I'm moored up for the night near Wood End Lock. The Trent & Mersey Canal soon changes
course and heads north east, towards Fradley Junction.
This week's plan is to pass through Fradley Junction and as I know the rain is
to set in, I'll moor up for the night just South of Barton-Under-Needwood.
I'll then have a long day of navigation as I carry on through Burton upon Trent, where
it almost follows the busy A38 carriageway. Willington will be my next
stop where I plan to moor to its east, on a quiet stretch near Swarkestone.
Once passing the busy boating community of Shardlow, I'll head out onto the River Trent,
which alternates between wide expanses of the river and narrower controlled cuts.
I'll pass Sawley Marina and where the Erewash Canal comes down to meet the Trent,
I'll turn south on to the River Soar. Winding past Redhill Marina, where I'm
due to continue the fit out. So I've just arrived at Fradley Junction, bit windy
today, it looks like it's busy already, one up,
one down. There is a volunteer on the first gate, on the first lock, so let's
hope all five of them have volunteers, that would be fantastic.
So I've got a bit of a window this morning before the rain the rain kicks in at around about two
o'clock, so I will clear Fradley Junction and I may even clear Burton upon Trent, I
don't know yet, but I'll take my time, I'm not in a rush.
I've left my car back near Little Hayward, so I'll go and pick that up
either tomorrow or Sunday, and see how we get on. I waited for the boat coming in the
opposite direction to pass me and I lined up and drove into the first lock,
called Shadehouse Lock.
I passed through the first two locks surprisingly quickly. The lock volunteers
helped no end and there was no need for me to get off the boat. There are five
locks in total here and the place is bustling with boaters and Gongoozlers...
...and lots of moored boats. There's a boat yard, a boat club, a Canal and River
Trust information centre and a cafe. The Swan Pub always has people inside and
opposite it, is where the Coventry Canal joins the Trent & Mersey. There wasn't a Canal
and River Trust volunteer at keepers lock but just as I was about to open the
paddles, a viewer offer to help instead. Neville Wells is his name and once he's
retired, in a round about six weeks, he plans to live aboard his narrowboat
Percy, full-time. He has a blog if you want to see what he's up to.
I've included a link in the description below. So I'm at Hunts Lock, it's the north
lock in the Fradley Junction Network, there's only five here to be fair anyway!
But I've just been told by the boat going up through the lock, that it gets
really quite windy once you get out into the open because the wind rushes off the
fields and with you being a flat sided boat, it pushes you into the into the bank.
Well that's quite good because I was going to, sort of tentatively wait at the lock and
close the gates behind me, but I was worried about the nose being
pushed out, because of the wind coming off the field, but luckily there's
another boat coming in the opposite direction and when that happens, you
leave the gates open for them, so they can just go straight into the lock. It
makes it much easier for them, so they don't have to get off the boat beforehand.
Up and off before 8 a.m. I noticed the table and honesty box to
the left as I came to Wynchnor Lock. Overnight there were bags of wood for
sale but as I passed through the lock the owner was busily adding clothes, toys and
games to the table. Obviously hoping for passing narrowboat trade.
When heading towards the boat on the right, they obviously saw me appear
behind them and desperately wanted to push off from the bank so they could be
in front. Something wasn't quite right, as the look of disappointment and a lady
asking 'what on earth happened' were very clear as I passed them. So I got to the
next lock, opened the gate and waved them in. After all, I'm single-handed and
regardless how fast I can get through a lock, I'll never be as fast as four
people. They were so happy. My good deed for the day! Just waiting below Branston
Lock, there's a boat in the lock coming up, so I'm just waiting for them to clear
it and leave the gate open for me, I'll go in, it's quite busy on the network
this morning, lots of boaters coming out of marinas and other boats going on day
trips. So far the weather has stayed dry and I can see Burton upon Trent in the
horizon so not far to go. When filling up with water at the basin there, I spotted
this beauty. Black swans are native to Australia and were brought to the UK as
an ornamental bird. Facing competition from our native white swans, it's rare to
see a black one. Thank you for viewer Calum, who took this photo of Alice
sitting in the canal near Swarkestone. It was a rainy few days at Western-on-Trent
but it was soon time to head east. So it's quite a busy day today, lots and lots of
volunteers on virtually all the locks, or lots of boats moving around so I
haven't actually had to get off the boat yet. Going through Shardlow at the moment,
really, really nice area, I would like to stay in this area a bit more but I need
to crack on and go down the River Trent, where I will be mooring up, sort of
south of the junction there.
Leaving the Trent & Mersey Canal, the wide river Trent was really calm.
Being a Saturday, many of the boats also traveling east
were heading back to the hire rental area at the Sawley cut. It's a really
busy area with a large marina, Derby Motor Boat Club, a full set of facilities
by Sawley locks, including Canal & River Trust showers. The CRT volunteers were
out in force at the impressive automated Sawley Locks.
At the junction of the River Trent, the Erewash Canal, the River Soar and the Cranfleet
Cut is a wide open area. There's a sailing club here and there were lots of
boats taking advantage of the light winds. After a night of camping out, lots
of scouts were learning how to use canoes and kayaks. I was heading south on
the River Soar. So I've left the River Trent and now down on the River Soar, heading
towards Redhill Marina.
But now down on to the very, very peaceful River Soar, where I will moor up.
A number of flood locks sat open and idle. No need for them today. At Redhill
Marina a nervous owner watched on, as their boat re-entered the water, after
what looked like a fresh coat of paint on its hull.
The marina is shadowed by the Ratcliffe-on-Soar Power Stations eight cooling towers.
I know them well, as I filmed them being cleaned a number of years ago for BBC
News. I ascended it to the top of one of them and did an interview. At 199 metres tall,
they flex and move in the wind and they were surprisingly thin! I could see for
miles from the top, but today I'm just fine sticking to ground level. The marina
follows the bends of the River Soar and is lined with many large wide-beams and
Dutch barges. I carried on south, to where I was to moor and start finalising the
fit-out. Click the Subscribe button if you want to follow my journey, it doesn't
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episode, please do click the Thumbs Up and until next time, see you later.