EXHAUSTED BUT WE GOT THERE.

 

    Leaky Gates on the Erewash

The last week has been busy and exhausting. After the weekend we had a couple of days to kill before we went into dry dock to black the bottom of the boat. Vikki had requested we go in a few days early which we happily agreed to. The dry dock at Langley Mill hold 2 boats, and we were going in with Paul on Time Warp, who we had come up the Erewash canal with. He moors at Langley Mill so wouldn’t be going back down with us.

https://langleymillboatyard.co.uk/

Wednesday came, and at 10am Dan, Tom and Vikki were ready to start letting the water out of the dock. The gate was closed and the sluice opened, and slowly the water went down, we were soon on the trestles that the boat sits on, giving us access all round the boat.

First job was all the Captains, he donned his fishing waders, a waterproof coat, and a full face guard to pressure washed the bottom and side of the boat, thus removing all the algae and loose bits of this and that. They had a new pressure washer,, which was so powerful it nearly blew him off his feet.

When it was done he examined the hull of the boat, and was pleased to report back it was looking good.

The bitumen has to be applied to a dry surface as it is water soluble until it dries and cures. This meant the weather needed to stay dry. Thursday, and after an early shower the Captain decided it was time to start. The first coat of bitumen is always the hardest to apply, as you have to work the bitumen into all the pits in the hull. We apply the bitumen to the sides of the boat all the way to the gunnels but not the actual bottom of the boat. It took about 3 hours to do both sides, my hands ached from holding the fluffy roller we use, and don’t get me started about my back. So after a couple of pints and tea we had a quiet night.

The Captain had decided we needed a new cup on our skeg, this is like a pin and socket joint which the bottom of the rudder sits it, and it wears over time. Our had been causing the tiller to vibrate for sometime. Tom came along and removed the cup and made us a new one.

Rudder, Skeg, with Pin and Socket at the Bottom

The second coat went on much easier than the first, but I had realised that the roller I was using, was too large and heavy for my delicate hands and wrists (lol). Luckily for me Vikki had a smaller one I could use and it made the job so much easier for me.

The final coat went on on Saturday, before we headed off to Dylan’s 3^rd birthday party. We had a great time, safe in the knowledge that the heavy work was out of the way. The weather had been kind to us too.

Dylan and his Birthday Cake

Sunday and the Captain just pottered, repainting the tunnel bands, red and cream, and touching up bits here and there. Then we went to Ripley to meet up with my sister and hubby for a few pints.

Later in the afternoon Adam, Julie and Dylan joined us which was lovely. To finish off the afternoon the Captain and I headed off to Rokaa, a Turkish restaurant in Ripley, we had a wonderful meal, with enough left over for lunch next day.

https://www.rokaturkishkitchen.co.uk/

Tom wasn’t able to weld the new cup on the skeg on until the Tuesday, so Monday was quiet. After he had finished, the Captain painted the rudder and weed hatch in readiness for going back in the water on Wednesday.

We were undecided whether or not to head off Wednesday and go as far as the Gallows, which is half way between Langley Mill and Trent Lock, or wait until Thursday, and treat ourselves to a meal at the Gurkha restaurant just around the corner from the boatyard. At 10am Vikki and Tom closed the sluice, and once the boat was back floating opened the gate. We decided to not hang about and after shopping head off. We moored near the water point and headed to Lidl. Another boat was winding, so I asked the crew if they were heading down the canal and she said yes, so I suggested they waited a short while for us and we could buddy up. She said she thought her Captain just wanted to getting going, so wouldn’t want to wait for us to do our shopping. And he didn’t, as we returned from Lidl he was just going down the lock.

Now bearing in mind there has been problems with low water levels on the Erewash all summer, this was extremely stupid and shorted sighted. Its all about water conservation and using double locks with 2 boats helps with this, whilst 1 boat following another makes the water situation worse. It also meant that when we set off every lock would be against us, so more work for me.

We went to settle up with Vikki, and had a good moan and chin wag with her before setting off. On our way down the canal we made a list of all the problems with the locks, overhanging trees and encroaching vegetation. This will be sent to CRT in the hope something will be done to improve the canal for boaters.

We made it to The Gallows, moored above the lock and headed off to the pub.

The journey to Trent Lock next day was challenging. There had been plenty of water the day before but weed had been a problem. The water levels fell the further down we went. The pound above Long Eaton lock was so shallow we were dragging along the bottom, which made it very slow going, but we eventually made it to Trent Lock and found a mooring on the pontoons. It had been a couple of exhausting days for both of us, but we are happy to be heading home.

But first we had to stop at Shardlow for the Historic Transport Gathering at the weekend. We luckily found moorings without to much of a problem, and the Captain treated me to tea at the New Inn. After, we walked to the Clock Warehouse which is hosting the gathering, the selection of boats looked amazing, and we managed to catch up with Dan who has bought his boat Norway to the gathering.

