit and the boat is cosy. After this mornings dog walk our coats and boots are drying nicely. Harvey is comfy on his bed enjoying the fire.

The red teapot is working overtime, and I’ve been busy baking. We have chocolate brownies cooking in the oven (inspiration from Canal Cuisine) and Oat Banana Flapjack Things ( thanks for recipe Darren De-Rosa. We have too many bananas and I thought of you 🤣).
The boat smells lovely with all the cake cooking but we have steamed up a bit. Not that there’s much of a view anyway with all the rain running down the windows🤣

The only active member of the crew right now is the stove fan.

Taking today as a gentle reminder that it’s okay to just stop, breathe, and enjoy the gentle side of life.

Sending you all some warm thoughts to brighten up a grey day! ✨

What’s one thing today that’s made you feel happy despite the dreary weather? Drop it in the comments if you can share. We need your positive moments 😁

Feathers and Facades.....🪶🏭Or "what to do on a rainy day between heavy showers"Dodging the rain we managed a quick walk ...
10/06/2026

Feathers and Facades.....🪶🏭

Or "what to do on a rainy day between heavy showers"

Dodging the rain we managed a quick walk to Burslem to find a post office and then round West Port Lake and a visit to Westport Lake Cafe.

Passing some very interesting buildings where we moored at Middleport Pottery and photographing the wildlife in the area.

Showers timed to perfection as we managed to stay in the cafe long enough for the rain to stop on the walk back to the boat.

If you had to go out today did you manage to dodge the rain? ☔️



10/06/2026

It's stopped raining at last 😀

Now it's hailing with hail stones the size of peas instead 🤣. Good job it's mid summer's day in 10 days time 🤣🤣

Just made it back from dog walk in time thankfully..I'm sure it will be sunny in about 10 minutes

09/06/2026

Cruising Through the Shadows of the 19th Century 🏭

Today we have a reel of the last bit of our journey.

After a fairly short trip in very heavy downpours, we arrived in Middleport and were lucky enough to get moored up within a 10-minute walk of the Pottery.

The rain was gently coming down at this point, and looking up at the buildings we were passing was incredibly impressive. On the other side of the canal stand derelict old factories-tall, dark, imposing, and to be honest, a little ominous looking. While filming, even though I know the floors inside those buildings have long since gone, I couldn't stop staring up at the empty windows, half expecting to see someone looking back out at us!

One of the buildings is the former Goodwin's Mill Co. calcining mill, a Grade Il listed building where they once ground flint, stone, whiting, and potters' materials. The other is an old flour mill of a similar age. Beyond those, the further warehouses, a bakery, and a tile works sit mostly derelict.

Middleport Pottery was the initial location for the BBC's The Great Pottery Throw Down! The show relocated to the Gladstone Pottery Museum during the pandemic, but we well remember watching the first few series. It's so lovely to see the reality of those opening scenes that panned across the canal to the pottery. We never guessed back then that we'd one day be visiting in our own boat! We might just have to watch a few early episodes this evening to reminisce.

Tomorrow, we'll be heading back for a factory tour and to explore the Heritage Trail, which includes a look inside a historic Bottle Oven.

After that, we're moving on towards the bit of the journey that we are particularly excited about:
Harecastle Tunnel. That means 45 minutes underground on a very "spooky" narrowboat ☠️🏴‍☠️🫣

Dark, looming brickwork feels quite fitting, especially if you watch our reel all the way to the end. Did you spot all the bits of the factory in the water at the end of the reel?
It makes you wonder what is not visible under the water! 😱

Have any of you done the Middleport tour or braved the Harecastle Tunnel? Let us know in the comments please 😁




09/06/2026

Testing the canvas limits today ⛺💦!

Just listen to that rain!
Lee’s only just finished trying to tape and sew up all the leaks in our cratch cover.
It definitely needs replacing! More repairs than cover now 🤣

Maybe we’ll delay our walk to Middleport Pottery.
It’s just a light shower and the sun will be out in a minute.

What’s the weather like where you are? A few “light” showers?


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