Consall, River Churnet

Rainboat descended four more locks today. Exiting the final one she found herself travelling downstream on the River Churnet. There wasn't much of a flow so if we hadn't been looking at the map we wouldn't have realised.

It was another energy sapping 25°C day and we'd managed to loose our boat washing brush overboard where it promptly sunk, so we were looking forward to tying up for a relaxing afternoon. The river began to widen where several boats were moored near the water point at Consall. One was already filling and there was no space to moor so Will put Rainboat into reverse and let Vicky and the dogs off on to the bank. We scouted out a good mooring spot about 100m behind us, so Vicky hung on to the bow and centre lines while Will carried on backing up. He switched between forward and reverse to keep a straight course but suddenly, when pulling the throttle backwards, Rainboat surged forwards instead. Something was seriously wrong. He cut the engine and Vicky was able to haul them upstream and in to the mooring.

It was too hot to work outside that afternoon but the next morning, before Vicky had even got out of bed, Will was down in the engine bay. He found that a nut had become unscrewed and fallen off the gearbox. Luckily we had a spare and it was a relatively simple job of replacing it. Well done Will!

Consall is in a small, tree lined valley which had cooled refreshingly overnight. Apart from the background of birdsong and the occasional toot and clickety clack of the steam engine whose rails run adjacent to the river, it was beautifully peaceful.
Along by the water point were some old lime kilns and some RSPB signs. There was no internet or phone connection but on a map downloaded on Maps.Me we found out we were in the Consall Wood RSPB site, apparently a good place to spot Redstarts and Pied Flycatchers.Read more