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61567784071210

Norway is a replica Knobsticks, or pottery boat, They were built to work around the Potteries, there were many carriers, The Anderton Company, Mersey Weaver, Potters and Son, Meakins and Seddons to name a few, they are renowned as being very fine lined boats, which swim beautifully due to their unique barrel sided hull shape. Currently there are only 5 original knobsticks left, Sweden, Bedford, Dorset, Dane and Walton, and the replica Norway now bringing the total to 6.

Norway is based on her original ironwork, and is faithfully recreated in steel, to the original dimensions, as documented in the Anderton Notebook which belonged to Harold Hood, the Anderton Company dock foreman, and is held in the National waterways archives at Ellesmere Port. To recreate the unique hull shape the hull has been built using steel planks, so looks like the wooden original. Dan, Tom and Vikki built her, and she was launched at Langley Mill Boatyard in October 2025.

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61551878912240

So we are sat at Shardlow, and going to look at the boats this afternoon. We still can’t get home to Coventry as the Atherstone flight of locks are still closed. The Captain is waiting until we get to Fazeley before kicking up a stink about the closure, because in our opinion the flight could be opened on restricted hours, or just once or twice a week to allow boats to get to where they need to be.

Norway at Trent Lock

15 miles, 8 locks, 3 canals, the Cromford, the Erewash, the Trent and Mersey and 1 river the Trent.

8 HOURS HARD SLOG

 

Made it to Langley Mill Basin

Up the Erewash Canal. 16 locks, 12 miles.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erewash_Canal

It was a hard long day as the title suggests. An early start for us and we were ready for the off before 8am, but we needed to put water in first. There is a water point above Trent lock, so we locked up and moored on the water point. Paul and his friends turned up whilst the tank was filling, and after introductions to Stuart and John, they headed off to the first lock at Long Eaton. We followed on with a full water tank.

The water levels were low, but passable, but that caused the prop’s on both boats to snag huge amounts of blanket weed, this needed to be removed on a regular basis to allow the boats to keep moving.

After Long Eaton lock, Paul, John and myself jumped ship and walked to the next lock. It was further than I expected, but it meant we could prepare the lock so the boats could come right in. I actually left Paul and John to it at this lock, and walked up to Sandiacre Lock, the next one, to get it ready, but much to my joy I found the lock empty and the gates open, I then remembered that the gates on this lock swing open easily, so it saved me a job. On Sandiacre lock is a lock cottage which is owned by the Erewash Preservation group, it is open to the public at times, and shows how the interior of the cottage would have looked at the beginning of the 20^th century. We have been in and its well worth a visit.

https://ecpda.org.uk/index.php/home/sandiacre

Sandiacre Lock Cottage

I did confess to the guys that I hadn’t actually had to set the lock, but just wait for the boats.

My walking was about done after this and I stayed on board between the locks, but jumping off to help lock the boats through. Paul did walk up the shorter pounds to set the next lock, which was a great help.

On this canal some of the paddle gear is fitted with anti vandal locks, this is to stop people messing about with them and draining the pounds. Over the last few years these lock have fallen into disrepair and not been used that much. I was pleased to see that on some of the paddles these locks had been renewed, but not so pleased when I realised that some had not been fitted correctly. Basically the lock consists of a metal bar that sits above the winding gear, this is opened using an anti vandal key. The bar slides back and allows the gear to be wound up. On one I found the bar was situated actually in the centre of the winding gear, so couldn’t be engaged to stop the paddle being raised by naughty people. But the bigger problem was with bars which were too long, and even after you had slid them back, still impeded the paddle meaning you couldn’t wind it up to allow the water in.. So annoying.

Anti Vandal Lock


 

Anti Vandal Key

Of course the weather didn’t help the day along either. We had a sharp shower as we set off, and then at a lot of the locks the heavens opened and we got drenched, only for the sun to come out as we cruised to the next one.

We also had problems with boats moored on the lock landings again, which made it difficult for us to jump off to set the lock. I know the canal has been closed for a long time so boaters thought that this wouldn’t be a problem, but its still a no no in my opinion. And Paul wasn’t a happy bunny either.

The first half of the canal to Gallows lock seemed to take an age, and if we hadn’t agreed to go all the way to the basin with Paul, we would have probably stopped here for the night, but time seemed to pass faster through the last 8 locks, and soon (well not that soon) the last lock was insight and there was Tom and his partner waiting to help us through. Tom is the brother of Dan who runs Langley Mill Boatyard. Dan and Vickki were away with their 2 daughters camping, but we will catch up with them when they get back. Tom told us to moor in the dock and asked if we would be willing to go into be blacked a few days early, not a problem for us at all. We were soon moored up and headed to the pub for a well earned pint and a bite to eat. We went to the Great Northern, and the Captain was very happy to see Dark Drake by Dancing Duck brewery on the bar, and I was happy with Madri. The food was basic pub grub but hit the spot quite nicely.

