Apologies for the late post, but we had very limited internet last night so it’s had to wait til today.

Today’s aim was to reach Froghall, which is the end of the Caldon canal, have a wander around there and then start heading back. The Caldon canal gets very narrow and bendy in places, but Sarah did an expert job navigating us through the twists and turns.

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There’s also a short stretch of river, surrounded by some lovely woodland. It was all very tranquil and relaxing – apart from when the day-trip boat with 10 youngsters on it went past with their music!

We also had some fun when we ran aground on one bend, having moved over to make way for another boat coming the other way. After a little bit of maneuvering and a lot of shoving on the pole, we were soon on our way again.

At the very end of the canal there’s a short tunnel – sadly it’s very low and the markers at the lock before made it clear we wouldn’t fit through – so we moored up to take a look at the terminus on foot instead. The tea room there was very tempting, but we decided to be good and avoid the cakes!

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Our highlight of the day was watching the steam trains puffing up and down the Churnet Valley alongside the canal; being the bank holiday they had a special Staffordshire at War event on. We managed to get ourselves in the right place at the right time to get the pictures below.

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