Park at lay-by at N53°16.077', W2°32.771'.
Get onto the towpath of the Trent and Mersey canal and proceed to
stage1 .
Stage 1.
N53.16.114, W002.32.907.
This is the south tunnel mouth of the 572 yard long Barnton
tunnel, it was dug in 1772, and is a narrow tunnel meaning that 2
boats cannot pass inside it. And it is crooked so the boat steerer
only gets a glimpse of the far end as the boat enters, to check
whether the tunnel is clear. In summer you may see boats reversing
out of the tunnel!!!.
At the co-ords for stage 1 you will find a plaque with a date
xxxx,
To find stage 2 enter the date into the following:
Stage 2.
N53.16.(xxxx-1750) , W002.33.(xxxx-1473)
You are looking for a 35mm film canister.
This stage will take you along the boat horse lane over the top of
Barnton tunnel to the north tunnel mouth and into Saltersford
pool,
a large pool formed when the valley was dammed by the building of
the canal. At the far end of the pool the canal enters Saltersford
tunnel.
Below are the doubled Saltersford locks, only the larger ship lock
is in regular use.
Stage 3
You are looking for a 35mm film canister.
Follow the weaver towpath.
This is the Barnton cut which was built between 1832 and 1835,
then deepened and widened to its present size in 1871, to engineer
Edward Leader Williams specifications,( who is also responsible for
the Anderton Boat lift and was engineer on the Manchester Ship
Canal), to allow craft of up to 15’ draft carrying 1000t, the locks
were also increased in size by 4 times to 200’ long and 40’
wide.
Stage 4.
You are looking for a 35mm film canister
This stage takes you further along the weaver towpath.
Along this section when I was setting the cache , I saw 1
kingfisher, 1 heron, 1 pair of buzzards and many swans and
ducks.
Final cache.
On the wall opposite you can see the graffiti left by the sailors
of the coasters that used to call at this wharf up until the late
80s.
The last traffic by ICI’s own boats, nicknamed brumners, left the
wharves at Winnington in 1979, when the remaining 5 craft were sold
off.
1 of these crafts survive at the boat museum at Ellesmere Port (a
great day out).
To return to your car carry on along the Weaver to Winnington
swing bridge, you will see a footpath opposite climbing the bank
through the trees, follow this up onto the Trent and Mersey
canal.
Turn left along the towpath, your car is 0.2miles from here.