This walk takes advantage of some of the transport routes used during our more industrial past.
Start from the Festival Park retail and leisure complex, site of the 1980s Garden Festival, and where Josiah Wedgwood's Etruria Hall is now part of the Moat House hotel. Join the towpath of the Trent and Mersey canal and walk north through the site of the former Shelton Bar steelworks and passing some fine examples of the traditional Bottle Kilns used by the pottery industry to Westport Lake.
From here it is a short walk to Burslem, the most attractive of the six towns which make up "The Potteries" and setting for the best of Arnold Bennett's novels. There are several good pubs here for a refreshment stop. From here you can join the greenway which follows the former "Loop Line" railway back towards your starting point.

The Moat House Hotel - a good starting point for the walk:
www.bestwestern.co.uk/Hotels/Stoke-on-Trent-Moat-House-Stoke-on-Trent-83862/Hotel-Info/Default.aspx
Moat House, Etruria Hall, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, ST1 5BQ
+44(0)8457 76 76 76
Google map: bit.ly/rpkp6L

Arnold Bennett's Burslem:
www.thepotteries.org/bennett/burslem.htm

Westport Lake:
www.staffs-wildlife.org.uk/page/westport-lake
Wolseley Bridge, Stafford, ST17 0WT
+44(0)1889 880100
Google map: bit.ly/qePOvu

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One of Stoke-on-Trent's (very few) redeeming features is its canal network. Walks along the Trent and Mersey to Stone or the Caldon to Leek both feature a wealth of interest in terms of industrial heritage, attractive countryside, canal-side pubs and regular bus services for the return journey.

canaljunction.com/canal/trent_mersey.htm

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For a scenic canal walk the Caldon canal from Froghall to Cheddleton is hard to beat. Following the river Churnet through a charming valley, hidden and heavily wooded but with an industrial heritage.

The Black Lion at Consall is a great place for a stop on a sunny afternoon with the added bonus of steam trains passing by at weekends.

+44 (0) 1782 550294
www.blacklionpub.co.uk/
Google map: tinyurl.com/37shtgs

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