Erewash and a boisterous River Trent

 This is our first posting for 2021. We have only been travelling for a couple of days but I have some time this morning and we are moored next to a phone mast so we have an excellent signal.  We came down to Leo by car on Sunday but only set off on Tuesday morning. It is always a bit of a stressful time moving onto the boat - well it is for Ian anyway! Checking that we have everything and that it will all go in the car, packing, unpacking and then taking the car back home for its summer rest and coming back to the boat by train.

Here is Leo waiting in the marina for the off. We debated the best way to get her out of this spot. Because of Covid we had not berthed her - she was moved first by a marina manager and later by a friendly chap by the name of George who kindly volunteered to take her to be mended in January. Still the departure went fine with no wind to blow us off course and no boats pranged in the process. We set off, having said goodbye to the chaps in the marina and our near neighbours, turning left out of the marina to leave Nottingham going west towards Beeston.

Along the Beeston cut we passed these swans making a nest. We've already seen ducklings, goslings and moorhen chicks which is a mark of us starting cruising later in the year than usual.

About three miles down the cut we reached Beeston Lock which gives access to the River Trent. Sometimes we've been through and the water on the Nottingham side has been almost the same level as the river. This time we rose about 2 feet so the river was swollen a bit from the recent rains.

The debris against this navigation sign gives some impression as to what the winter floods on the river are like - not a time for boating then!

Having left Nottingham in sunshine we soon picked up the rain and it really poured for most of our time on the river. We had come through Beeston lock following a pair of boats and here you can see that we are catching up the last one of the two. It took us a long time to cover the 5 miles up river against what was a surprisingly fast current. As we rounded the bend before Cranfleet Lock we slowed to almost a standstill and upped the engine speed to around 1800 rpm, an unheard of speed on the canals. The gravel bank that we grounded on last time we came this way seems to have been dredged and the tailings are visible dumped on the bank.

The rain was pelting down as we reached Cranfleet Lock. It was a tricky job coming into the pontoon below the lock with the sideways flow in the river here coming round a bend. Helen went up to the lock and I followed to help the two boats ahead of us through and then another two coming down onto the river before it was our turn.

Above the lock is a cut where all is calm which lasts for half a mile or so before coming under the railway bridge and through  flood gates back onto the river. We had already decided that, because the river was a bit boisterous, we would turn right through Trent Lock and stop for the night on the Erewash Canal. Trent Junction (look at the sign to the left|) is one of two really big junctions on the canals with navigations north (Erewash Canal) and south (River Soar leading to the Leicester branch of the Grand Union) meeting the Trent. So it is truly a crossroads. The fifth apparent route on the sign to the bottom left is the Thrumpton Weir and there spells disaster, so no-one goes that way.

We barely got onto the Trent this time turning right under the bridge shown which gives access to the Erewash Canal via Trent Lock. The short section leading to the lock was full of bits of tree but we got through with no problem.

And here we are in Trent Lock. Behind to the left is the Lock Tearooms which were closed and to the right you can see Ratcliffe Power Station. Tuesday evening the sun came out and we were able to dry ourselves and the boat. We set off yesterday on a shorter trip up the Erewash Canal to Sandiacre. Less frenetic than the Trent but still with big heavy locks to negotiate.

Through Long Eaton we came to a prominent S bend under a road bridge. Two pedestrians wielding lock handles told us there were a couple of 70 foot boats coming through so we backed off to allow them through before we set off ourselves.

A little further on comes the first lock at Long Eaton. At 6, then 7, then 8 feet the locks get deeper on the way up to Sandiacre. Ian had to get up from the boat at this one to help Helen move the bottom gate. We met quite a two more boats coming the other way at the next lock. Last time we came this way (7 years ago) we saw hardly any boats moving. Perhaps the silver propellor point at the end has increased its popularity - more about silver propellor points when we get further on.

We liked the trompe l'oeil painting on the door of this shed at a small boatyard.

The last of our three locks yesterday was Sandiacre Lock. Beside the lock is the oldest lock cottage in the country, having been built in 1779. This is a very early canal. The lock cottage is now owned by the Erewash Canal Preservation and Development Society and we've read that it is occasionally opened to the public.

The Erewash is now a dead end at Langley Mill, but at one time it linked with the Derby Canal at Sandiacre and with the Nottingham Canal and the Cromford Canal at Langley Mill. Here above Sandiacre Lock you can see where the Derby Canal turned off, going via Derby to Swarkestone where it met the Trent and Mersey Canal. You can just spot the first canal bridge beyond the moored boats.

We are now moored at Sandiacre. The huge chimney beyond us belongs to what was once a lace mill and has now been converted into apartments. I haven't included a proper picture of the mill because it is presently covered in scaffolding while they repair the roof.

Now this is a very surreal photo. Soon after we arrived at Sandiacre we had a monumental hailstorm and this is the view Helen took out of the window of the hail bouncing in the canal. The larger blobs are raindrops on the window. The storm was of such ferocity that hail stones were bouncing on the roof and then through the mushroom vents onto the carpet and our bed! In the afternoon the rain died away and we were honoured by a visit from our great niece on her first birthday complete with cake and candle. Ada was accompanied by her parents Martin and Caroline and we enjoyed talking with them while Ada enjoyed crawling from one end of the boat to the other (inside - not along the roof!)

And finally for this posting here is a bluebell that Helen spotted close to our mooring.

We are waiting this morning for a friend (Steve, known as Hodge) to visit us and with him we intend to carry on today to Ilkeston. We will probably arrive at Langley Mill tomorrow which will be journey's end on the Erewash. After that it will be back to the Trent and then the Trent and Mersey Canal heading west.