The Big Lock pound is the old boatmens name for this stretch of
water,(a pound being the water between two locks ie impounded)
leaving the Big Lock in middlewich it signified a chance to put
away the windlass and leaving the work of the Cheshire locks behind
you and enjoy the long lock free pound all the way to the
bridgewater canal and manchester,a good 30 miles away by canal.
The canal follows the valleys of the river Dane and then the
River Weaver to Preston Brook.
The cache is placed by the Billinge Green Flashes, These
Stretches of water have been formed by subsidence caused by pumping
brine deep underground, they form a pituresque but shallow lakes
and there are further pools on the other side of the towpath and
beyond the lane, all used by the local anglers.
The flashes are a popular weekend destination for the local
boaters anmd we have spent many a happy evening tied up here.
The Flashes were the sight of the Inland waterways version of
Scapa flow in the late fifties and early sixties when British
Waterways deliberatley sank their unwanted carrying boats in them,
as trade finished on the canal. Most have been raised and either
restored or cut up but a few lurk below the surface.
The flashes are now threatened by a developer who wants to
convert one of them into a marina for the canal and this is
currently going through the local planning at the moment.
To get to the cache, look for the green signs under the bridge
and climb up onto the railway bridge ( it is a permissive footpath)
and cross the road and canal and down steps onto the towpath.