Thursday 13th April 2017 – total 521 miles.
After a leisurely breakfast of tea and toast we said goodbye to Steve and Alison, Oliver and Alexa and were back on the road by 9.30. We headed for the 5 pottery towns of Stoke on Trent and found a car park in Hanley as we had arranged to meet up with Sarah Robertson and Lee from Radio Stoke. We were welcomed with a cup of tea and then Lee interviewed us about our road trip. It was great to meet you Lee and Sarah and thanks for the Radio Stoke mugs and key rings – we also picked up a sticker for the van. 

We walked around for a while passing by the Bethesda Chapel – the “Cathedral of the Potteries” according to Jase, one of the volunteers involved in the restoration of the building. Unfortunately it is only open to the public for limited times and we were unable to see inside. We may need to come back again!

We also spent an hour or so looking around the Potteries Museum and Art Gallery – another place well worth a visit. 

It has such a variety of interesting items – from a full sized Spitfire to an old fish and chip shop, from beautiful pottery of all shapes and sizes to an excellent art gallery with landscapes and portraits of different styles.

Walking back to the car park we came across this interesting no parking place! 

Middleport Pottery was our next stop. Sadly we arrived too late for the full tour but spent our time looking around the exhibition showing the past history of the pottery, the people who worked there and examples of the different types of pottery that they designed and made. 

We drove through Northwich and on to Runcorn, over the Mersey, 

through Liverpool

and stopped at Crosby Beach where we ate our supper. Unfortunately there is no overnight parking there so we drove on for a few more miles to Formby and down towards Lifeboat Road Beach car park at Formby point where we were able to stay overnight.