Yes, through that gap… backwards!
We nearly made it without touching the sides, but at the last minute there was a horrible rattling banging noise from under the counter as we picked up something on the prop. From that point on maneuvering was severely compromised. The very helpful Vicky had dropped off six bags of smokeless the previous evening, so we only had the fuel to pick up.
That done and everything paid for, we idled back out, filled with water then clunked and clanked into the lock where I tied up and delved through the weed hatch into the fairly clear but very cold water. The main entanglement was an umbrella, without the handle but the wire stays and fabric canopy were well wrapped up. Along with various unidentifiable bits of plastic and cloth…
Anyway it took me half an hour to finally get it clear, and we were able to drop down Lock 14 and head off down the Erewash.
The pretty Eastwood Lock wasn’t always so, between the lock and the river there used to be a colliery.
But all traces of the works and wharves above the lock have gone. Only the stone abutments of the mineral line crossing below the lock remain.
The daffodils are out at Shipley Lock!
We pulled in between bridges 23a and 23, opposite the housing estates fringing the village of Cotmanhay. A good piled edge, quiet after the dog walkers had gone home, apart from the trains trundling past 100 yards away.
We stayed put yesterday, as the forecast suggested it rained on and off all day and it had turned noticeably cooler. This morning dawned dry but murky, clearing a bit before we set off just before 10:00.
Ahead of us we had 8 locks and 5½ miles, so it was always expected to be a longish day. But by the time we’d got to Barkers Lock, the second of the day, we’d heard through the grapevine that there were problems ahead. At least one, possibly two pounds further south were dry or very low.
Barkers Lock
Gongoozler?
The bywashes were all running, so I hoped that by the time we got there the situation would have improved, and we had a stop to make in Ilkeston to collect a package from Argos anyway.
We arrived at Potters Lock, number 69, to find a CRT chappie running water through the lock. I expected the low pound to be this next one, between Potters and Greens, as it’s at Greens Lock I had trouble getting the top gates closed on the way up. But it was further down, a ¾ mile pound below Stanton Lock with just a stream in the middle. So a crew of three were managing the water, running it down through the next four locks, and trying to maintain the levels in each pound as they went.
Waiting at Potters Lock.
After about 40 minutes we were given the all clear to proceed, subject to instructions from the CRT staff further down, so off we went. The pounds were low but navigable, and we dropped through Greens, Gallows Inn and Hallam Fields Locks without incident.
At Stanton Lock, the one above the low pound, we caught up with another boat, Misty Dawn, who had reported the problem first thing. They’d moored above the lock and woke up on the bottom as their pound dropped a bit as well.
There was water in the pound below, and with an extra lockful from us we hoped to be able to get to Pasture Lock without running aground. Misty made it out of the lock and set off, we got out of the lock and stopped… It took two of us pulling and the engine just turning over to get past the shallow bit. Then we were away, very slowly, churning up mud and debris and often just scraping over the humps and bumps on the bottom.
We got into Pasture Lock eventually, dropped down in company with Misty, then pushed on to moor in Sandiacre, on the Padmore moorings.
St. Giles church, Sandiacre, sits on a hill to the north of the town.
Old warehouses along the canal opposite Springfield Mill.
Moored in Sandiacre.
We’ll head down to Trent Lock tomorrow.
Locks 11, miles 8¾
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