Now we are on the Cromford Canal.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cromford_Canal

Langley Mill has everything we need, so we were happy to be staying here for a couple of weeks, there is a Lidl and Asda for shopping, 3 decent pubs for beer, the Great Northern, The Railway Inn and the Bunny Hop. Food wise, obviously the Great Northern does food, and there is a very good Gurkha restaurant, a chippy and Chinese takeaway rolled into one, Kentucky Fried Chicken and a McDonald's. Bus stops just outside the basin run to Derby, Nottingham, Heanor and Ripley.

In the basin there is water and an elsan. The boatyard does diesel and pump outs for people they know. But there are no CRT bins.

The weekend was the bank holiday, and there was an event on in the basin on the Sunday organised by the Preservation Society. There were shire horses, a variety of stalls, music all day, a kiddies entertainer and welly wanging. The Toll office and the pump house were both open too. My son Adam, his wife Julie and young Dylan came to visit, and they enjoyed looking around what was on offer, but I don’t think Dylan was too impressed with the huge shire horses, they stood 18.2 hands and were called Ebony and Bayley.

https://www.facebook.com/ErewashCanalAssociation/posts/can-you-help-please-ebony-and-bayley-two-shire-horses-are-visiting-the-great-nor/1084761193898419/

We are going into be blacked on Wednesday rather than the following Monday, and are praying for the weather to be kind to us. It needs to be dry when we apply the bitumen to the hull and sides of the boat, and whilst it dries.

We also have some family times planned. We are seeing my sister Diane and hubby Mick in Ripley, and going to Adams for a BBQ for Dylan’s 3^rd birthday at the weekend.

Dylan, the Captain and me

We are hoping when we head back down the Erewash, the way home to Coventry will be open and we wont have to kill more time waiting.

12 miles, 16 locks, 1 river The Trent, 2 canals, the Erewash and the Cromford.

A POTTED HISTORY.

 

Our home Feb 2013

As we are still retracing our steps back to Trent Lock in readiness for our trip up the Erewash, so I thought I would give you a potted history of how we became boaters.

But first an update on our journey to Trent Lock, and eventually up the Erewash canal to Langley Mill for blacking.

We stayed a few days in Burton, called in at the Alfred for a couple of pints, and did some shopping at Lidl. We then slow poddled down the beautiful Trent and Mersey staying at Willington and Shardlow on the way. We paired up with NB Phoenix for the locks from Swarkestone to Shardlow, and discovered that its crew was from Loscoe (a small village not far from Ripley) and we had a friend in common. Its a small world.

We moored up on the pontoons at Trent lock and met Paul off NB Time Warp, he will be joining us to go up the Erewash. The Captain contacted CRT to arrange the assisted passage, which according to their notification we would need to to travel between 2 of the locks due to low water. The lady tried to be helpful, but in the end had to contact the local team to confirm this. It turned out the canal is not actually closed, and they are not offering assisted passage, just asking boaters only to travel through the affected area if absolutely necessary. (And it is absolutely necessary for us). Their notification was not clear on this point, and it can be difficult to interpret what they actually mean at times. We are going all way up the Erewash on Wednesday, 16 locks and 12 miles, so its going to be a long day.

Us 2008

A potted history of how we came to be boaters. The Captain and I met on the internet in 2007, for many years we had a long distance relationship as he lived in Wigan and I lived in Ripley in Derbyshire, but it worked for us. The Captain had a time share, and I was the one who had to try and find flights to match where we could use the time share. It got harder and harder over the years. In 2010 we were in a use it or lose it situation with a week he had banked. I was really struggling, and in an effort to expand our choice I changed the search criteria, and up popped a narrow boating holiday in October from Market Harborough. I had always wanted to do one of these holidays, I had watch a TV programme called Waterworld in the early 2000’s, and fallen in love with whole living on water thing. The Captain was more than happy to agree, he had done 1 holiday in the 1980’s and also loved it.

