Across the Trent to the Erewash

It has been a few days since we have updated the blog due to poor mobile signal and the distraction of having guests.

On Thursday we came into Leicester, arriving around lunchtime. We enjoyed our visit to the city which has an area of narrow streets, the Lanes, and many interesting old buildings.

This is the Guildhall in Leicester.  It was built in the 14th century and was nearly demolished in the 20th.

The Great Hall in the Guildhall was extended later with the addition of two extra bays (at the far end).  The tables were laid with the remains of craft materials as they had been keeping groups of schoolchildren occupied making all sorts of things, it being the Easter holidays.

Leicester has a huge covered market.  It was the end of the day so we made the most of the offers on fruit and vegetables and then Helen cooked a lovely vegetarian meal on Leo that evening.

 On Friday afternoon we left the very secure moorings in the centre of Leicester at Castle Gardens and carried on down river. One or two of the locks were very heavy and the scenery coming out of the city to the North is pretty dreary with derelict industrial premises on either side of the canal. Eventually we passed the National Space Centre close to Belgrave Lock:

You can see the Space Centre in the centre of the picture.  Just beyond Leo and to the right is one of several unprotected weirs on the River Soar.  Thank goodness the river was not running fast and high.

We moored at Birstall on some lovely moorings just below the lock. Lucy joined us on Friday evening and stayed until Sunday. We had read about a life sized statue of a woolly Mammoth near Birstall and on Saturday morning we walked back along the riverside lakes to find it.

The Mammoth is the one in the middle!

 The River Soar below Leicester is quite wide and deep and Leo dug in her propeller with gusto.

It was nice to be back on a river again.  The willows were just coming into leaf and were a gorgeous shade of green.

You do not expect to find bikes along the river but it seems that cycles get everywhere these days.  These were hired from Barrow on Soar.  The conventional bicycle pedals drive a propellor and you turn the handlebars to steer a rudder.

Of course it being Easter we had a Simnel cake.  Helen had in fact cooked this before we set out on our canal journey this year.  It was delicious and Lucy was able to share this with us.

Saturday evening we moored in countryside just a mile or so outside Loughborough. On Sunday morning we cruised in to the town and went to look at steam trains at the old Great Central Railway station. Lucy is going on a 'steam driving experience' day in May and we saw two of the engines she is going to be driving.

This is 92214 which was built in 1959 right at the end of the steam age.

We had lunch in a pub close by the Canal Basin in Loughborough which is at the end of a short branch of the canal. Lucy left us here to go back to her car with the aid of a trip on a steam train! We carried on downstream.

Here we are queuing for a lock.  This was a new experience this year.  It was Easter weekend and lots of boats were on the move including three that we had seen in Loughborough Basin.  We had five boats waiting at one lock and seven at the next and only two boats fit into each lock full.

Normanton Church is right beside the river together with some rather nice houses.  It reminded us of cruising along parts of the Thames.

 

 We moored for the night in a lovely spot just above Zouch Lock (pronounced 'Zoch' so we were told). On Monday we found companions for all the remaining locks on the Soar which made life easier. A couple of the locks are flood locks which have both sets of gates held open except in times of flooding. No danger of floods at the moment as we have had very little rain since we started boating.

This is coming out of Kegworth Deep Lock which is about 9 feet and it replaces a smaller lock which was put out of action when river levels were changed in the 1980s to reduce flooding.

Ratcliffe Power Station dwarfs surrounding buildings including the local church.  We had seen this from where we set off that morning and it got steadily closer.

 Below Redhill Flood Lock we rejoined the River Soar and just a few hundred yards later the Soar joins the River Trent. To the right of the junction and under a railway bridge is a huge weir so that is not the way to go. We turned up the Trent to the junction with the Erewash Canal and with the Cranfleet Cut which leads towards Nottingham.  Our route led straight on at this complicated canal and river junction onto the Erewash Canal.

Here we are cruising up the River Trent which seems huge compared with our usual canal travels.  Right in the middle of the photo you can spot the entrance to the Erewash Canal.

Here we are approaching the first lock, Trent Lock, coming off the Trent onto the Canal.  Another boat is just coming down below the lock.

How is this for a complicated Canal sign?  The 'no entry' sign shows the River Trent heading for the weir.  All the other three ways are navigable.

 Lunch on Monday was at the Trent Lock Inn and we took the opportunity to have a good look round the various navigable waterways here. It really is a major crossways on the canal system. After lunch we carried on up the Erewash to Sandiacre to moor for the night.

This is Sandiacre Lock with some fine old buildings next to it.  The folk on the left were very helpful in closing lock gates which had a habit of swinging open.  Many of the locks and paddles on the Erewash are really heavy and 'anti-vandal' locks add to the difficulty.

This is Springfield Mill at Sandiacre which has been turned into flats.  It has four spiral stair wells and a large lit clock in the middle of the building.

Though we enjoyed the River Soar, it was good to get back on a proper canal with picturesque bridges and buildings.  Today we welcomed Ian's nephew Martin on board.  Martin arrived rather drenched having cycled in the rain from the other side of Derby. With the heavy locks Martin's extra muscle was really welcome and he enjoyed the day (or at least he said he did).  The day began in rain ranging from drizzle to persistent heavy rain, but the afternoon was mainly hot and sunny.  We have no complaints.  This was our first rain during the day since we set off.

With Martin we travelled the remaining 8 miles of the Erewash up to the basin at Langley Mill.

Here is Martin at the helm in Shipley Lock.

In the working days of the Canal there was a stable for canal horses by Shipley Lock.  More alarmingly next door was another building used as a slaughterhouse for horses no longer fit for work!  As you can see the stables is still in use for horses.  We saw no sign of slaughtering though.

Shipley Lock again - well the sun had come out by then.

And here is Leo (on the left) moored in the Great Northern Basin at Langley Mill.  Though it looks as if the canal continues this is in fact a very short length all taken up with private moorings.  The way straight on was the Cromford Canal which carried on for another 15 miles into the High Peak country, but is no longer navigable.  The right hand branch was the Nottingham Canal which went to Nottingham.

Tomorrow we plan to visit the DH Lawrence Museum (he was born here) and then we have to return back down the Erewash Canal to the Trent before we carry on our journey.  The top few miles of the Erewash have been delighfully rural but the sections through Long Eaton and Ilkeston were not really very exciting and there was lots of rubbish in the canal.  Ian has spent longer down the weed hatch today than the rest of the time we have been cruising this year so far.