Soaring off the Trent

Sorry but I couldn't resist the pun in the title of this posting as we are now cruising up the River Soar and away from its confluence with the River Trent near Long Eaton.  We have been around Nottingham for a few days socialising with friends who live nearby.  Three successive days meeting different people each day.  Very good to catch up with them all.

Our friends Rowan and Martin came to Leo on Monday and we took them on a cruise from Holme Lock where we moored on Sunday into Nottingham on the River Trent.  This picture is of Trent Bridge famous of course for the cricket ground next to it.  You can cruise under here but you are supposed to turn before the next bridge which we did.

Here Helen is sitting in the cratch with our friends, showing them pictures of our cruising from last year.

Next to Holme Lock is the National Watersports Centre with a white water course that runs parallel with the lock and so drops 12 feet in quite a short distance.  We watched the canoeists enjoying the challenge.

And here's another one.

And another!
















We ate out at the Manvers Arms at Radcliffe on Trent which was good, though they had run out of quite a lot of choices on the menu and puddings were down to just ice cream.  Still a very pleasant day.

On Tuesday we set off upstream again but this time turned right just before Trent Bridge onto the Nottingham Canal.

This fine mansion is beside the Trent close to the city.  Goodness knows who lives there and how much it cost but it is a lovely house.

Just before the Nottingham Canal turns off the river and on the other side you can see the first lock of the Grantham Canal.  This is presently derelict, but one day perhaps it will be navigable.  If they could only dig a canal to connect Grantham and Sleaford then you could also have a non-tidal route from Boston to Nottingham.

Here is Leo waiting below Meadow Lane Lock which leads off the river onto the Nottingham Canal.  You can see Trent Bridge in the background.

Here you can see Helen winding the paddle on Meadow Lane Lock to empty it before Leo can come in off the river. The lock was closed the following day for repair work, so we did well to come through on Tuesday.

There are some fine old warehouses in the centre of Nottingham, some of which have the ground floor converted to wine bars and pubs.

If you peep between the tall buildings on the right of the canal you can just see Nottingham Castle.  The flag was at half mast because of those killed in the Manchester bomb blast.










A big Sainsbury's is right by the canal so we took the opportunity to stock up.  Another friend, Steve (otherwise known as 'Hodge') joined us here and we cruised with him the rest of the Nottingham Canal and then back on the River Trent above Beeston Weir to Trent Junction.

Here is Hodge helming Leo up the river.  As we got near to Cranfleet Lock the current became pretty fast and we heard later of another boat that had gone aground and then spun round in the fast current. Leo however behaved herself.

Here we are approaching Cranfleet Lock which lifts us up into a cut avoiding the weir at Thrumpton.

And finally moored at Trent Junction.  This is the centre of the waterways with links to the North East (via the Trent and the way we had come), to the South (via the River Soar and the way we are going), to the Midlands and the North West (via the Trent and Mersey Canal) not to mention the dead end of the Erewash Canal which goes North from here. 






So there is lots going on at Trent Junction and many boats passing.  Hodge had forewarned us that the Trent Lock Cafe was closed on Tuesdays and we had bought scones and clotted cream from Sainsbury's earlier.  So we had a cream tea onboard which filled us up to the extent that we had little room for a meal in the evening.  We did however manage small meals at the Steamboat Inn before Hodge had to return home.

We spent the day on Wednesday doing various odd jobs on the boat including two lots of washing.  The weather has been improving day by day lately and the washing dried quickly.  In the evening our nephew Martin and partner Caroline came to Leo and we enjoyed a meal together at the Trent Lock pub nearby.  So that was the end of our social whirl for the present.

Today (Thursday) we finally left the River Trent which we have been following for the last week and turned off up the River Soar towards Loughborough and Leicester.

This picture as we left the mooring at Trent Junction gives a good idea of the size of the River Trent.  From the mooring you go down river for a couple of hundred yards and then turn right up the Soar.  Stay on the river and you go over Thrumpton Weir, not a good idea!

At the entrance to Redhill cut this sign welcomes you to the River Soar.

I haven't mentioned that our friends Geoff and Sue on Rubbin Along (seen here) have caught us up.  We travelled with them last year from Marple, over the Huddersfield Narrow and on to Castleford on Aire and Calder.  We have been sharing locks today.

Here we are approaching Kegworth Deep Lock which, at 12 feet, lives up to its name.

Egrets seem to be more common than they used to be.  Little Egrets apparently came to the UK in the 1990s.  We saw this one above the Deep Lock.

Having helped us up the Deep Lock with another narrowboat, Rubbin Along had got left behind so we helped them through Zouch Lock three miles up river.  Here you can see them coming to the lock.










We are moored tonight above Zouch Lock.  It is proving to be a very hot and sunny afternoon so we are mostly lazing.  In the next few days we will be continuing up the River Soar to join the Grand Union Canal in Leicester.  It is good to cruise a much smaller river with a more human scale and to work the locks ourselves rather than having lock keepers do it for us.