A long day….for us.

Well, we certainly made up for our lazy day yesterday!
Off at around 09:45, and into Stenson Lock following three Canaltime boats that were up and about before us. The Canaltime base at Sawley will be busy when this lot gets back, I think we’ve seen at least a dozen of their boats today, far outnumbering the private boats.

Canaltime boats overnighting at Ragley Boat Stop
Today’s trip has dropped us back down the six broad locks at the eastern end of the T&M, back down to the Trent.

This section of the canal is pretty and remote, all the settlements are away from the navigation, keeping clear of the fickle River Trent and it’s flood plain.

Weston on Trent church stands in splendid isolation about half a mile from the village.
We were able to share the last four locks with a family on the Canaltime boat Silver Jubilee. They were well experienced, having hired for several years all over the network.

Shardlow Clock Warehouse

Derwent Mouth Lock, the end of the Trent and Mersey Canal.
I watched a swan family messing about below the lock while it was emptying.
I thought they were just enjoying the flow from the bywash….. until they disappeared up it!
We crossed the wide open spaces where the Derwent joins the Trent and motored through the open flood lock onto Sawley Cut.

Sawley Cut
We had thought about calling it a day here, but Carol had rung and told us she was waiting for us at Trent Lock on the Erewash, so we pushed on, down the locks, along the river to Trent Junction and turned into the Erewash Canal at what the boaters used to call “cut end”.

Trent Lock, Erewash Canal, just up from the junction.
We pulled up behind Carol’s NB Corbiere, and gave her a knock to let her know we’d arrived.

Hiya.
The Erewash was built to carry coal from the Nottinghamshire coal fields to markets in Loughborough and Leicester. Having no bridge across the Trent, specially constructed ferries carried the boat horses across the river to the Soar. I don’t know how the boats got across though. The canal was constructed in about a year, opening in 1779. Not bad going for 11½ miles and 14 locks.

Locks 8, miles 12.