Through Shardlow and up the Trent valley

It’s been a beautiful, sunny day, a good day to be on the move. A bit of a cool breeze from the east, but it is November after all!

Moving off towards Shardlow at 10 this morning.


Under Bridge 1

At the other end of the canal Lodge Lane Bridge is number 213, though if I remember rightly Preston Brook Tunnel has an official designation of Bridge 214. Derwent Mouth Lock is Lock 1, Lock 76 is the shallow stop lock just south of of the tunnel at Dutton.

Shardlow flood gates, thankfully not often needed.


Shardlow was an important inland port, connecting the canal network with the navigable River Trent. Most of the commercial building date from this period of prosperity.








Shardlow Lock is quite shallow.


The canal leaves the village at the lock, passing a length of permanent moorings which ends near the modern bridge carrying the A50.

On this road it’s less than an hour to Stoke. By boat? Well, a little longer…

Aston Lock is next, and with the ground paddles out of action, is a foamy fill.
Quite safe, though.
On these full-length broad locks we tie a centre rope to a bollard, the rope running backwards. With the prop turning on tick-over this keeps the boat into the side, so I can open the paddles without the boat banging about in the lock. Enough line is used so that the boat isn’t pulled over as the lock nears full, instead it just moves backwards.

Plenty of fine arable land in the Trent valley…


Weston Lock (the big one, there’s a narrow one further up, in fact there’s another Aston Lock too…) is next, and the chambers are getting deeper as we climb up the valley.

This and the next at Swarkestone are nearly 11 feet deep, the last broad lock, Stenson, is 12’8”.

You may spot the small pile of logs on the roof, liberated from the towpath side below the lock.
We pulled in a couple of hundred yards above the lock, in a nice, sunny spot, and after lunch I set to converting the booty into stove-sized lumps.

Locks 3, miles 3¾