WIDE RIVER AND BIG LOCKS.

 

Small Boat big lock

And by big locks I mean BIG locks.

We sat out the weather at Shardlow before heading to Shardlow marina for a pump out next day.

It was great to see that a new sign had been erected at the entrance to the marina, and the vegetation had been cut back to.

https://www.shardlowmarina.co.uk/

Cruising through the moored boats to get to the pump out was still challenging in the gusts of wind, but the Captain made it look easy.

Oh no!!! what was this, a wooden fishing boat moored (well abandoned) on the service point. We stood and scratched our heads trying to work out how to get to the side, so the Captain could at least could get off and find out was was occurring.

With a lot of manoeuvring we eventually managed to get close enough for him to jump off and go to the office. He returned with one very annoyed lady in tow, muttering under her breath about what she would like to do to the owner of the boat. Apparently the boat had been on the slipway for sometime before it sank, and now he was blocking the services as he pumped the water out. She was not a happy bunny at all, but this didn’t help us, and our full toilet. After much discussion we decided to untie the boat and push it out, using our boat to allow us to get to the side and the services. And it worked, yippee. I asked her what she was going to do about the boat, and after covering the marina’s logo on her shirt, she said sink it again, she was joking, well I hope she was.

But we got our pump out, and at £10 it was a bargain. After tying the offending boat up once more we headed out, it was then off to our mooring for the night on the pontoons at Trent Lock. We were lucky and there was space for us on the inside. We headed to the pub later, The Steamboat, and said hi the Simon the owner before enjoying a couple of pints outside watching the world go by. The Captain was very happy as they had Camden stout on.

Only a short hop again next day and we headed to Beeston on the outskirts of Nottingham. Only 2 locks today, the first a deep double lock and we were on our own, 2 boats had penned down just before us and the lock took an age to fill, then I realised one of the bottom paddles was still a little open, and this with the badly leaking gates meant the lock wouldn’t equalise, and I couldn’t get the top gates to open. I dropped the paddle fully and lo and behold the gate opened.

The second lock was only the shallow flood lock at Beeston, I jumped off and then jumped on again, the lock had so many helpers on there I wasn’t needed. It turned out to be a group from Leicester on a team building exercise, so no exercise for me.

Now we were on the Beeston and Nottingham canal.

My Captain had decided we would stay on the moorings at Beeston for the night, as it was somewhere we had never stopped before. They aren’t the best moorings as you have to moor against a highish wall, and there are a lot of large willow trees along the whole length of the moorings. At first it appeared that there was no space, and we had accepted that it was not to be, when we spotted a boat getting ready to leave, we hovered waiting for him to set off but disaster, he got something around his prop and everything stopped. Never mind, so off we went again only to find a couple of boats further on a great spot for the night.

We headed to the pub (of course) The Boat and Horses, a huge pub with a function room and large garden. Although they didn’t do food, you could bring your own, or order it in from a range of takeaways, and on some nights they had independent food trucks in the car park. What a great way to drum up business.

https://www.facebook.com/p/Boat-and-Horses-Beeston-Rylands-100090484647109/

A quiet night even though we were right by the road. Then into Nottingham. Just before we moored outside Sainsburys, a great spot, and the mooring weren’t busy at all, I spotted NB Manatee, Caroline and Oscar the dog’s boat. We had travelled up and down the Erewash with them the previous year, and spent a lot of time in the pub with then too. We called but there was no sign of life.

We didn’t go to the pub that night, surprise surprise, the Captain wasn’t feeling well (man flu) and didn’t want to spoil our plans for the next couple of days which involved seeing family.

Our first visit was to my daughter Jess, hubby Stuart and baby Lowen in Mansfield where we had a bbq with them and my son Adam, wife Julie and little Dylan came to. Before leaving for Mansfield I walked down to Caroline’s boat and had a chat with her, and was enthusiastically greeted by Oscar the dog, who even after a year remembered me.

Lowen, Dylan and me

Our next visit was back to Ripley, my home town, to meet up with my sister Diane and hubby Mick. This turned out to be a boozy afternoon and I caught up with a few people I hadn’t seen for a long time. We had a great time both days.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ripley,_Derbyshire

Then it was time to leave the canals and head out on to the big wide river, with its huge locks, these hold around 6 to 10 boats (sometimes more) and are usually manned by lock keepers, but not always.

Coming out onto the river Trent at Meadow Lane lock is always breathtaking, the banks seem so far away after being on a narrow canal. At the first lock at Holme Pierrepoint I was reminded how big these locks actually are. Our home Avalon Two looked so tiny and insignificant in it. There was a lock keeper on, so my job is to hold the front of the boat steady using the rope through a runner in the side of the lock to do this. For big locks the flow of the water is actually quite gentle.

Our mooring for the night was at Gunthorpe, but with no room on the pontoons outside the pub, we had to moor against the wall just before the lock, not ideal for me to get on and off the boat, but the Captain managed to get us by a ladder which helped. And yes we did head to the pub, the Unicorn, a Marston pub but no darks on.

Next morning and time to head to Newark, we waited to see if a lock keeper would turn up, but by 10am it was obvious we were on our own. The locks are electric and you use your BW key to operate them. On the control panel buttons control the sluices (paddles) and gates, one button opens and of course one button closes. As I started a lady boater joined me, she explained she had never had to operate these locks and was unsure how they worked, so I took her through it step by step. She still didn’t look to confident when we parted company, but I hope I gave her enough training to help.

Our aim was Newark and the pontoons for a couple of days, buts that for next time

24 miles, 11 locks, and 2 canals and 1 river