So I've had a bit of déjà vu this morning because I've already travelled
along this very stretch of the canal once. I moored up at Swarkestone last night,
and I was pointing in the opposite direction because I want to get to
Nottingham, and you can't turn around. Unlike an RV or a motorhome or even a
cruiser, I can't do a three-point turn and go in the opposite direction because
the canal here's a round-about between 40 and 50 foot wide. Even in some patches, it
might even be 55 foot but I'm 60 foot long and it's physically impossible
for me to turn around. So there were no winding holes for me to, which is
effectively a bulge in the canal, for me to push the nose in and turn around.
There were none of those, so I had to go a good hour up the canal to Stenson
Lock, up through the lock, which is around about a hundred thousand litres of water,
so the the lock-keeper said there. Up to a winding hole, which is a bit of
an entrance to the marina, turn around, come back down the lock, luckily someone
was also coming in the same, going in this direction. So I didn't waste all the
water, and in a round-about half an hour, I will be in exactly the same place as I
was this morning, but pointing in the opposite direction!
I left Swarkestone and headed west to Stenson Lock, just above the lock there's
a nice little marina and right next to the lock, there was a lovely tea room.
I turned around and returned to Swarkestone, where I had previously moored up.
Going down the Swarkestone lock, I continued east along the Trent &
Mersey Canal, past Weston-on-Trent where there's another water point next
to the lock. Aston-on-Trent and the popular Shardlow area, with its large
scale canal architecture and pubs dotted along the cut. Continuing past the busy
Sawley and then out onto the wide River Trent, to where the River Soar and the
Erewash Canal meet. Sometimes when it's quite rural and the towpath is quite
quiet, I let Molly off
whilst I navigate on the canal. She can have a really good run around, a good
walk, you know three or four miles. In fact for her, it's probably about nine
because she goes back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. There's no risk of
her trying to get back on the boat, she knows that she doesn't have to
and she just keeps up with me. If anything, she's quite scared the fact
that I might drive off without her so, she never causes any problems with other
people or other dogs.
It was a nice, calm journey east, back towards Swarkestone.
I'd moored here for a good week whilst I finished my plumbing. It's a nice area
with water and bins nearby and I've been able to park my car on a bridge crossing
the canal. Once I'd filled my tank with water, I continued to travel east.
For the last couple of miles, near enough every hundred foot or so there's this
bright blue spray-paint in the hedge, or on a tree, or on a post, and I'm not really
sure what it's for.
I can understand things like on trees for example, this one.
Those crosses could be to indicate that the tree needs a bit of chopping
or something but there's lots of blobs in the hedgerow, almost at sort of equal
distances and I'm not really sure. The only thing I could think it could be is
fishing, maybe. Maybe there's going to be a fishing tournament this weekend and
the blue blobs in the hedges are where the fishermen are allowed to fish or
something. I'm not really sure. If you do know and I'm on the Trent & Mersey
between Swarkestone and Shardlow. If you do know, leave a message in the comments
because it's been baffling me for about three miles now.
Just over those hills over there, is Donington Park and on Thursdays, which is
today, they have motorcycle trials days and you can hear all the bike zooming
round and round the track.
As the day progressed yesterday, I went through Shardlow, I was wanting to moor up
in Shardlow but, it was quite late in the day and every single mooring spot was full.
So I just kept on going and kept my fingers crossed that I wouldn't end up
out on the River Trent because it was getting dark, and it was raining.
However just west of Derwent Mouth Lock, I found the very last mooring spot. Nice
stretch of the canal, nice and quiet, extremely dark at night and this morning
I'm sat in the Derwent Mouth Lock but I'm waiting, I can see a boat right on the
horizon that's coming down the canal. So I've left the gate open for them and
I've moored my boat over in the lock so that they can just come straight in.
They'll be really pleased. I'll be going down on to the River Derwent, it's only a
short stretch, then out onto the River Trent to Trent Junction. Now, Derwent Mouth Lock is the
junction between a canal and a river, so I've got to be aware of the water level
markers. Today, it's not even in the green, so I'm well, well, well within limits.
There's no problem going out onto the river, but if it was in the yellow, I
would need to take loads and loads of caution, because the levels can change
quite rapidly and if it was the in the red, I'm not allowed to leave the canal
and go out onto the river, regardless of how many people, or how long I've been
here because the river is in flood and then that means it's really dangerous.
I'm just waiting for this to the boat to come in, and then we'll be off.
Even though the moorings quite nice, and it's lovely and dark at night, I'm quite
looking forward to leaving here because there's a real sewage smell in the air.
