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