THE STICK

 

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.

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.

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 10^th October to fix the problem, and we came though on the 25^th 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.