All the Way to the River Trent
(Pass your cursor over the picture to see the title)
I had hoped to update the website every week, but we seem to be so busy, it's not easy to find the time. So I offer my apologies! However, here we go on the second episode.
Sunday, 6th April
There was snow in the night and everywhere looked very pretty this morning, but it had all gone by lunchtime. The weather was mixed today, some lovely sunshine, then snow and sleet, but we made good progress. We did the two Hack Green Locks, near the "Secret Bunker"--rather a joke as there are signs to it all over the place. It was intended to be used as a communication base in the event of a nuclear war, but now it is a museum.
Then we set off up the Audlem Flight of fifteen locks, and got almost to the top when the weather closed in and so we moored up after the thirteenth. It was a good job we did, as the snow came down horizontally just after we'd tied up and got inside. We were very cosy.
Monday, 7th April
A chilly start, but it was dry and we set off to do the last two of the Audlem Flight. Then on for a couple of miles and up the five locks at Adderley. We stopped at Market Drayton for water and to offload rubbish, and we also bought a bag of coal from a coalyard right by the canal. We timed the water filling quite well, as it poured with rain as we were doing it, and we could stay inside and have some lunch. Then on again, and up the five locks of the Tyrley flight. These locks are cut through the rock and are very pretty. And now there are no more locks for miles! Hooray.
We continued on through Woodseaves Cutting, a rather gloomy place, cut through a high bank. It's always damp and muddy here and there is little room to pass another boat. I went below to do the ironing. We moored up eventually at Shobdon Embankment. These are new moorings created by BW and the views are good, across the Shropshire countryside. The sun was out and we could sit with the side hatches open for the first time this year. There is a pub here, The Wharf, and we decided we would go for a bar meal, but when we arrived we found out it was closed on Mondays! So, back to the boat for chili con carne.
Tuesday, 8th April
Off again, past Norbury Junction. On the way, we saw "Bramble" for sale, and felt sad. Bramble is a boat which belongs to a woman called Jane, whom we've met often on our travels. She and her dog Willow lived a very simple life, no mod cons, and travelled the canal system for years. She was a continuous cruiser, like ourselves, and always followed the BW rules. But she was upset this winter when she was told by BW that she couldn't cruise up and down the Llangollen Canal as she had during previous winters. She was told that she knew when she went on to the Llangollen Canal that parts would be closed and so she would be unable to fulfil the BW requirement that a boat may not stay longer than fourteen days in any one place and must then move on to another area. One is not then allowed to return to where one was before, but must go to another new area, and so on. This is a rather unworkable rule, and seems to be applied in a somewhat erratic fashion. There are many boaters who don't take any notice of the rule, and get away with it for years, and there were some of them on the Llangollen this year. So a good member of the boating fraternity has been lost, whilst others get away with it.
We passed though Gnosall, pronounced No-sul, (though one boater I met told me he'd just come from Gonsall) a pretty spot and worth remembering for a future mooring. (Maybe the pub there doesn't close on Mondays.) Eventually we arrived at Wheaton Aston and pulled into Turner's Garage (which also has access from the canal) to buy diesel. It was 59.9p per litre for red diesel. This will sound cheap to a car owner, but it's a lot of money for boat fuel. The first time we bought diesel here, about four years ago, it was 23.9p per litre. In November this year, the concession on red diesel ends, due to EU regulations. Then we shall have to pay full price for it, and we expect it will be much dearer than fuel at the pumps, because generally it is sold at marinas who don't have the turnover of big garages. The government has decided there will be a two tier pricing policy. Fuel for propulsion will be charged at full price, fuel for heating will still be at the old price. Since most boats only have one fuel tank, this system is going to rely on the honesty of the boater to estimate how much of the fuel going into the tank is for propulsion and how much for heating! I really can't see that working.
We moored up at Wheaton Aston, and Trev's cousin Ann and her husband Graham came, and we all went to the Hartley Arms.