First Hoilday

So it was booked, some people thought we were mad boating in October, but they were wrong, the weather was kind to us, I loved doing the locks, (Foxton being my first) and just the pace of life it offered. Over the next 2 years we did a further 3 holidays, 1 in April from Skipton on the Leeds Liverpool, and 2 again in October from Sawley on the Trent and Mersey. On returning from our last trip the Captain went back to Wigan and work. First day back he was told he was being made redundant. As a manager his redundancy package was generous and he uttered the words ‘we will buy a boat’ and that’s what we did. He sold his house in Wigan quickly and moved in with me, along with a garage full of boxes filled with all sorts of, what I would call rubbish, but he called important bits and pieces. It took us about 4 months and many many boats to find Avalon Two, but at the time the Captain thought she was slightly over priced and we kept looking. A couple of month later they reduced the price, we went back for a second look and decided it was the right boat for us, this was May 2013. Our problem was that my house hadn’t sold, so we used the boat for weekends and holidays. I eventually accepted on offer in May 2014, but it took until September for everything to go through. The time was well spent getting the boat ready to be a live aboard, although to be honest it didn’t need a lot. In the weeks before the house sold, we had to go through all the boxes in the garage, as there was no way we could take everything. The Captain was not to happy about this, but it had to be done, we started with 3 piles, number 1 definitely need, number 2 would like and number 3 get rid. It took some doing, but eventually we had things we really needed or wanted to keep. Everything in the house was either gifted to friends, sold on Ebay, or given to charity On Friday September 12^th we packed our car to the brim with our remaining possessions, just leaving enough room for the 2 cat carriers contained Bubbles, Tiggy and Sam. We dropped the keys off with the estate agent and headed off into sunset for a life on the water, and we have never looked back.

Us Corfu 2025

Our first trip was from Hyde near Manchester down to Swan Lane in Coventry for the winter. We did not know if Swan Lane would suit us, but as we say the rest is history, and it has become our very happy home in the winter, and cruising in the summer is a lovely life balance. The Captain never had another job, so he basically retired at 58yrs, and I just work in the winter. I was lucky enough to find a company that has me back every winter, and I love working there and have many friends who are always pleased to see me when I return in October.

So that is a potted history of how we came to be living the dream, and our aim is to stay afloat for as many years as we are capable.

I hope you enjoyed reading how we got to were we are, its a bit of a fairy tale in my opinion to be honest.

Avalon Two 2026

19 miles, 9 locks 1 canal the Trent and Mersey and 1 river the Trent

BOATING ETIQUETTE

 

Our Tiller Pin

As we have now winded and are retracing our journey to Trent Lock, I don’t really want to bore you with all the places I have already written about in the last couple of blogs. So I am going to try and explain some of the do’s and don't s of boating.

But first I will tell you about our time in Rugeley. We found good moorings near the Tesco Superstore, and was pleased to see that a new Aldi had opened nearby, this made shopping very easy. The town also has good selection of shops.

Of course we visited a few pubs. Wetherspoons, the Plaza a lovely old cinema which has been tastefully renovated. The Vine, a real ale pub with its own brewery, as you can imagine the Captain was a happy bunny. Then we called in at the Albion, a bit of a sports bar but it was ok.

https://www.facebook.com/thevineinnbrewery/?locale=en_GB

We left Rugeley and had to cruise about a mile before we could wind (turn round) and headed off to spend the night at the Plum Pudding. With moorings right outside its easy to visit, but we never had until this time. A large impressive building which give the impression of a posh gastro pub, but it has a very family friendly vibe once inside. I got chatting to a couple at the bar and found we had friends in common, they owned a steam roller, and a number of miniature steam engines, and because they attend the local steam rallies they knew my friend Andrew, who has a miniature showman’s engine called Alison, I worked with him at Denby. It was lovely to meet them but I never got their names.

Andrew's Steam Engine

Because of the very hot weather forecast, we got up early next day and did the 8 locks through Fradley junction, and into Alrewas were we stayed for a couple of days, we tried a meal at the Crown and it was lovely.

Next day we aimed to moor at Barton Turns after putting water in, but the moorings were full so we pushed onto Branston Water.

Now what happened at Tattenhill lock is why this blog is called ‘Boating Etiquette’.

There is an unwritten, but widely acknowledge rule, that you do not moor on lock landings for any reason apart from operating the lock (unless its an absolute emergency). These area’s before and after a lock usually have bollards, and most have signs which say ‘mooring for lock operation only’. They ensure that boaters can get off their boats safely to set the lock before using it, and get back on after using it, and are particually important for people boating alone.

As we approached Tattenhill we could see a boat moored on the lock landing, but no one was setting the lock, strange. As we got closer we could see that the reason for this, was the couple on the boat were washing or polishing the side of the boat, this in our opinion is a big no no, it also meant that the Captain couldn’t pull in to let me off safely. There was a narrowing just before the lock which would allow me to jump ship, but that’s not the point. If a boat had been coming up the lock we would have had big problems.

