In years gone by (good grief I feel old!), we used to keep the boat at Heritage Marina on the Macclesfield Canal and a favourite 1 week trip would be south through the Harecastle Tunnel and up onto the Caldon Canal, one of the oldest canals in England (1776). This picturesque and contouring navigation was built to bring limestone down from the quarries at Cauldon Low to Stoke-on-Trent, joining with the Trent & Mersey at Etruria.

 

 

 

 

The upper limit is at Froghall, but sadly, the Uttoxeter Canal that used to join it here only lasted from 1811-1850. The Caldon & Uttoxeter Canals Trust are now working towards restoring as much of the missing 13 miles as possible. Meanwhile the short branch line heading off from Hazelhurst Junction to Leek still exists, however we couldn’t use it this time, as it was temporarily blocked by a sunken boat.

Whenever we go up on to the Caldon Canal the first few miles often feel like you’re running a gauntlet. It’s a mixture of industrial and urban estates with some extremely low bridges and a reputation for unsafe moorings. In preparation for this, we usually moor up at Westport Lake and have an early start to dash up this first stretch to achieve the green fields near Norton. After here, it is a pretty canal that eventually parallels the River Churnet, winding its way along the valley through Cheddleton before joining the river through Consall Forge and then heading up to Froghall. Unfortunately, the river section was blocked with underwater sand banks so we had to turn at Oakmeadowford Lock. This was also a lucky call for us as the river went into flood the next day and we would have been stranded until it receded.

It was a beautiful, idyllic spot to spend a few days with views across the river and meadows to the railway line. The meadow is populated by pheasants, and we were relieved to see some did survive the gamekeeper’s gun as he walked through them (Sammy dog was not impressed by the noise and hid under the armchairs). As it was a weekend, the Churnet Valley Railway was running a steam train and made quite a spectacle with very distinctive toots echoing along the valley. On the Sunday we had a squelchy walk to the Black Lion pub at Consall Forge to join in the musical celebrations for St Patrick’s day. We also enjoyed a much closer view of the 75033 Cambian Coast Express engine as it passed by between Cheddleton and Ipstones.

There were also some warnings along the towpath telegraph (boaters’ gossip) of a potential breach that’s being monitored by CRT (Canal & River Trust) on the lock embankment at Hazelhurst. Should this deteriorate, it is believed that any repair would take a year to complete and, given our recent run of luck with stoppages, it was time to move!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We are, now, back on the Trent & Mersey and heading south. As always, the Caldon Canal has been a hoot (or should that be toot!)