Just across the trees here, there is a large sewage works and
I think, when it rains, the sewage fills up or does something. Anyway it really
smells in the air and I'm quite looking forward to leaving.
That's number one good deed of the day done.
I waited quite a long time for that boat to come into the lock but, I'm not in a
rush. It's good to save the water. There's nothing worse than when you're on a
canal or river and you can see a lock in the distance, and they look up, and they
can clearly see you, but they think ohh, I'll just close the gates, and go on down
without you or they'll go on up whatever, such a waste of water. And of course you
arrive way before they've actually filled or emptied the lock, so. It happens
occasionally but I don't like doing it. If I see people in the distance, I stop
and wait and the people behind me were really pleased.
So I'm just leaving the River Derwent and heading on to where it merges with the
River Trent. The Derwent goes one way, the Trent goes the other, but it'll get
really large in a second and if I were to navigate to the right,
that's where Shardlow Marina is. The marina isn't on the canal up in the Shardlow area,
you have to go down the River Trent.
With the River Trent so wide here, I've picked up the pace a little bit,
you'll notice I'm wearing my safety gear. I try to remember as much as I can
to keep both Molly and I safe. Mainly on rivers or going through difficult parts,
like long tunnels because you never know what's going to happen. With me being a
solo navigation,
if I fall off the back, then the boat will zoom off into the distance because
there's no stop release or anything like you would have on a cruiser or a
motorboat. There just isn't that sort of thing on a narrowboat.
Mainly because you're traveling at about 2 or 3 miles an hour on a canal and sooner
or later, the boat will just sort of, crash into the bank and go, brrr into the side.
So it's not like propellers can, well yeah propellers could wound you but it's
not like a motorboat, where boat could go round and round and round.
The huge pipe bridge structure spanning the wide river is always an impressive
sight.
As I passed under the M1, I kept to the right as there's a powerful weir, just
passed the bridge to the left. So just ahead of me, is Sawley Flood Lock. Now,
I've been through this a couple of times and this is the first time it's actually
been open. So that really gives an indication, that the river is at a
sensible level. There's no risk of flood and the level in the Sawley Marina and the
cut outside the marina is all the same level. So, it's nice and easy this one, I
just go straight through! The stretch of water just after the flood lock is
called the Sawley Cut. As you enter this calmer stretch of water, there's an
impressive house boat to the right. There's a large marina here, with a well-stocked
chandlery and all the normal pump out, fuel and engineering services. On my
starboard side down the cut here, there's Derby Motor Boat Club.
A huge array of different types of cruisers, small, large, cheap ... expensive!
Lots of people working on them and it's quite a busy area.
So I'm just going through Sawley Locks at the moment. They're manned by volunteers
from Good Friday, right the way to the end of October, which is brilliant. I came
around the corner and the gates were nice and open for me. They're
hydraulically operated and you have to have a key and there's a control board
here so, I'm just really grateful that they're here today.
[Volunteer] See you again. [me] Turrah, [Volunteer] Bye.
That was a nice volunteer at
Sawley Locks. I like having a good chat with the volunteers. Some are talkative, some
aren't but there's nothing worse than seeing boaters just going through,
and just completely ignoring them. It's like, well hang on a minute, they're
volunteering their time, they don't get paid, they're volunteering their time to
help you get through a lock and I've seen so many boaters just completely
blank them, and it's just not, not on! So I like to have a good old chat.
Oh, that's nice, nice hot coffee. Bit chilly this morning,
I thought it was gonna throw it down with rain and I'm absolutely baking
under all this wet weather gear but, you know what'll happen, the minute I take
it all off and sit in the sun, it'll start throwing it down, so,
best to be safe than sorry. Earlier in the day, I contacted the wood
yard in Nottingham, to find out if my account had been set up, it hadn't. So
instead of travelling into Nottingham and sitting tight for a few days
over the weekend, I decided to make a bit of a detour, up the Erewash Canal.
Trent Junction was rather windy and as I made the wide turn into the relatively
narrow entrance to the canal, I heard a blast on a horn. [Horn].
So reduce my power and out emerged another narrowboat. I just hope the side
wind didn't push me off course, but with a bit of backward turning, I entered the
calm waters, below Trent Lock. Next week I start my detour up onto the Erewash
Canal. I've heard so many boaters complain about it, too many weeds, too
many locks, doesn't go anywhere. So I thought I'd test it out for myself.
Don't forget to click the Thumbs Up if you like this episode and Subscribe, to
follow my journey. It doesn't cost you anything and simply informs you about
new content. Until next time, see you later.