Usually we wouldn’t call someone out, but this obvious break in etiquette needed addressing, and as we came to the side of them I asked the woman if they knew it was a lock landing, and the women said ’Yes’ and continued polishing, so I pointed out that they shouldn’t really be moored there. It didn’t go down well, the Captain addressed the man (I wont call him a gentleman) and got a mouthful of loud abuse for his troubles. I managed to get off at the narrow bit and headed off to set the lock thinking that was then end of it. But then the man approached the Captain, swearing, yelling, and generally being unpleasant. I didn’t hear much of what was said, but he was so loud a young man came out of the house on the lock to see what was going off. I explained that we had called them out for mooring on the lock landing to polish their boat, and that the boater wasn’t happy about it. The young man hung about enjoying the spectacle the man was making of himself.

My Captain handled the situation like the gentleman that he is, never resorted to swearing or shouting just pointing out how wrong it was on so many levels. Eventually the lock was ready and he went back to polishing his boat and we continued on to Branston Waters for the night. He did end up mooring a couple of boats behind us, and this is were he should have polished his boat, not on the lock landing.

So that is one piece of boating etiquette which most boaters know about and respect. Another which is not so widely accepted, is not leaving git gaps when mooring in busy places. The number of times we have cruised down a row of moored boats, and worked out that if everyone had moored closer together, there would be room for more boats to get in and enjoy whatever the area had to offer. Its just common sense and decency to me, but some just don’t seem to get it.

Coming up to the lock landing, see the bollards

Another, cruising slowly past moored boats, the reason for this is that going fast past moored boats makes them rock and can cause accidents, say if some one was cooking and the boat rocked causing something hot to spill. The problem here is that each boats tick over speed, and the steers perception of how fast they are going can differ greatly. But going to fast is going to get you yelled at eventually. Now I will say, some people expect you to almost go by so slowly you would have to be out of gear to comply. Its finding a happy medium between the moored and moving boats.

Back to locks, if you get to a lock that is not ready for you, and there is a boat approaching that could use the lock, its very bad etiquette to start setting the lock in your favour, its also bad for water conservation. The friendly thing to do is open the gates and welcome the boat into the lock and help lock it through. Occasionally its a snap judgement as to whose lock it actually is, and you don’t always make the right call, but that’s life and most boaters are understanding.

Last one, and its about running your engine to provide power or hot water when moored. This is allowed between the hours of 8am to 8pm, this protects other boaters and canal side homes from noise and exhaust fumes. This is not a guideline but is part of your license agreement with CRT.

Well hope you have enjoyed this lesson on boating etiquette. We are now moored in Burton for a few days before heading down to Trent Lock, and hopefully our assisted passage up the Erewash to Langley Mill for our blacking at the beginning of September.

17 miles, 13 locks and 1 canal.

A STOPPAGE WITH A DIFFERENCE!!!

 

Shot at Dawn

We are experiencing plenty of stoppages on the system this year. It wouldn’t surprise you to know, that most of these are being caused by the very hot dry weather we are having, causing very low water in many places, and more than a few broken locks.

But the stoppage we had at Barton Turns was for something completely different, and not water related at all.

But I get ahead of myself. We left Willington on Sunday and headed for Burton on Trent, only 1 lock today and it was Dallow lock, the first single lock on this canal. We moored near Shobnall Fields, the moorings here are very good and plentiful, but its a bit of a walk into the town. Lidl is about a 15min walk, which was handy as we needed a good shop. We had a quiet afternoon and evening and didn’t bother with the pub. I did Google the nearest, and we happy to see that the Alfred had reopened. This pub was open the first time we passed through Burton, and we had had a very enjoyable afternoon in there. But it had closed the next time we passed through.

After shopping we decided to give it a go, and was very pleasantly surprised. It has a lovely community feel to it, and the Captain was very happy with Top Dog stout from Burton Bridge brewery. They have various things going on through out the week, so maybe on our way back we will call in again.

https://www.thealfred.co.uk/

Before we headed into the town next day to pick up a few bits we wanted, the Captain was approached by a teenage fisherman, who quite seriously asked if we would move the boat, bearing in mind there was plenty of room in front and behind us the request was ridiculous. The Captain of course said no, and we thought that was the end of the matter, but then later the young man proceeded to yell at passing boats for disturbing his fishing session. Did he not realise the canals were built for boats not for fishing, most strange.

We called in at the Alfred on our way back from town.

As we are still killing time it was only a very short hop to Branston Waters next day. We took a short walk round the lake and then headed to The Blacksmiths Arms, a nice pub with an interesting menu. We had our 2^nd pint in The Boat, which is right on the canal. The Boat is not really a pub but an Italian Restaurant, we still got a drink and the food we saw come out looked delicious.

Our next stop was Barton Turn, after calling at the marina for a pump out we moored below the lock. I wanted to moor here as the pub has changed hands since last we were in, and the new landlord uses Facebook a lot to advertise what’s on.

