Heading home

As the weather forecast is predicting 50mph winds on Saturday we have decided to get to Shobnall boatyard in Burton by Friday as manoeuvring the boat in that speed of wind is very difficult. So we have been travelling until 4pm to moor in Sawley.

We left Holme lock at 9:00, went through Meadow Lane lock where workmen are still creating the new riverside walk, without any delays and moored in Nottingham. There, Denise went shopping in the city centre whilst I shopped for provisions for the final time at Sainsburys. We then went into Castle Marina for a pumpout and to refill with water. That completed we retraced our route of last week down the Beeston canal to the Trent, through Cranfleet Cut, back onto the Trent and then up Sawley lock. Fortunately the weather has been warmer and less windy today and so the lengthy trip today was no great effort.

Holme lock

Typical Trent view

A short day today. We travelled the 7 miles from Gunthorpe to Holme Lock, just outside Nottingham during the morning and moored up at lunchtime. Again the wind was strong which made steering the boat tiring and so we were happy to stop early.

Rapid lock filling at Holme

At the last lock, Holme, the lock-keeper was keen wanted to get us up quickly as he had a scheduled trip boat due to come down. He therefore made sure we were properly roped to the side of the lock and raised the paddles fully.

Holme Pierpoint Hall

During the afternoon we walked to the nearby village of Holme Pierpoint where there was an impressive Hall, an interesting church (locked unfortunately) and little else. We returned through the National Watersports Centre next to our mooring. There were 2 rowers on the spectacular mile long main lake as well as a few people practising their canoeing on the slalom course.

Heading home - back in Gunthorpe

15th Century frontage of the former Old White Horse Inn

We had an enjoyable weekend in Newark. The town centre is attractive with many medieval buildings. On Sunday we were the only people on two guided tours of the parts of the castle normally close to visitors. One tour focused on the dungeons and the other looking more widely at the life and history of the castle.

Both tours were led by the castle curator who had a wealth of knowledge on his subject. Particular smaller items that intrigued me were graffiti carved by Knights Templars in the dungeon in the 14th century and the blast evidence on the smoke blackened walls of how the parliamentary forces had destroyed the castle with gunpowder after Newark was captured at the end of the Civil War.

But perhaps the most notable event during our visit was the unplanned and unexpected meeting up again in the town with Martin and Lynne of the narrowboat Mulberry with whom we had crossed the Penines during the summer.

Waiting outside the gates of Newark Town Lock

But, we had to leave this morning. We would have liked to make a lengthy journey but the weather was windy and cool. So by lunchtime we were ready to stop at Gunthorpe where we had stayed on Thursday night.

We reach Newark

Our meal last night in Gunthorpe at the Pontefino Italian restaurant was very enjoyable. The food was excellent and the staff friendly. We would recommend the resraurant to anyone in the area - a little pricey but definitely worth it.

We left our mooring shortly after 9am when John, my walking partner, arrived to join us for the trip down the river. After a refill of water before Gunthorpe Lock our passage through the lock was delayed by the need for the lock keeper to refill the hydraulic oil in the lock mechanism - there is a leak, which will hopefully be fixed in the next day or so.

After leaving the lock we entered what the guidebook calls "probably the most beautiful and certainly the most dramatic" section of the Trent. For the next five miles until the next lock at Hazelford the river is lined with farmland on the west and a steep thickly wooded hillside on the east. This attractive scenery enhanced by the very good weather led us to agree with the guidebook's assessment.

Our next task was to drop John off on the west side of the river so he could walk down the towpath back to his car. This could have been difficult as there are no mooring places on that side and the river edge was shallow with large boulders scattered along the shore. Fortunately we noticed a section where the river bank had been built up with sand bags and I was able to gingerly edge the bow of the boat in sufficiently for John to leap ashore.

Staythorpe Power Station

Carrying on down the river we passed the construction site for the new gas fueled Staythorpe power station which will generate sufficient electricity for the whole of Nottinghamshire. It is worth noting that the Trent valley is the major power generation area of the UK - some 25% of the country's electricity is generated near the river.

Entering Newark

We arrived in Newark at 1pm passing through the Town Lock, past the dramatic castle ruins and onto floating moorings an easy walk from the town centre. These moorings have an electicity supply so we wont need to run the engine until we leave on Monday. Which is when I will write the next Blog entry.

Back on the Trent

Waiting at Stoke Lock

We will enter the lock once the lights turn green

We left our central Nottingham mooring and moved on down the canal until Meadow Lane lock (next to Meadow Lane Stadium - Notts County). This lock is only open for a couple of hours between 7am and 6:30pm as redevelopment work is taking place. We had arrived at the right time and were able to go straight through onto the Trent opposite Notts Forest stadium.

The weather was ideal for boating - blue skies but not too hot - and the scenary was interesting. Our first lock on the Trent was at Holme, next to the Holme Pierrepoint National Watersports centre. Whilst waiting for a boat to leave the lock I was able to watch a couple of canoeists shooting down the artificial white water course.

On this section of the River Trent there are several weirs each of which is bypassed by a lock. These locks are large, having been designed for the commercial barges which no longer travel on this non-tidal upper river. The locks are usually controlled by lock-keepers who, as well as operating the lock machinery, check that your boat is licensed and inform the lock keeper at the next lock of your impending arrival.

3 miles beyond Holme lies Stoke Lock just beyond attractive wooded cliffs at Radcliffe on Trent. After a further 4.5 miles we arrived at Gunthorpe where there are good moorings. As on most rivers mooring on the Tent is difficult and is limited to a few officially designated locations.

Gunthorpe is an unusual little riverside village in that it has no shops, one pub/hotel, but three restaurants one of which we look forward to trying tonight.

