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| The Stick |
Trent Lock to
Fradley Junction 29miles, 19 locks, 1 river and 1 canal
After a night moored
outside the Steam Boat at Trent lock, it was decided to take a steady
cruise next day to Shardlow. We left the mighty River Trent just past
Sawley Marina, and joined the Trent and Mersey canal at Derwent
Mouth. After 4 locks we moored, up but didn’t head for the pub,
very strange for us, but we decided to just chill out of for the
night. The locks are still double locks until we reach Burton on
Trent, but luckily there aren’t too many on this stretch.
The Captain being
the clever fellow that he is, spotted on Facebook that Claymills
Pumping station was in steam the following weekend, so we decided to
take a leisurely cruise and pay it a visit on the Saturday.
Before that however,
there was some nasty wet and windy weather heading our way, and the
village of Willington seemed the best place to sit it out. Of course
Willington has a few pubs, the best of these being the Dragon which
is right on the canal. The Captain, again being a clever fellow, also
organised to pick up his repeat prescription from the local pharmacy.
On our arrival we managed to nab the last spot just before the pub,
and took a walk to see what it had to offer. The Captain was a happy
bunny, a decent stout on for him and a good selection of lagers for
me. There is a small bar area which was very noisy, so we took refuge
in one of the little rooms off the main area. After a couple we
headed home. The rain came overnight, and most of next day, so we
waited for it to abate before setting off to collect his tablets.
Willington is a great place to moor, as not only has it the pubs, but
also a chippy, Co op and a selection of other shops. Prescription
collected and time for another pint in the Dragon, this time it
wasn’t so welcoming. The bar area was noisy again, but when we
tried to sit elsewhere in the pub we were told all the tables were
booked for food, and given a strange look when we said we would
prefer to sit somewhere a little quieter than the bar. But the bar it
had to be, so we didn’t stay too long.
We arrived on the
outskirts of Burton on Trent on Thursday, and found great moorings
just before bridge 29. From here it was only a 6 minute walk to the
pumping station, and a 10min walk to catch the bus into Burton, which
we did on the Friday. There is also a Co op nearby too.
The visit into
Burton was okay, I was very sad to see the Royal Oak, a great real
ale pub had closed its doors. Burton and South Derbyshire Camra pub
of the year 2022, just goes to show how tough the pub trade is having
it at the moment. We made do with The Lord Burton, the Wetherspoons
as they had Adnams Broadside on for the Captain, so I treated us to
tea in there. (Saved me cooking).
After a hearty
brunch next day we set off for the short walk to Claymills.
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| Claymills Pumping Station |
https://www.claymills.org.uk/
Built in the 1880’s
and opened in 1886, it was used to pump sewerage from Burton to farms
in Etwall and Eggington. The main component of the waste was from the
many breweries in the town, but some human waste was included. After
complaints about the smell, lime was added to the mix to remove it.
The station comprised 4 beam engines and 5 boilers to run them.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claymills_Pumping_Station
The beam engines
stopped pumping completely in 1971 when a new sewerage farm was built
by Severn Trent water next door.
Of the 4 beam
engines, called unimaginatively A, B, C and D, the original plan had
been to restore only C and D, then B was restored, and this day saw a
finally restored A being run for the first time in over 50yrs, and
the first time that all 4 beam engines had been run together in a
very very long time.
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| Beam Engine |
When we arrived the
Captain believed there was a guided tour just about to take place,
but no one seemed to know who was doing the guiding until Chris (a
fountain of knowledge) stepped forward.
He took us to every
nook and cranny of the site, full of tit bits of information we
couldn’t have got just walking round on our own, and it took over 2
hours.
An absolutely
fascinating place and well worth a visit, but exhausting
Only a short hop to
Shobnall fields next day through Darrow lock, the first of the narrow
locks.
Being closer to the
centre of Burton, we walked into town and did some much needed
shopping at Lidl, before called for a pint in the lovely micropub The
Weighbridge Inn.
https://www.facebook.com/p/Weighbridge-Inn-Burton-100057584283863/
Before leaving
Burton the next day we called in at Shobnall marina for fuel and gas.
Whilst chatting I asked if our friends Fred and Lisa Webster on NB
Chyandour, who moor there, were back yet, they weren’t but were
expected at some point. Whilst chatting we found out that Lock 8,
Branston lock, had a problem with the top paddles and was taking
around an hour to fill, against the usual 10/15mins, but a boater had
come up with a fix, the stick. Although not 100% sure what this
actually meant. We soon found out when we reached the lock, and I was
made the ‘stick lady’.
As we got to the
lock we could see a bit of a queue in both directions, so I jumped
off to help, as I always do. At the top gate was a man holding a
stick, which was jammed in the side of the lock, stopping the gate
from closing completely, and it was letting just enough water in to
fill the lock in a reasonable time, but not so much so the lock
wouldn’t empty, and the bottom gates could be opened when the lock
was ready, hope that makes sense.
I remained stick
lady until we locked up, them the next person took charge. The things
we boaters have to do when lack of maintenance causes these issues.
It took CRT until the 10th October to fix the problem, and
we came though on the 25th September. They were aware of
the problem well before this date.
Arewas village next
port of call, and there were quite a few boats on the move, but
everybody helped each other out were they could. We found great
moorings just above the last lock before the village, and took a
short stroll to the George and Dragon. There were no darks ales on,
but the Captain found a quaffable pint of Directors Bitter by
Courage, and we spent a happy couple of hours people watching as the
pub was busy.
https://www.georgeanddragonalrewas.co.uk/
The menu looked
interesting and the food that came out good, but we were saving
ourselves for Fazeley and the amazing Fazeley Fish Bar later that
week.
Final leg of this
journey to Fradley Junction and at the White Swan we turned left
through the little swing bridge and onto the Coventry Canal.