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100095390771168

This is when things took an interesting turn, the Captain received a notification from CRT that the canal was closed, between Barton Turn lock and Alrewas lock, due to an unexploded WW2 bomb that had been uncovered at a gravel pit at the side of the canal. Like I said not your usual stoppage.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/clye0l63zv9o

As the afternoon wore on we were joined by boat after boat, some had heard about the bomb, and some hadn’t. We headed off to the pub, and on the way had a chat with people off the other boats, everyone was friendly and not bothered at all about the hold up.

The pub was great and we were soon joined by another boater, didn’t get his name, but he had a lovely little sausage dog called Lily who happily sat on my lap as we talked.

The bomb was exploded at around 7.30pm by the bomb squad, and we actually heard it even though it was some way away. We later found out it was a 500lb bomb, so no wonder we heard it. Here's a video of the event

https://youtube.com/shorts/dsA-dttPW9g?is=l7Er9zbk009dGDMm

All the other boats where up and gone by the time we surfaced next morning, we were only going as far as Alrewas and staying there for a few days. Alrewas is very popular with boaters, as it has a selection of shops including a Co-op and a Butchers. There are 3 pubs as well. There are plenty of moorings, but it does get very busy. Much to our surprise we managed to moor just past the bridge, which gave us easy access to the village. As we needed milk we headed to the Co-op, but stopped off at the George and Dragon for a quick pint, and on the way back we couldn’t miss the Crown, which was extremely busy.

https://thecrownalrewas.co.uk/

Next day and we planned to catch a new bus service which takes you to the National Arboretum Memorial. The last time we had walked, which meant we had to take our lives in our hands to cross the very busy A38 road. The bus went from outside the George and Dragon and cost me £5 return, but the Captain nothing with his bus pass.

The Arboretum is a wonderful place, with memorials to the armed forces, and all sorts of other groups who were involved in conflict. One of my favourites is the one to the Showman’s Guild, men who ran the travelling fairs up and down the country before joining up, are commemorated with a galloper from a carousel.

Showmans Guild Memorial

https://www.warmemorialsonline.org.uk/memorial/247949

The Shot at Dawn memorial represents 309, mainly teenage boys, who were executed during WW1 for various minor military crimes. They were all pardoned in 2006, when it was recognised that they would have not been ‘shot at dawn’ at other times for what they did.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shot_at_Dawn_Memorial

It was a lovely afternoon, but there is so much to see, so we will be back. To finish the afternoon we called in at the Crown for a well earned pint or 2.

After a busy day we moored near Handsacre, but first we did the locks through Fradley Junction, passing the start of the Coventry canal and our way home. We didn’t go to the pub, but will probably call on our way back.

The final destination on this leg of our journey was Rugeley, as we will be winding and heading back to Trent Lock after a few days here. We cruised to Rugeley passing 3 boats we know, first, Wee May owned by Paul Lumsden, he does a vlog called Narrowboat Nattering which is worth a look.

https://www.youtube.com/narrowboatnatterings

and Bearwood Boster, we met Trina and Paul in Lincoln many years ago, and finally Rogue lll, Yvonne Plant’s boat who we met in Nottingham when Sam, one of our cats that we had at the time, took up residence on a bench in the hot weather, the Captain put a note on the bench explaining where she lived, and that she was fine, this was after a concerned local thought she was lost and was going to take her home. It caused a lot of people walking and cycling the towpath to come to a halt and read the note. Yvonne had heard the story and stopped to say hi to Sam.

Sam's Bench

We have seen a kingfisher, the first for a while YIPPEE.

21 miles, 14 locks and 1 canal.

SLOW AND STEADY

 

The Silk Mill

This describes being back on the canal, and us trying to kill time before heading up the Erewash at the end of August. CRT have agreed to assist boats who have bookings at Langley Mill boatyard up the affected part of the canal.

It’s slow and steady on the canal as the speed limit is 4mph, but you rarely achieve this, if ever. Going past moored boats is done at tick over which is a slow walking pace. The slow speed does allow you to take in the beautiful countryside and interesting sights along on the way. And there is no rushing at locks, they fill in their own time, and no pushing or pulling will open a gate before its ready.

We spent a few days on the pontoons, and were entertained by a group of teenagers who were doing water based activities at an outward bound facility opposite. There was much yelling and lots of laughter as they learned to canoe, and had a go on an enormous paddle board that held 6 of them in one go. It was fine until one person started to wobble, this caused everyone to lose their balance and in the water they all went. It looked great fun.

The river was busy the days we were moored, boats going in both directions, and boats came and went on the pontoon, but on our last morning we were ‘billy no mates’.

We decided to do a short hop to Shardlow and go for tea at the New Inn. There are 4 double locks between Trent Lock and Shardlow, 2 are flood locks which at this time of the year are open. The first lock, Sawley Lock is an electric lock and usually manned by lockees, as it was on this occasion.

