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| Made it to Langley Mill Basin |
Up the Erewash Canal. 16 locks, 12 miles.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erewash_Canal
It was a hard long day as the title suggests. An early start for us and we were ready for the off before 8am, but we needed to put water in first. There is a water point above Trent lock, so we locked up and moored on the water point. Paul and his friends turned up whilst the tank was filling, and after introductions to Stuart and John, they headed off to the first lock at Long Eaton. We followed on with a full water tank.
The water levels were low, but passable, but that caused the prop’s on both boats to snag huge amounts of blanket weed, this needed to be removed on a regular basis to allow the boats to keep moving.
After Long Eaton lock, Paul, John and myself jumped ship and walked to the next lock. It was further than I expected, but it meant we could prepare the lock so the boats could come right in. I actually left Paul and John to it at this lock, and walked up to Sandiacre Lock, the next one, to get it ready, but much to my joy I found the lock empty and the gates open, I then remembered that the gates on this lock swing open easily, so it saved me a job. On Sandiacre lock is a lock cottage which is owned by the Erewash Preservation group, it is open to the public at times, and shows how the interior of the cottage would have looked at the beginning of the 20th century. We have been in and its well worth a visit.
https://ecpda.org.uk/index.php/home/sandiacre
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| Sandiacre Lock Cottage |
I did confess to the guys that I hadn’t actually had to set the lock, but just wait for the boats.
My walking was about done after this and I stayed on board between the locks, but jumping off to help lock the boats through. Paul did walk up the shorter pounds to set the next lock, which was a great help.
On this canal some of the paddle gear is fitted with anti vandal locks, this is to stop people messing about with them and draining the pounds. Over the last few years these lock have fallen into disrepair and not been used that much. I was pleased to see that on some of the paddles these locks had been renewed, but not so pleased when I realised that some had not been fitted correctly. Basically the lock consists of a metal bar that sits above the winding gear, this is opened using an anti vandal key. The bar slides back and allows the gear to be wound up. On one I found the bar was situated actually in the centre of the winding gear, so couldn’t be engaged to stop the paddle being raised by naughty people. But the bigger problem was with bars which were too long, and even after you had slid them back, still impeded the paddle meaning you couldn’t wind it up to allow the water in.. So annoying.
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| Anti Vandal Lock |
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| Anti Vandal Key |
Of course the weather didn’t help the day along either. We had a sharp shower as we set off, and then at a lot of the locks the heavens opened and we got drenched, only for the sun to come out as we cruised to the next one.
We also had problems with boats moored on the lock landings again, which made it difficult for us to jump off to set the lock. I know the canal has been closed for a long time so boaters thought that this wouldn’t be a problem, but its still a no no in my opinion. And Paul wasn’t a happy bunny either.
The first half of the canal to Gallows lock seemed to take an age, and if we hadn’t agreed to go all the way to the basin with Paul, we would have probably stopped here for the night, but time seemed to pass faster through the last 8 locks, and soon (well not that soon) the last lock was insight and there was Tom and his partner waiting to help us through. Tom is the brother of Dan who runs Langley Mill Boatyard. Dan and Vickki were away with their 2 daughters camping, but we will catch up with them when they get back. Tom told us to moor in the dock and asked if we would be willing to go into be blacked a few days early, not a problem for us at all. We were soon moored up and headed to the pub for a well earned pint and a bite to eat. We went to the Great Northern, and the Captain was very happy to see Dark Drake by Dancing Duck brewery on the bar, and I was happy with Madri. The food was basic pub grub but hit the spot quite nicely.
Now we are on the Cromford Canal.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cromford_Canal
Langley Mill has everything we need, so we were happy to be staying here for a couple of weeks, there is a Lidl and Asda for shopping, 3 decent pubs for beer, the Great Northern, The Railway Inn and the Bunny Hop. Food wise, obviously the Great Northern does food, and there is a very good Gurkha restaurant, a chippy and Chinese takeaway rolled into one, Kentucky Fried Chicken and a McDonald's. Bus stops just outside the basin run to Derby, Nottingham, Heanor and Ripley.
In the basin there is water and an elsan. The boatyard does diesel and pump outs for people they know. But there are no CRT bins.
The weekend was the bank holiday, and there was an event on in the basin on the Sunday organised by the Preservation Society. There were shire horses, a variety of stalls, music all day, a kiddies entertainer and welly wanging. The Toll office and the pump house were both open too. My son Adam, his wife Julie and young Dylan came to visit, and they enjoyed looking around what was on offer, but I don’t think Dylan was too impressed with the huge shire horses, they stood 18.2 hands and were called Ebony and Bayley.
We are going into be blacked on Wednesday rather than the following Monday, and are praying for the weather to be kind to us. It needs to be dry when we apply the bitumen to the hull and sides of the boat, and whilst it dries.
We also have some family times planned. We are seeing my sister Diane and hubby Mick in Ripley, and going to Adams for a BBQ for Dylan’s 3rd birthday at the weekend.
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| Dylan, the Captain and me |
We are hoping when we head back down the Erewash, the way home to Coventry will be open and we wont have to kill more time waiting.
12 miles, 16 locks, 1 river The Trent, 2 canals, the Erewash and the Cromford.