It was time to move on from Swarkestone. Although a bit overcast, it was forecast
to be sunny later in the day. So I wanted to make the most of it.
Weston Lock is situated just south of the Derbyshire village of Weston-on-Trent.
Whilst I was navigating through the lock, a lady came over and asked if
she could take some photos of Alice for a school project. That school project
turned out to be a bit of a Derbyshire tradition called well dressing. Wells and
water sources are decorated with various designs, giving thanks for a reliable
water supply. It's speculated it began back in the fourth century as a Pagan custom.
Wooden frames are constructed and covered with clay, mixed with water and salt.
A design is then sketched onto the clay and the picture is then filled in
with natural materials like mosses, flower petals and seeds. This dressing
made by the pupils, teachers and parents at Weston-on-Trent Primary School last
year, displayed five British birds.
That was a bit awkward because I've just gone through Weston Lock on the
Trent & Mersey and my alternator is wired into my lithium batteries. Now, I've
got a battery management system that should turn something on or off,
depending on the rate of charge and I'm still figuring that last bit out. So I
needed to manually turn the charge off from the alternator to the batteries
before the voltage got too high. I forgot to do it whilst I was at the lock
because I was busy nattering to some people. I went through the lock, some more
people behind me and I went off down the cut a little bit. Nice and quiet,
no-one around. I put the boat into neutral and stopped
and walked down my gunnels to go in the bow door and go and turn them off.
At that point. the boat sort of swung around on the canal and got stuck but
to all intents and purposes, to the people back on the lock bridge, all they
could see is a boat at a weird angle, stopped,
Molly stood on her own on the stern and me nowhere to be seen! So there was a
little bit of frantic people asking oh gosh, you know, I could see them
looking, is he okay, is okay, because that's the sort of thing you do when your'e
on the canals, you look out for each other.
And there were about five or six people they're, all sort of looking to see where
on earth is he and then of course my head pops up and I carry on walking back
along the gunnels and everything's fine. And I just reversed out and carried on
driving but I should be aware of the worry that I put on to other people in
in that sort of circumstance. So that is my trigger to really install the switch
between the alternator and the batteries to automatically cut off!
Bit of a good deed for the day. Just as I was going through Weston Lock which is
a previous lock. Halfway down, another boat came around the corner and there's
nothing worse than following another boat, going in the same direction and
they're double width locks. There's a lot of water to move. So I thought at this
lock, I'm going to take it nice and easy and fill it up and the pair of us can go
down from now on, and the pair of us can go through all of the different locks
right the way out onto the river Trent, if that's as far as they're going.
Come on then.
Oh you were about two centimetres from going in then weren't you. You were lucky,
although it's nice and cool if you did go in.
James Brindle developed the canal through Shardlow in 1770. As a result, the
area became an important UK river port. As trade developed into the 1800s the
wharfs and surrounding warehouses each had designated functions such as housing
coal, timber, iron, cheese, corn and salt. Other businesses such as boat builders,
ropewalks, stables and offices populated the canals basins. Many still being used
for the same purpose, some 200 years later.
So I'm now at Derwent Mouth Lock. The sun's out and I haven't got one,
haven't got two, I've got three volunteers here, which are fab and then it's out
onto the River Trent, which is a little bit lower than the last time I was here.
The water was right up over the bank and it had spread all over the fields here.
But I'm pleased it's a lot lower and it's a lot calmer today and the sun's out.
Just there is where the Derwent meets the River Trent and just as I hit the
water there, there was a huge swirl of water and it pushed Alice right over. Even
though the river is really low today, it really does show its power when it needs to.
This is Sawley Flood Lock and sometimes when rivers connect with canals they
have red tops to their locks. That indicates that you when you leave the
lock, you should put the paddles up so that water can always flow through.
A couple of months ago I couldn't travel along this stretch because the River Soar
and the River Trent were in flood. Now this is the River Soar and this lock
gives you a really good example of the sheer levels of how the water has risen
because this lock must be a good two metres deep and by the look of the floor,
by the look of the luscious green grass, the water levels overrode both gates and
completely flooded this area.
Continuing south on the River Soar, I passed the flood locks at Kegworth
that were thankfully open today and turned the corner towards Kegworth New Lock.
Even though a narrowboat was in the
lock and the gates had been closed, they kindly went across the lock to reopen
them, once they saw me. I made sure I thanked them.
And because of the sheer power of this lock, it benefited both of us. We held
back in the locks chamber and with two boats side by side it reduced the water
bashing us about.
Once I was up on the calm top section of the River Soar, I found a nice mooring
spot to settle down for a few days. If you've not already subscribed, please do.
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