The next lock is Derwent Mouth Lock, it is a deep long lock. I spotted a boat coming towards us, it was fifty/fifty whose lock it was, but as I decided as we were already there it was ours so I started to empty it. I was just opening the gate when the boat arrived at the lock landing and its crew came to give me a hand.

As I have said it was a long lock, and the Captain put a line on a bollard well away from the front gates, he used this to hold the boat there. After both me and my helper got the Captains ok we opened the gates paddles fully before turning our attention to the side paddles.

This is were I must explain that everyone has a different way of operating locks, the safest way, if you are not particularly experienced, or its a short lock were the front of the boat is near the front gates, is to opened the side paddles first, allowing the water to come in below the waterline until it’s above the gate paddles, and then open these, it stops water from the gate paddles possibly flooding the front of the boat, something we have seen happen.

As you can imagine with the amount of locks I have done in the last 16yrs, I know how to assess how best to do a lock, don’t get me wrong, you never stop learning, and things can go wrong.

However we had a couple of Gonegoozlers watching us, and one decided to lecture the crew from the other boat (she was on towpath side), on how dangerous the way we had operated the lock was. The other crew took no prisoners and informed her that we knew what we were doing, the boat was never in any danger, and that the Captain had given his permission.

After the Gonegoozler walked off we had a laugh, she was a live-aboard for 18yrs, and me 12yrs so I think we knew what we were doing. I know some will complain, that in writing about this I may encourage others to put themselves in danger, my advice is always to assess each situation yourself, taking in the conditions and your capabilities, and do what you think is best.

We were now on the Trent and Mersey canal.

We got good moorings in Shardlow, right outside the pub, and after a quiet afternoon we tried a pint in the Malt Shovel first, they stopped doing food on a Wednesday at 5pm, but the menu looked interesting.

https://www.maltshovelshardlowpub.co.uk/

Then on to the New Inn, we have eaten in here a few times and the food is always good, as is the beer, they have a decent selection of real ales on, and usually a dark for the Captain, Titanic Plum Porter this time. The food was excellent, so if you’re ever passing this way I would recommend giving it a try.

https://camra.org.uk/pubs/new-inn-shardlow-143269

We only stopped 1 night, before moving on to Swarkestone for the next night. There were 4 locks for me to do, at a couple of these we managed to share with other boats and met boats coming towards us. Sharing the double locks were you can is always good for water management, even more so now with the lack of water due to the dry summer we are having.

At the last lock we joined another boat. The Captain was new to boating and was taking a helmsman course on his brand new boat. The gentleman instructing him was doing the locks, so when I went up to help we did it ‘the right way’, side paddles first, wait for the water to rise, then the gate paddles. We had a chat and I told the story from the day before, and he kind of agreed with me and said he was showing his pupil the right way, but afterwards it was down to him how he did locks. Its a personal choice.

Sunset on the Trent and Mersey

After another quiet night we headed to Willington, only 1 lock today. A popular mooring spot as there are pubs, shops and a railway station in the village. It was quite busy but we found a spot not to far from the Dragon pub. After picking up a few bits from the Coop we had a pint in the Green Man, nice local pub with Murphys on for the Captain, and an interesting and reasonably priced food menu.

https://www.greenmanwillington.com/

Then onto the Dragon, more of a gastro pub, with a large beer garden right on the canal. They usually have a good selection of real ales, and the Captain was very happy with The Panther stout by Little Brewery. We sat in the garden and enjoyed the beer.

https://thedragonatwillington.co.uk/

https://www.littlebrewing.co.uk/

We decided to stay in Willington next day and took the bus into Derby. We visited the Silk Mill which is now the Museum of Making, a fascinating place steeped in history and well worth a visit.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derby_Silk_Mill

We were going to visit Bess of Hardwicks tomb in Derby Cathedral, but there was a wedding on and we didn’t feel it was right to disturb the ceremony.

We nipped into the Standing Order for a quick one, I was hoping to see someone I knew and I wasn’t disappointed, as suddenly Ann Rhodes appeared, we had worked at Denby together for many years. It was great to catch up. After walking round Derby Museum, and seeing the Joseph Wright of Derby exhibition.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Wright_of_Derby

A Philosopher Lecturing on the Orrey by Joseph Wright

We stopped for a pint in the Tannery on Saddler Gate, a micropub belonging to the Ashover brewery, they had Stout Coffin by Church End brewery on, so the Captain was a very happy bunny.

https://ashoverbrew.co/pages/tap-rooms

He was even happier when we went to The Exeter Arms, this one belongs to Dancing Duck brewery, so of course it was Dark Drake in here, and Shiny lager for me from a brewery based in Little Eaton, we also had a most amazing meal in here. So a great end to a wonderful day.

