Stuck at Sawley

Well after a few days of travelling to get to Sawley, it’s now a few days of inactivity! On Friday night the weather front arrived as predicted, bringing quite a bit of rain with it. The wet weather continued through most of Saturday. By the evening the Trent was up a couple of feet, and by yesterday morning had peaked at around 2’6” above it’s level when we arrived. So it’s now well into the red zone on the markers, both above and below Sawley Cut.

The Flood Lock at the top end of the cut
Derwent Mouth, the channel to the Trent and Mersey is straight across.
BW continued to work on Derwent Mouth Lock over the weekend, but with the river as it is, no-one will be using it even if it is finished today.

So we’ve (Sue and I and the dogs) have had a few longish walks in the area, giving me the chance to play with my GPS.
Although on Saturday I thought that I’d broken it already! Plugging the cable in to link it to my laptop, the socket on the PDA disappeared into the unit. Stripping it down I found that the connector strip for the plug had come away from it’s housing, breaking the connections to the circuit board. But with the aid of a jury rigged microscope and judicious use of Araldite, I got it back together, as good as new.

PDA repair workshop
It’s really pretty useful, knowing exactly where you are on a walk. I just download an area of a 1:50,000 OS map from my laptop, and the PDA does the rest.

The water is going back down this morning, but a lot slower than it came up! It looks like we may be here for another couple of days. Still, we’re in no hurry, though I’d like to get to Willington before the weekend.

Sawley Cut mooring, opposite the marina
Sue and Vic on No Problem are having to make contingency plans. They were intending to be at Great Haywood by the weekend, 3-4 days travelling away. That’s probably not going to be possible, now.

Saw a sight this morning. The motor launch from the marina appeared, towing the wide beam, MALIBU,
Which was, in turn, towing a raft supporting – a garden shed!
He was towed onto the pump-out berth, and then to fill with diesel. That was the problem; he was heading out of the marina to the services when he ran out. He called the guys out from the workshop for assistance. Don’t know where the shed comes in, though!

A short while later NB Ardanza came out, also for a pump out. We had the chance for a chat while they (Mark and Jean) waited. We’ve met them a couple of times before, on the Weaver and at Swarkestone. They berth their boat here at Sawley.

Mark and Jean on NB Ardanza
An interesting sight on one of our walks. Two signs, which have obviously been there a while, being digested by a tree!


Email from BW –

Upper Trent in flood


Monday 15 December 2008 until further notice


The Upper Trent is currently in flood and high water levels mean that the river is unsuitable for boats. Flood gates are on at Cranfleet and Newark.


Enquiries: 01636 704481


No, really?

And a bit of good news. Just had a phone call from Dad to say that my camera has arrived back from Fuji after being repaired. That’s very good service. I sent it to them on Wednesday, and it’s sorted out and back the following Monday. Wow!

Locks 0, miles 0