Well we made it – we scraped the profile gauge that was supposed to be the indicator of whether we would get through the lowest openly navigable tunnel on the inland waterway network, but thought it was worth a try.
If you think it’s worth it – give it a go – seems a worthy mantra for most things.
Froghall Tunnel has a reputation for leaving boats (and their crews) battered and dejected, scraped and defeated. It’s only 75m long but what a breath-holding, knuckle-scraping length that is. It is also approached and exited on irritating bends which make it difficult to line up to get a straight entry and easy exit.
It has loomed over (if a tunnel can do that) us for the past few years, acquiring as the unknown tends to do, a fearsome hold on our minds. Every boat we hear that hasn’t made it is another alarm (is that boat similar to ours? will we? Won’t we? Should we? will we get in and get stuck?)
Then there are the boating colleague we hear who have made it through (often with a few scrapes) and delighted in the calm of Uttoxeter Basin beyond. We recalled their boats, studied photos of them on social media and tried in vain to compare with our own but it honestly was a fool’s game.
We originally thought to leave the Leek Branch of the Caldon Canal and make it to the tunnel on the ‘main line’ in two gentle days but once underway it seemed to get increasingly urgent to get there and see if we would fit through. We left the Leek dead end through the Leek Tunnel, helped an Anglo Welsh hire boat which had been trying to get past a fallen tree and got stuck in silt, then got stuck ourselves for a bit, before chugging on and turning at Hazlehurst Junction onto the ‘main line’ (which is just another branch now).
From there we dropped down onto the River Churnet for about a mile (this time whilst doing the lock onto the river I sent a photo of the river flow indicator board to the Skipper to ask if he was happy it was in the green. That’s after I mistook weed on the a river Aire board for a green indicator and we ended up accidentally travelling rather rapidly up it in flood…). I was surprised it wasn’t in flood after the weekend’s horrendous downpours but it wasn’t.
The only way to really know if we could get our boat through this tunnel was to try it. We began planning (stupid not to really) at the last waterpoint before the tunnel, at Consall. We filled the water tank in the bow with as much water as it would take, to weigh the boat down and sit her as low in the water as possible. Then we took everything off the roof, the plants, the boxes, the gangplanks, the rake and brushes, the boat scraper winter step that gets us through the winter (and autumn) mud, and we lowered the solar panels flat to the roof. We also took off our canvas cratch cover and folded it inside the boat. The highest part of the boat by the time we’d done all of this was the tiller pin… so Jemima was carefully removed, to be replaced with a totally flat cable tie to ensure the tiller doesn’t slide or get bashed off the swan neck that connects to the rudder which gives us direction.
After that started the Tetris-like game of trying to find spaces somewhere inside for everything we had just removed from the roof. Eventually everything was fitted somewhere, albeit a bit chaotically, and we set off again just as the drizzle started.
The section between Consall and Froghall Tunnel has some highlights – firstly the platform and waiting room for the Churnet Valley Steam Railway overhangs the canal because the two are so close together, and then the canal is incredible narrow and shallow in places, meaning going is slow and heaven help you if you meet another boat! So there were a few distractions, but the tunnel was looming large (actually small and narrow) in our thoughts as it approached.
You come at it from a bend and through the brambles and greenery at the entrance it is actually difficult to see it clearly, and to line up effectively for it but suddenly, there it was and there we were, edging towards this low dark space.
OK so it is short this tunnel and you can see the end from the beginning which helps but it is INCREDIBLY low. So low that I filmed going through from below the roof with my phone just peeking up and the highest part of the boat turned out uncomfortably to be the Skipper’s knuckles resting on the tiller. We edged in and bent double – steering and filming from the most contorted positions.
It wasn’t until we emerged blinking that we realised we’d probably been holding our breath for most of the journey through.
Once out in the sunlight, and straightening ourselves as well as the boat out, we cruised on to Lock 1 of the Uttoxeter Canal that now leads down just into the Uttoxeter Basin. It offered a totally deserted choice of mooring pontoons alongside what the Canal and River Trust online map assured us was a full set of services – Elsan, rubbish and water points.
We’d already been to a marked rubbish point at Consall when we were sorting the boat, only to find the bins marked as pub only, no boater waste, so we’d had to wedge the rubbish bag back in with everything else. I was thrilled to get to Froghall and begin clearing out but no – more bins marked as not for boater waste. A lovely lady cleaning toilets which turned out to be council provided pointed us to a waste bin beside the road, so thank goodness we’re pretty sustainable in terms of waste!
It was clear there was a CRT rubbish bin sign by the bins we weren’t supposed to use, so I photographed it and contacted CRT to ask just where we were supposed to put our waste, and if they knew boaters were unable to dispose of rubbish at either Consall or Froghall as marked. The reply was astonishing – these facilities closed in 2020! You’d have thought they might have updated the map in the ensuing FOUR YEARS! It literally stinks though because as continuous cruisers our the licence we pay to CRT for using the canals, facilities and being able to trade from the boat has doubled for us over the past 4 years. It appears the facilities are shrinking and this could have alarming environmental consequences for the environment we value so much around our canals.
So it is a lovely place here in this basin at Froghall, worthwhile getting to particularly with the excitement of the tunnel, but without facilities, we can’t stay for too long.
The one major excitement we have discovered, which we weren’t expecting, is The Railway Inn. If you’re in the area don’t miss it. A family run pub with excellent local ales, home-cooked food, and a warm welcome for all of us, including unlimited dog treats! One of the family even refused to hear of us getting a bus to fetch our car and drove us back to Leek! Such kindness keeps us afloat and makes us want to pass it on in any way we can.
So next week, we’ll have another go at that tunnel – we just need to recover from our first attempt and play Tetris with everything before trying again! Then it’s back down the Caldon, along the Trent & Mersey, hopefully over the River Trent (flooding permitting) and an attempt to complete our voyage along the Erewash Canal which Covid so dramatically stopped some years ago. After that, I’m really really hoping for a winter cruising schedule unlike any other we’ve ever tried – more on this anon.
Pickingupducks 