Froghall Tunnel moorings

After two peaceful nights at Consall we set off on the last leg of our journey to the end of Caldon Canal. Straight ahead of us the River Churnet flowed under a footbridge. The way was barred with two large tree trunks hanging horizontally under the bridge. We took the sharp left where the course of Caldon Canal resumed. We squeezed through a tight, low tunnel under the rail tracks, then took a sharp right to cruise adjacent to them, along a channel only one boat wide.

After a while we descended Flint Lock. At the exit hung a flexible cut out profile of Froghall Tunnel. Boats passing underneath could guage whether they would fit through the real thing, which lay in between us and Froghall Basin at the canal terminus. At 4'4" high and 5'6" wide the tunnel was definitely too small for Rainboat. We were disappointed, but very glad to have found this out before we reached the real thing!

From the map we knew there was a winding hole we could turn in before Froghall Tunnel, so we took Rainboat as far as we could. The Inland Waterways Association had designated Froghall Basin a Silver Propeller Site, encouraging boaters to visit, but for boats like ours who couldn't physically do it, a photo at Flint Lock would suffice.

Though our course was narrow, shallow and winding, the woodland scenes left us awestruck. Swathes of white flowering ransom tickled at our noses, the last of the bluebells glowed in dappled light and the towpath was bounded by buttercups, speedwell, forget-me-nots and cow parsley. The canopy of native tree leaves cast green hues over everything and kept the corridor pleasantly cool. We felt so lucky to be on this journey.

The winding hole was less than 0.5km from Froghall Basin and Hetty's Tea Room, so when we'd turned and moored, we took Vicky's chair and set off for a bit of lunch. The path crossed a road and took us over the top of Froghall Tunnel. It wasn't long before we reached the basin, which was empty apart from a moored trip boat. Sadly the Tea Room was closed but we had food back on board and spent some of the afternoon sitting outside in the shade with the furries.Læs mere