Wednesday, 9th April
Off we went, up the Wheaton Aston lock, and on to Brewood (pronounced Brood) where we shopped. There is an excellent butcher's here, and we bought a free range chicken and some pies. Then back to the boat for lunch, and again we timed it just right--it poured with rain. When it stopped, we set off again, and reached the end of the Shropshire Union Canal. It terminates at Autherley Junction, just north of Wolverhampton, and we turned left here, onto The Staffs and Worcs Canal. It was a bit of a tight turn, and Trev had to have a couple of goes to get us round the corner. We travelled a few miles to get away from the suburbs, and moored up at Bridge 71, near the Hope and Anchor pub. A man from a hire boat came out to help us moor up, and I realised he was deaf and dumb. Quite an undertaking to take his family on a boating holiday.
Thursday, 10th April
The mooring was OK, but not one of the best, and we were glad to leave in the morning. I woke up to hear Trev putting the tiller arm on, so I knew we were off! I was still in bed.........A couple of mornings ago, I woke up and wondered what a car was doing going past the boat, when I realised we were moving. He'd started without me! I am not well known for being a morning person, despite having run a guest house for eleven years. We continued on to Penkridge, and as soon as moored up it started to rain. We do seem to be striking it lucky lately. There was a swan sitting on a nest right opposite some houses, and very close to the road. Ann & Graham came for a meal with us--we can't keep them away!
Friday 11th April
We waited for the rain to stop before we set off this morning, and then there was a break in the weather, and so we got going, but the weather soon closed in again. It rained and the wind got up, and so we decided to call it a day after three miles and four locks. The wind was so strong we had real problems mooring up, the wind was blowing the boat across the canal.
Saturday, 12th April
We had a good cruise today and made excellent progress. The canal snakes all around the outside of the village of Baswich in a big loop, and then goes through some pretty countryside and across an aqueduct over the River Sow. Eventually we arrived at Tixall Wide, one of our favourite mooring spots, but we decided to carry on as the weather was good. Often when we arrive here there are hardly any mooring spots, as it's popular; today there were plenty of spaces because we didn't want to stay! We carried on to the end of the Staffs and Worcs, to its junction with the Trent and Mersey Canal at Great Haywood. Here we turned right and now we shall stay on the Trent & Mersey to the end, where it meets the River Trent.
We went through Great Haywood Lock and moored up so that Trev could watch the golf on tv. But when we set the aerial up, there was no reception, so we upped sticks and moved on a little further to where we could get reception.
Sunday, 13th April
We left before 10.00 this morning--well that's early for us!--and our first stop was in Rugeley for shopping. Then on though Armitage, home of the bathroom fitments manufacturer, where there are hundreds of toilets (and basins and baths) sitting in the yard, awating delivery. After Handsacre there was some pretty countryside before arriving at Woodend lock, and then the two locks down to Fradley Junction. It was a Sunday, and Fradley Junction was very busy, with boats and gongoozlers (people who watch boats).
Now we're on new ground, for the first time in a long while. Before, we've always turned right at Fradley Junction and gone along the Coventry Canal, but this time we're taking a new route, all the way to the end of the Trent & Mersey Canal
First we dropped down a lock and then pulled in to the BW Fradley services. Here BW have done up an old yard and there is a restaurant, shop and information centre. There is also a water and refuse point, so we used both. Then down two more locks and along a straight stretch of canal, through flat and open countryside. We continued on to Alrewas (pronounced Ol-rue-wos) and moored up for the night. We walked into the village and found the Crown Inn where we had a warm welcome and a good meal, at 'two for a tenner'.
Monday, 14th April
We're enjoying this new stretch of canal. We weren't quite sure what to expect, but it's much more rural than we thought it would be. Even the circuit of Burton-on-Trent was attractive, and the smell of brewing was strong, from the Bass brewery. We saw ducklings and moorhen chicks, and swans sitting on their nests. We've also seen kingfishers and herons. The countryside is fairly flat and when the wind blows it's cold and makes steering difficult. Tonight we moored up in the village of Willington, a pretty little place which is lucky enough to still have a railway station.