Nom Nom

https://exeterarms.co.uk/

We left Willington next day and headed to Burton on Trent for a couple of days. But that’s for next time.

14 miles, 9 locks, 1 river the Trent and 1 canal the Trent and Mersey

DECISIONS DECISIONS

 

Who's a naughty boy

And that’s our problem at the moment. As we all know this summer has been very dry, and its playing havoc with the water levels on the canals.

We spent 5 days in Nottingham and had a great time, but it wasn’t really through choice, we were waiting for an update on the Erewash canal. This canal has been closed for many weeks, and we are due to go up to Langley Mill boatyard to be blacked at the beginning of September, but through the power of Facebook we found out that they have had a number of cancellations due to the closure.

We have decided that when the Erewash reopens we will see if we can bring our booking forward, but its just a waiting game, and we don’t want to travel to far only to have to rush back if everything falls in line. Which it probably won’t with our luck this year.

We did have a great time in Nottingham and visited a few pubs we hadn’t been in before as well as some of our old favourites. We went to the pictures, first time in many years to see Moana, it was great. Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson played a wonderful Maui, the part he voiced in the original cartoon, and Catherine Laga’aia, as Moana in her first leading role was amazing

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moana_(2026_film)

But the best place we visited was the National Justice Museum based in Nottingham’s Victorian courthouse and prison. There was so much to see, and a lady dressed as a female warder, gave a fascinating talk on capital punishment in the yard that housed the gallows used for execution. Sounds a bit grim I know but it was entertaining and informative. We spent a good few hours there and I think we still missed bits.

https://www.nationaljusticemuseum.org.uk/

Who's a naughty girl

New pubs we visited were The Salutation Inn, the Navigation, which is right on the lock, and Lillie Langtry’s near the Theatre Royal, and they all had a stout or porter on for the Captain, so happy days.

We still visited The Old Trip to Jerusalem and the Canal House well, we couldn’t miss them could we.

But after 5 days we had to move, we are used to moving every day, but this year its just seems to been about killing time. We made our way down to Beeston for the night and moored against a highish wall, I got off but it was a bit of a struggle to get back on, so we gave the pub a miss that night and planned to walk into Beeston the next day.

However it turned out we had a problem with our electric. As some of you might know boats run on 12volt batteries and use an inverter to convert 12volt into 240volt. Our electrical set up is amazing, we have 3 large solar panels, 2 lithium batteries and 1 lead acid starter battery. With this we can run, on 240volts, a freezer, electric kettle, air fryer, washing machine and a TV plus a few other bits. We charge the batteries 2 ways, solar obviously, but also by running the engine, so every time we move we top the batteries up, and we usually move every day or every other day. But with all the issues we have been having this year this hasn’t been the case, and we have been stopping for longer periods of time in one place. What we didn’t realise was that although the solar was putting power in, we were taking more out. The Captain usually keeps an eye on our usage, but on this occasion took his eye off the ball, and we were rudely wakened in the early hours of Saturday/Sunday to the low battery alarm going off. The only thing to stop it was to turn the inverter off and sort it out in the morning. By turning the inverter off it cut power to the freezer, which was worrying, but luckily for us the freezer was so full it would have taken hours and hours to defrost. In the morning we ran the engine (after 8am) for a good couple of hours which meant we could switch the inverter back on. I checked the freezer and everything was fine.

Now the issue was that we were moored in the shade with overhanging willow trees, and this has been true in quite a few places which didn’t allow the solar panels to take full advantage of the sun. The decision (there’s that word again) was to give Beeston a miss, and make for Trent Lock and the pontoons there which have no over hanging trees. The run would also help with the batteries, the Captain decided to leave it until early afternoon, in the hope that anyone out for the weekend would have vacated the pontoons to go home. It was a very windy journey with gusts of 32mph making waves on the water, only 2 locks for me to do but it took a good few hours.

We managed to get a spot on the pontoons but it was on the inside, which meant the Captain had to reverse the boat in, with a manoeuvre that could go very well, or very wrong. Well because of his expertise he did it very well, and the boater moored on the outside of the pontoon who came out to help congratulated him on his skill. Well deserved of course.

Veiw from the pub

We headed to the pub, The Steamboat, and told Simon the owner all our woes and had a couple of pints.

So we are here on the pontoons, the batteries have recovered, but I am still going easy on the using things like the electric kettle and air fryer, and I really don’t know where or what we are going to do next. We could head up the Trent and Mersey to Burton. I just don’t know. :(

Just an update, we have spoken in Vikki at Langley Mill and at this present time she doesnt have a slot for us any sooner than our original booking. The Erewash is still closed but when it does reopen we will ask again.

10 miles 2 locks, 1 canal the Nottingham and Beeston canal and 1 river the Trent.