Wednesday 4th September, 2013 at the Black Lion, Consall.
We awoke to a misty morning with a heavy dew.
An early start, as we wanted to reach Froghall Junction today. It's the terminus of the main Caldon Canal and also the terminus of the Churnet Valley Heritage Railway line. We had spent a very happy day there with our dear friend Barry Wohlman in November 2010, during which we did the 20 miles round trip to Cheddleton behind the steam locomotive the "Duke of Gloucester", while Barry was proudly in charge of his brother-in-law's beautifully restored Routemaster double decker bus.
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| November 2010 |
At Cheddleton there is also a superb fully restored flint mill driven by a pair of water wheels. Unfortunately it was closed today, nevertheless we moored up and had a look around its fascinating buildings.
Shortly after, we ran aground on an "obstacle" in the canal. There were large notices warning of an obstacle in the water, but they omitted to say where or what it was. Should we keep left or go to the right? Inevitably, we chose the wrong side and R ended up having to use the long pole to lever us off whatever it was. We will never know what it was!
At Wood's Lock we met an eccentric Frenchman with his dog Suzie camping by the lock-side. They were travelling round the UK on a bicycle with a small trailer with a "dog observation car" on top!
At Oakmeadow Lock, the canal briefly joins the River Churnet and boaters are advised to check the "rain guage" as the river can be very dangerous in flood. Not much chance of that this very dry summer! A group of ramblers were fascinated by our progress through the lock.
The heritage railway line ran alongside for much of the time and the countyside became ever more sylvan. As we approached Froghall, the steep sides of this densely wooded valley crowded in on us - but in a delightful way.
At Consall Station, the canal narrows as it passes right under the platform so that there is only just room for one boat to pass. We only saw one other boat moving all day - guess where! We had to back up to let the other boat through. The platform is cantilevered out over the canal - a strange sight which must be unique on the waterway system.
At Froghall, there is a short tunnel just before the end of the canal that is very small; we couldn't go through it and so turned and moored just before it.
We walked the couple of hundred yards to the end of the canal, where there are old limestone kilns that used to be fed with coal and limestone by a railway line from the local quarries.
At its peak, over thirty canal boat loads of quicklime and limestone were dispatched from here up the canal every day.
We walked on down to Froghall Station, which was closed as the heritage line only operates at weekends in September. However, we were still able to walk on to the platform and sit on the bench, thinking of Barry and that lovely day three years ago.
The station buildings are superb, particularly when you realise that the originals were demolished and these are faithful recreations built by the Churnet Valley Heritage Railway enthusiasts.
On returning to MM, we started back up the canal and moored up outside the Black Lion pub next to Consall Station alongside another set of limekilns. The Black Lion is a lovely pub with the heritage railway and the canal running alongside it.
They have hens and roosters wandering round the tables outside. We stopped and had soft drinks there on the way down and had dinner on the way back (to celebrate R's birthday tomorrow).
The overnight mooring was in the complete solitude of this secluded valley. Wonderful!
Today: 11 miles, 9 locks and 8.0 hours.
Trip: 353 miles, 276 locks and 287.3 hours.
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