Enjoying the Chesterfield Canal

We've now been on the Chesterfield Canal for a few days and we are certainly enjoying it.  You do have to be prepared to take it easy though.  The combination of shallow water and a fair bit of weed means that progress is slow.  We are now on moorings at the Forest Locks beyond Retford and here is the story of how we got here:

Before we left West Stockwith we did quite a few jobs including emptying a toilet cassette and buying a new gas cylinder.  We also had a go at removing the old and not working solar panel which has been stuck to the roof.  Quite a struggle and plenty of brute force but we managed in the end leaving a bit of a mess on the roof, though the dabs of glue look rather novel.  So we set off late and soon came to the two Misterton Locks.  Usually the bottom lock of a pair is called 'Bottom Lock' but for some reason this is Misterton Low Lock.  The first five locks on the Chesterfield are broad locks.

 

This picture gives an idea of cruising the Chesterfield Canal - reeds down each side leaving a narrow and shallow channel in the middle.  You can't stop just anywhere, as on many canals, because the sides are far too shallow.

Here is Ian, enjoying a stress free afternoon on the canal.

After shopping in Misterton where the Co-op sign can be seen from the canal, we carried on to a visitor mooring out in the country. On Sunday we cruised to another pair of locks.  This one is Shaw's Lock.

There are quite a few brickworks along the canal.  We think this was one but the size of the building suggests a very modest enterprise.

The second lock is Gringley's Lock and is prettier with its lock cottage.  Here you can see a boat called Slimline Tonic coming into the lock while Leo is waiting below.  The name 'Slimline Tonic' seems very appropriate for a narrowboat.

The canal carries on along the side of a hill (Gringley Hill) with fine views to the north for a surprisingly long way before suddenly turning left to dive through the hill via Drakeholes Tunnel which is only 150 yards long but is cut through solid rock.

Here we are in our first tunnel of the year.  Having said it is cut through rock, I see that this picture shows it as brick lined but, believe me, further in it was rock near the water and brick overhead.

Now this is a rare sight on the Chesterfield Canal - a boat coming the other way!  We met a chap today who had not seen another boat moving for five days.  We have been seeing the odd couple of boats each day.  Because the canal is shallow at the edges you have to be prepared to go aground when passing another boat, as we certainly did here.

Helen took this photo of another swan family.  They look so fluffy and cute when they are small.  Just a shame that some of them grow up to be such thugs.

We came round a bend near Clarborough to find a CRT workboat broadside across the canal in front of us.  They were repairing a culvert on the other side of the canal, the culvert would have run right under the canal but they were using the workboat as a bridge to work on the far side.  One of the workmen had obviously overheard some boater comments as he said to Ian: "I'll bet you're surprised to find us working rather than having a tea break!"

We've been seeing a few terns lately.  They seem to like diving for fish in the wake of the boat and are often successful.  This one is hovering and waiting to dive again.

Yesterday we came into Retford, an attractive town with not one but two supermarkets right next to the canal.  The picture shows us arriving below a lock with a wonderful name.  It's called Whitsunday Pie Lock and is the last of the broad locks on this canal.  From here it is narrow locks all the way.  In broad locks we find that opening the paddle on the same side as the boat usually results in the water passing under the boat and bouncing back off the far wall to push the boat against the side of the lock rather than slewing all over the lock.  However it didn't work in this lock, perhaps because it has only a small rise of 4 feet or so and the water cannot pass under the boat.

Above Whitsunday Pie Lock the town is around you and, after quite a lot of wiggles, you come to the first of the narrow locks - Retford Town Lock, seen in the distance in the photo above.

And here we are going into Retford Town Lock.  We do like narrow locks.  The boat slides in effortlessly without touching the sides.

The market square in Retford is so good that it rates a mention in Bill Bryson's book, "Notes from a Small Island".  This is the town hall.

Bassetlaw Museum is well worth a visit.  It is in a fine Georgian House of which this was originally the dining room.  It also has a garden with a working vegetable patch.  All it lacks is a cafe so we had to go back to Leo for tea and cakes.  Why do cafes close so early?  This part of north Nottinghamshire is called 'Bassetlaw' and we asked where the name had come from.  Apparently it is anglo-saxon and means the hill above the burnt place. 

We moored last night above Retford Town Lock and have not come far today.  The weather forecast was for heavy rain from midday so we stopped part way up the Forest Locks around 11.30.  However the rain was delayed so we got the bikes out and enjoyed a cycle through the woods and forests near here.  The Forest Locks have intriguing names.  There are four of them and, from the bottom upwards, they are Forest Bottom Lock, Forest Middle Bottom Lock, Forest Middle Top Lock and finally Forest Top Lock.

Well that brings us up to date.  We will probably update the blog in a few days time when we reach the end of the currently navigable part of the Chesterfield Canal at Kiveton.