Swarkestone

The moorings at Branston

A really good days boating . The weather was perfect - sunny but not too hot and no wind. We left our moorings at Branston after a fairly late breakfast and continued north through Burton on Trent, which is quite attractive and interesting from the canal.

Soon after Burton we stopped for lunch on the boat at the busy village of Willington where there are good moorings. After a quick trip to the local Coop to buy some bread we set off again at 1:30.

We have now left the narrow canal with its 7foot wide locks. The section of the Tent & Mersey from north of Burton to the junction with the River Trent has 14foot locks able to take two boats side by side. The first one is the 12 foot deep Stenson lock. Fortunately another boat arrived soon after we did and so we were able to descend together and share the work of operating the lock.

Densie moored near SwarkestoneSwarkestone Bridge

At 15:45 we moored and then walked to the small village of Swarkestone where we visited the Carew&Harpur Arms, named after the local gentry, for a rather good pint of Ringwood bitter from the New Forest. Swarkestone's main feature is the 18th Century bridge over the Trent which connects to a 13th century causeway to the opposite edge of the flood plain.

The village is also significant as it was the most southerly point reached by the armies of Bonny Prince Charlie in 1745. He ordered the retreat from here back to Scotland as the supply lines were getting stretched and he mistakenly believed there was a large Hanoverian army blocking the route to London. The canal was built only 30 years later.