Cheddleton Visitor Moorings to Froghall Tunnel

I wanted to get various things done online this morning as signal might be patchy or none existent when we reached our mooring today. Tilly was allowed shore leave for an hour, then when she came in the doors were closed, hatch slid over so we could leave when we wanted to rather than have to wait for her to finish her busyness.

A couple of boats had passed, a hire boat heading down, a private boat heading up, would the locks be in our favour? The flint mill was closed this morning, we’ve visited before but it’s always nice to see the water wheels turning.

Under the bridge with the wooden room over the canal. Yesterday we’d managed to peek in through the rotten curtains, nothing occupies the room anymore apart from a few birds I suspect.

A boat was just coming up the bottom of the two Cheddleton Locks, Mick went down to lend a hand with gates, they were soon up and the locks set for our descent.

We pootled along, the trees and undergrowth overgrown. The Churnet Valley Railway comes close now, across the field sit engines and carriages. Today there were no trains due, but we could still hear them, someone somewhere was playing trains. We’ve ridden the trains before so didn’t feel like we were missing out, but it would have been nice for a steam engine to pass us further down towards Froghall.

The canal has always been narrow here. Boats moored on the offside with visitor moorings opposite leave just enough room for a boat to squeeze in between. A car drove down the road behind the hedge pulling in at Woods Lock. A chap, we now know to be Bob (or Rob) walked over to the lock and closed the bottom gates just as Mick stepped off to lend a hand and three cyclists stopped to watch. Bob had been expecting a boat so had set the lock for them, he’s an unofficial volunteer who loves helping boaters and explaining what was what to the cyclists.

With the lock reset, I managed to get Oleanna in without touching the sides, Bob congratulated me , the cyclists suggesting I’d done it a few times before. I mentioned that the ‘B’ team were on duty today, maybe the ‘A’ team would have done it even better. Bob asked when we’d be returning, tomorrow if we get through the tunnel, but if we get stuck…… well….

Oleanna had a moment where the canal must have been too shallow for her, Mick lost all steering, Oleanna quite happily heading into the trees on the offside. It took quite a lot of tooing and froing to get off the bottom and her pointing in the direction we wanted to be. Under Oakmead Lift Bridge which looks almost like new, a different style to those on the Oxford Canal.

At Oakmead Ford Lock a hire boat was just exiting, having closed the top gate. By the time we’d manoeuvred ourselves around each other the lock had already dropped by a foot.

Now we joined the River Churnet. Had this been our first ever river on a narrowboat? Or had that been the River Weaver back on Winding Down? The river today didn’t have much flow, it’s quite narrow and overgrown. Does that give it more charm or just make you wonder when you might encounter an upstream boat.

With todays mission of attempting to get through Froghall Tunnel in mind we pulled in at the water point. A Braidbar boat was filling up their water tank, the chap exclaimed at the pressure of the tap. Now normally boaters make mention of taps having low pressure and taking an age to fill their tank, today this tap was the opposite. The pressure was so strong it had blown this chaps two hoses apart. When ever he started to fill the tank again, turning the tap on the hose shot back out of the tank and he got shouted at by his wife!

We banged spikes in, nowhere to tie up to wait our turn. His tank was soon full and it was our turn. We wanted the bow of Oleanna to be as low in the water as possible to increase our chances of getting through the tunnel, we didn’t need much, but wanted to be full to the brim.

We set the tank filling, the pressure very good, then retired inside for some lunch.

FLIPPING HECK!!! or words much stronger!!! Water was shooting in through one of our windows. I quickly closed the window as Mick ran outside to turn the tap off. First thought was that our hose had come off the tap, but the fountain of water was nowhere near the water point. Our hose has lasted us well, bought ten years ago at Wilton Marina when we’d first bought NB Lillyanne, it had now sprung a leak a few meters along. Inside Oleanna the spray of water had covered the ceiling, the stove flue and speaker on the far cabin side.

Once mopped up and the burst section of hose chopped off we could continue to top up the tank, it only took another 3 seconds before the tank boomed to say it was full. Job done, no-one was to use any water now.

No moorings available by the Black Lion, their outdoor seating was quite busy. Down along side the cantilevered platform of Consall Station. Was that some new wood we could see supporting the platform?

We pulled in above Flint Mil Lock, Mick tying Oleanna to a bollard whilst he went ahead to set the lock. The bank was high, Oleanna drifting out, I’d have been better just hovering above the lock. A hire boat appeared behind us, extra help with the gates but here we wanted to take our time as we left the lock. There is a plastic curtain which helps you gauge whether your boat will fit through Froghall Tunnel. The top gate leaked like anything I thought it would push Oleanna out of the lock, but it actually took quite a lot of umph to get her to move meaning we had plenty of time to notice what we’d need to do before our attempt at the tunnel. Horns and top of chimney, would the collapsed pram hood get through unscathed?!

Now the narrow section. Do you walk ahead to check for oncoming boats? We risked it our progress very slow anyway. Gradually we made or way to where the old works sit alongside the canal, not the prettiest of moorings at the end of a navigation, but that’s why the canal existed in the first place, to move goods back and forth, not to look pretty.

We pulled in on the tunnel mooring to make our preparations. The pram hood caused some discussion. Mick thinking it would be fine. It might be, but we’d taken the cover and frame off to go through Standedge Tunnel. My thought that if the frame did get damaged it would be an expensive thing to get replaced, better it was inside out of any possible harms way.

The horns were removed from their bracket and taped alongside it. Cratch cover taken off. Chimney top removed, plants off the roof. The pram cover was dismantled and brought inside, 4G aerial which normally sits proud of the cabin top was unscrewed and laid lower. Navigation lights dismantled the bulbs left in, as they may assist in seeing where the cabin corners might just hit the tunnel. We’d had suggestions of covering the cabin corners and grab rail ends with tape to protect them, but the grab rail is in dire need of repainting, any damage wouldn’t really add to the job, so we didn’t bother.

Life jackets on, big torch on to shine along the roof, nav lights and tunnel light on. We were ready. I took up position in the bow. Mick considered having a stool to sit on at the back, but that would only make it really awkward if he needed to get any lower, better without.

We pushed off, 60ft away from the tunnel, almost a 90 degree turn to straighten up with the entrance. The plastic gauge at the entrance cleared, but would the rest of Oleanna manage to get through?!?