WORK TO DO AND FAMILY TIMES.

 

Springfield Mill Sandiacre

Our visit to Langley Mill had 2 main reasons. The first was to black the boat, and the 2^nd was to attended 2 birthday parties, my grandson Dylan's 1^st and my sister Diane's 60^th which were on consecutive days the following weekend.

We arrived exhausted on the Thursday and managed to moor with Vicky’s help, the basin was quite busy but we managed to find spots for both boats.

Then off to the pub, The Great Northern, they had Dark Drake by Dancing Duck brewery on for the Captain. Carolyn ordered fish and chips, and they looked great, and very reasonably priced at £9approx.

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

Luckily we weren’t booked into dry dock until the Monday, it turned out Carolyn was joining us for the same reason. This meant that Friday was a day just for resting and catching our breath after the nightmare journey up the canal.

We had a quiet day and headed for the Bunny Hop for a pint at tea time. We did call and see if she wanted to join us, but she was still getting over the previous day.

https://www1.camra.org.uk/pubs/bunny-hop-langley-mill-161440

The Captain was a happy bunny with Vanilla Chinchilla, an ice cream porter from Little Critters brewery of Sheffield, and I had Madri. We saw they had a band on on Sunday called Swindle, a Sex Pistols tribute band, not quite our taste in music but thought we would give it a try.

I had invited Carolyn for Sunday lunch, and she was happy to join us and come and see the band too.

The rest of the weekend was quiet, mainly shopping and bits, making sure we were rested and ready for the work ahead.

We did go and see the band, they looked and sounded the part, so a great afternoon was had by all.

Monday and the real work started, more for the Captain than me, as he had the job of pressure washing the hull of the boat, making sure it was ready for us to start applying the bitumen that protects the hull when its in the water. Its a job we have to do every 2/3 years. Carolyn was having the work done by Dan and Vicky, so she could sit back and relax, although she did take little Oscar (her dog) out of the way during the pressure washing, as its an extremely noisy job and no good for little ears.

https://langleymillboatyard.co.uk/

I stayed out of the way whilst the Captain pressure washed, and he was given instructions to come get me when it was time to paint. But he didn’t, naughty Captain. I popped out to see how he was getting on and he had already started without me, very naughty. But I soon joined in.

We had thought after our little mishap at the Anderton Boat Lift, (we hit something in the water whilst winding) that the skeg may have been damaged, and this turned out to be correct. The skeg was cracked and needed welding. Dan is an expert welder and soon had it fixed.

We soon had the first coat on (you usually apply 3 coats below the water line). We also paint up to the gunnels to, just to make the boat look tidier. The Captain wanted to sand the top part first before applying the bitumen, so did this whilst the 1^st coat was drying.

Unfortunately it rained next day, and you cant apply the bitumen in the damp, so that meant nothing got done. Luckily the next day was dry, and we managed to apply the second coat and sand down and paint below the gunnels. Then it rained again so play was halted again. However the final day Friday was glorious and very hot, so the Captain managed a final coat and painted the tunnel bands. I cooked food for Dylan's party the next day rather than painting.

We did manage to eat out one night. We headed to Ripley and the amazing Turkish restaurant

Rokaa. The food was amazing. We had a couple of pints beforehand. First in the Pear Tree and we were amazed at its transformation since our last visit, very smart indeed. Then down to the Talbot, the best real ale pub in Ripley, and finally the Nags, which was our local when we lived in the town. Another great transformation in here to. All 3 well worth a visit.

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

https://peartreehotelripley.com/

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

The bus trip back was a bit of an adventure. A serious accident blocked the bus route, and the driver, not knowing the area needed to find a way round, I was more than happy to guide him with my local knowledge. We soon had him back on track and he didn’t charge me for the trip, bonus.

We were re-floated on Saturday before heading off for Dylan’s party, we had a wonderful time catching up with the family. The same can be said for Diane’s party next day. They made a very enjoyable end to our visit to Langley Mill.

Happy Families

The hard work commenced next day, we needed to be in Burton on Trent for Friday to pick up a hire car, this was to go to Olive’s christening near Preston on Sunday, it has been a very busy time for family events. We decided to do the whole of the Erewash in one go, that’s 16 locks over 12 miles. Carolyn asked to join us, she is a single hander and not in the best of health (bad knees), and was finding it hard to do the locks on her own. We were pleased to be of help.

We made good time to the Gallows lock, which is about half way, and stopped and had lunch in the lock. The second half of the journey seemed to take much longer and we arrived at Trent Lock after about 6hrs. Carolyn managed to breast up against Last of the Summer Wine, whilst we went down the last lock onto the river and moored on the pontoons, which surprisingly only had 2 boats on. We arranged to meet Carolyn in The Steamboat, and then she joined us for a curry I had already prepared, knowing I wouldn’t want to cook after a full day doing locks.

We said our goodbyes here as she was turning left on to the river Trent and her moorings at Cranfleet, and we were turning right and on to the Trent and Mersey canal, heading to Burton upon Trent. Hopefully we will meet up again at some point.

12 miles, 16 locks, 2 canals and 1 river