Nottingham

We left our mooring at 9am and moved on to the nearby Cranfleet lock where we refilled the water tank. Unfortunately a rather slow tap so this took about 30mins. Then through the lock and onto the Trent.

The river here is very wide but there were no strong currents, so the journey was easy. The depth of water enabled us to increase the engine power enough to average 4mph - on the canals an average of 3 mph is good going. We could have gone faster, but the engine noise would have been too intrusive.

After 55 mins on the Trent we left the river just before a large weir to join the Beeston Cut, the route into the city. The cut is protected from the river by Beeston Lock, where a large class of young school children waved, took pictures, asked a few questions, and helped with the lock gates.

Going on towards the city centre, as in many cities on the canals, the surroundings are surprisingly attractive for much of the time. Unlike other towns and cities we have travelled through there was very little rubbish and the canal and towpath looked well maintained.

We have now moored within sight of Nottingham Castle (a relatively modern 17thC building, not the home of the evil Sheriff) and within 100 yards of a large Sainsburys where we were able stock up for the next few days.

Denise went out in the afternoon for some retail therapy - a 30min walk to the city centre whilst I fought with T-Mobile. Although we have a very strong 3G broadband signal here there was no connectivity to the internet. I have had to use the painfully slow GPRS - Grrrr!

River Trent

On the Trent near Shardlow - M1 bridge

We left Swarkestone at 8:40 and continued down the Trent & Mersey. Lunch was eaten at Shardlow, an interesting old canal village with several warehouses and pubs dating from the time when the canal was the major trade route in the area.

Radcliffe power station from Sawley

After Shardlow we left the canal and started on the River Trent. This is now becoming a wide river, Densie seems very small as we cruise onwards. We passed through the electrically powered Sawley lock, which last time we were here (April 2008) had a permanent lock-keeper, but today was boater operated.

The next point of interest was the junction at Trent Lock, where the Trent, Soar Navigation, Erewash Canal, and the Cranfleet Cut meet. This last small stretch of canal bypasses a large weir on the Trent and provided our route towards Nottingham. We have moored at the start of theCranfleet Cut just off the Trent. The wind is gusty, and we can hear the continual lapping of the water against our hull. Hopefully this wont disturb our sleep.

Burton and beyond

Marstons Brewery in Burton

Today we travelled for 5 hours to catch up on our schedule after yesterday's early stop. We left Branston at 9am with the weather rather cooler than yesterday and reached Burton on Trent mid morning.

Burton is not the most attractive town when visited by road, dominated by the breweries in the centre and modern warehouse development around the outskirts. However the canal route is pleasant, clean, and tidy. Much is tree lined with some well kept parkland and playing fields. There are also good views of older buildings, perhaps the most notable being Marstons brewery.

Leaving Burton the canal remains attractive though it is dominated by the adjacent A38. We stopped for lunch at Willington. After Willington the canal travels through fairly flat farmland with little contact with the outside world except for the occasional train on a nearby line.

Approaching Stenson lock we were surprised to see a hairy bull contentedly munching grass on the towpath. We then passed a farmer walking down the towpath looking for his bull and then a policeman doing the same.

All the locks so far on our journey were narrow but Stenson and subsequent locks are wide, accommodating 2 narrowboats. We were fortunate to be able to share the lock with another boat.

We moored at 3pm out in the countryside near Swarkestone, famous as the point at which Bonny Prince Charlie abandoned his march on London and started his return to Scotland some 30 years before the canal was built.

Branston

Branston Water Park

We are moored at Branston (allegedly where the pickle came from) just south of Burton on Trent. It is a pleasant spot as the moorings are next to a large lake surrounded by woodland which forms the basis of Branston Water Park, a nature reserve and park popular with local families and dog walkers.

We left our Alrewas mooring shortly after 9am. The canal was busy with many boats travelling towards us which meant that the locks were already set when we arrived and we didn't need to close the lock gates after we left, a pattern that continued throughout the journey.

After the two Alrewas locks the canal joins the River Trent for a quarter mile. The last time we travelled this section the river journey was "exciting" as the Trent was flowing strongly and the "Proceed with caution" warning was in place. This time however it was very quiet with little indication of any flow at all.

Beyond the river section the canal passes alongside the busy and noisy A38 for 2 miles, a road we use frequently. A mile or so after leaving the A38 we arrived at Branston and decided to stop as it was time for lunch. Having no desire to moor in Burton on Trent we decided to moor for the rest of the day and to make up the time with a long trip tomorrow.

On the water again!

After 6 weeks rest we are back on Densie. Our plan is to go to Newark on the Trent, passing through Burton on Trent and Nottingham. The return journey should take us 2 weeks - we need to be back in Burton on the 4th October as Densie is booked into a boatyard there to get her bottom blacked and the engine serviced. Canal boat hulls need painting every 2 years or so in a bitumin, or similar, based paint to protect against corrosion.

After a quick breakfast at home we packed one car with clothes for a fortnight and food and drink for 5 days and took both cars to the Burton boatyard where we dropped off one and then travelled on to our marina at King's Bromley near Lichfield. We need a car at Burton so when we leave the boat on our way back we can get home.

We were ready to leave after lunch on board and motored out of the marina by 1:30 onto the Trent & Mersey canal which will takes us to near Nottingham. It was great being back on the water again. The weather was pleasant and the scenery attractive.

We passed through Fradley Junction where the Coventry canal joins the T&M. This is one of the most photographed points on the canal system as it has everything for visiting canal enthusiasts - a major junction, a flight of 5 locks, and a famous pub overlooking the canal. The downside for boats passing through is that it is very busy with queues to get through the locks and obstructions caused by mooring and turning boats.

We haved moored for the night at Alrewas (pronounced ol-rue-us), an old and pretty canal-side village.