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Race Report: Cultural Tour of Stoke-on-Trent 02/11/2014

by Michael Escolme on Wednesday 19th November 2014
A report of the Ten Mile Running Tour de Stoke on Trent 2nd November 2014


Lining up in Hanley Park ready for the off
Having run no more than about 8 miles previously (not including the 10.5 mile Striders Treasure Hunt) I thought this event would be the perfect chance to push myself a little bit further. 

The huge David Wynne sculpture is notorious for interfering with the accuracy of GPS devices
 The Facebook invite from Mik read and I quote “I’ll be taking you on a tour of the hidden heritage of Stoke on Trent. It’ll be 10 miles (honest) at a very gentle pace, lots of stops for photos, stories and cultural information. This will be Stoke like you have never seen it before. Time for a steaming hot mug of tea and an oatcake afterwards too!” 
Lies, lies and more lies!


Along the Cauldon Canal south from Middleport Pottery
On the Sunday morning 23 Striders met at Hanley Park and off we went. There are too many places to mention individually but the ones that stand out for me are:

  • Emma Bridgewater factory with the spots and an advert for lovely new jugs
  • Tom and his sewer near to the Regent Theatre
Tom, rightly proud of his work

  • Debenhams and the David Wynne Sculpture of the spikey man ( this brought back childhood memories for me and Jo of our trips to see Santa at John Lewis)
  • Middleport Pottery
  • Molly Leigh’s grave and Sarah Smith’s grave
  • The Walter Ritchie sculpture hidden inside NatWest Bank
  • A man can’t fly statue
  • Brampton Park with the cheeky parrot

In Wolstanton examining a grave riddle
In between there were lots of hills, some of which were extremely steep, various museums and numerous striking buildings. At some point we did take a break for a quick visit to the loos in one of Tunstall’s pubs called “The Saggar Makers” and the newsagents for drinks, chocolate bars and bananas. Not an oatcake or cup of tea in sight!  I do recall looking at my watch at this time and noted we had been running for well over the scheduled 2 ½ hours and judging by my legs we must have already covered 10 miles.
Running along the Hanley parkrun route
On arrival back at Hanley Park we were presented with our special memento made in the Potteries.
Riding a cannon which was captured from the Russian Army during the Crimean War
I must say the level of detail provided and research Mik did was impressive, and it certainly was Stoke like I had never seen it before. I just wasn’t expecting to see 14 ½ miles of it...
On a bridge over the D Road between Stoke and Hanley
Big thanks again to Mik for organising the event.

Lindsay