West Midlands 2022
Have you put the plug in? is a series of 17 canoe caches on the Cauldon Canal / River Churnet between Cheddleton Station and Froghall Wharf.
The name comes from a misadventure from a few cachers who may or may not have been involved in placing this series, where they were struggling to make progress on the River Mersey. The cachers bailed out at the river bank to see what was going on, only to discover they had failed to put the plug into their inflatable canoe. They made far better progress once this rookie mistake had been rectified…
The series is approximately 8km long, and it is strongly recommended to follow the caches in order, to avoid paddling against the flow of the river. There is a towpath along the whole section, so all caches, bar one, are on the opposite bank. There are around four locks on this section, with canoe access points on either side, but be aware that some are quite a steep drop from the bank. The locks do not have canoe runs.
Just before the end of the series you will come to the Froghall Tunnel. Old signage indicates no unpowered vessels, new signage indicates that canoes can use the tunnel, so you can use your own judgement here. If you go through, a torch is recommended. If you choose to go round you will have a road to cross and around 100m down a footpath.
Parking is available near Cheddleton Station, around 100m from the canal (there is a pub carpark to unload your canoes, and then move the car to the road by the station), or carefully along the dirt track on the towpath, being careful not to block this. At the bottom end, there is a good sized carpark at Froghall Wharf. There is also a carpark at the Black Lion pub at Consall, but this is for pub patrons only, and the nearest public carpark to here is a good 1km away.
Mobile phone signal is very patchy in this area, and you are likely to have no signal at all along large stretches of the route, so downloading the caches offline before heading out is highly recommended.
All caches are either a black bison, or a PET tube.
Thank you very much to HarrytheFurrySquid, Jennthefunkyranger and Sharant for placing the caches.
For more information on the West Midlands 2022 event, August 1-8 2022,
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