Tuesday, 15th April
The weather started off so well, we were without our jackets for the first time this year. We left Willington before 10.00 and had a lovely cruise through more pretty countryside. The first lock was Stenson, and this was a wide lock, the first we'd done since last year. It was very big after the the narrow locks we've become used to, and took ages to fill. All the locks from now on are wide ones, and they're all hard work. They aren't anywhere as user friendly as the wide locks on the Grand Union, they're stiff to work, slow to fill and the walkways across them are narrow and make one quake as one crosses. Trev did all of the locks and didn't enjoy them at all, especially as the weather changed and it poured with rain, and the ground became slippy.
It rained really heavily, but we had to keep going, as we have a deadline to meet. Tomorrow I'm going to hire a car to go to the dentist in Kenilworth, and we want to moor up in Sawley Marina, so that the hire firm can pick me up. So on we went, getting slowly wetter and colder. We passed through Shardlow and were sorry not to have time to stop and explore, it's an important place in canal history, an inland port with some of the old buildings and a heritage centre. Just below Derwent Mouth we joined the River Trent, and now the waterway was very wide and fast. The boat motored along, enjoying being able to do more than about 3 mph for once. After about half a mile there is a canal cut which avoids the weir--always a good idea to avoid weirs-- and then we went through a floodlock--whose gates are only closed in time of flood, otherwise they stay open, at least from April to October--and there was the marina. I went to find out where we should moor, and we thankfully tied up and went below to dry out and warm up.
Thursday, 17th April
I had a busy day yesterday, visiting the dentist, fetching our post etc. This morning I returned the car to Enterprise and when I returned to the marina I noticed a van parked at the marina, and on its side was the information that it belonged to a mobile fire extinguisher engineer. Ours needed servicing, so I asked if he had time to come and do them. He came over and did them straight away, and then we set off. We nearly stayed in the marina for another night, as it was windy and grey looking, but we pulled ourselves together and off we went. Trev had to back the boat out of the mooring in a strong wind, and he did it well. In about a quarter of a mile we reached Sawley lock. This is operated by a lock keeper, which was a real treat for us. He gave us some useful information about the next mile or so of our journey, as there is a big junction about half a mile below the lock. Then he opened the gates and off we went.
We were on the River Trent, and the water here was wide and swift flowing. Trev told me this was good training for me for when we get on to the Thames!
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We travelled downstream for about half a mile, looking for the sailing club the lockie had told us about, and sure enough it appeared. Here there is a crossroads of waterways: straight ahead to the Trent which goes north up to the Humber estuary, left up the Erewash Canal or right on to the River Soar. We turned right before the sailing club and on to the Soar. Immediately we felt a difference in our speed, for now we were going upstream, against the current. This was more new territory for us and we were looking forward to it. According to the Peirson canal guide, it is equal in attractiveness to the Avon and the Nene.
It is certainly very pretty and rural, though I shall hold judgement as to whether I agree with Peirson. We went through Redhill lock, which is a floodlock and chained open, and then on to Ratcliffe lock. I operated the locks on this part of the journey, I'm not keen on steering on rivers. But the locks were equally as hard as on the Trent & Mersey, and I had a struggle to open the paddles and the gates. Just before Kegworth Shallow Lock (another floodlock--these are flood protection devices) we bought diesel at 68p per litre, the most we've ever paid, but we fear that this will seem cheap when we reach the Thames and start having to fill up there. Then on through beautiful tranquility to Kegworth Deep lock--and it was, deep! And hard to work too. We moored up just around the corner from the top of the lock in a peaceful quiet spot all on our own.
Friday, 18th April
Today was cold and windy, but at least it didn't rain, and we moved on along the Soar. We're out in the country here, just little villages, such as Zouch and Normanton-on-Soar where there are some large houses with lovely gardens running down to the river. There were also some little wooden chalets which looked like holiday homes. A couple more locks, and I was lucky at the last one, as two boats came in the opposite direction and they did the top lock gates for me. then on into Loughborough basin to moor up and shop at a very convenient Sainsbury's. We had lunch in the basin and then set off out of the town to find a rural mooring for the night. We moored up a couple of miles south of the town.