A slight change of plan…

Today we were planning to get to Barrow, Mountsorrel, or even Sileby, but by the time I’d shopped and messed about generally in Loughborough we decided to stay here instead.

It was another fine start to the day, I went for a run around Kegworth and Sutton Bonnington trying out a new regime. In order to maintain a consistent pace I’ve loaded onto my iPod a series of tracks all with the same BPM. I’m trying 170, pushing it a little maybe, but I kept it up for 40 minutes this morning, up and down hills and on grass as well as tarmac. With a bit of luck this will improve my stamina and race pace. Can’t do any harm…

We were still off at around 09:30, after a rather noisy night. The wind had veered a little last evening, an early indication of the changing weather to come. But this meant that East Midlands Airport were now routing their take-offs straight over our mooring. And take-offs are quite a bit louder than landings!
I didn’t hear a thing, of course, I’m usually dead to the world the moment my head hits the pillow. Then I wake with the sunrise.

In hindsight we should have moored at Devil’s Elbow, where we usually stop. But you don’t get the morning sun here. Might as well make the most of it while we’ve got it!

Devil’s Elbow 

Twenty minutes saw us at Zouch (pronounced Zotch) Lock.

Ascending in Zouch Lock

Years ago my then current mobile, a chunky Nokia, went to a watery grave as I crossed the bottom gates.

A new trip boat outside The Rose and Crown has it’s origins considerably further south…

The river does a loop around the lock cut dropping over 2 weirs just above Zouch Road Bridge.

Weirs at Zouch
Just off the picture to the left is another weir, with a radial gate, reacting automatically to rising river levels.

The river is very quiet at the moment, but there are reminders of how fickle it’s behaviour can be…

The reach past Normanton is probably the prettiest on the river.

It’s wide and deep and on the left are some beautiful houses with well-kept gardens.

Normanton’s St. James’ Church is sited close to the river. The village was recorded in the Domesday Book, Guillaume William the Bastard’s Conqueror’s country-wide audit of his new domain in the 11th Century.
The church dates from around a century later, and was known as a boatman’s church, but there’s limited access from the water now.

Near The Plough Inn a chain ferry used to cross the river, connecting Nottinghamshire on the left bank to Leicestershire on the right. The river ceases to be the county boundary just north of Loughborough.

Bishop’s Meadow Lock marks the end of the rural and the start of the urban. The river does a long loop around the town, while the artificial cut goes through the middle.

Bishop’s Meadow Lock

A steady chug past a length of permanent moorings brings the navigation to the second lock on the cut, Town Lock. A boat was just leaving as we arrived, so I jumped off and Mags brought Seyella in.

What neither of us noticed was our uninvited lock companions; a family of mallards. Seven half-grown ducklings and mum.

Mrs mallard flew up to perch on the lock gates, leaving the little ones milling around in the rising water and squeaking frantically.

I filled the lock very slowly to avoid moving the boat in the chamber and possibly crushing the chicks. As the water approached the top, they started to leap over the gate into the pound above, the stronger ones first, finally leaving just a smaller one desperate on it’s own.

“Wait for meeee”

It managed to climb over in the end, joining the rest of the family paddling around on the by-wash weir and risking being swept back down again. Maybe that’s what they do for sport.

Above the lock and around the corner a long straight to the canal to Loughborough Wharf. Once the terminus of the Loughborough Navigation and occupied by a woodyard, it’s now been redeveloped, mooring pontoons surrounded by blocks of student accommodation.

We didn’t go up to the wharf, instead turning left just beyond The Albion, and mooring against the grass there.

It looks like tomorrow we may be breaking out the waterproofs for our run to Mountsorrel.

Locks 3, miles 5

One canal, two rivers, two days.

I didn’t post last night, we had guests in the evening.

Carol and Ellie, not seen them for nearly a year.

Meg had a good run around with Sealey.
Ellie brought us a lovely carrot cake, which we shared with tea and wine according to preference. They were with us a couple of hours, by which time it was a bit late for me to start writing.
Enjoy your summer cruise, you two, wherever you get to!

That was yesterday evening, during the day we’d shared the locks down to Shardlow with the group on the Sawley hire boat who’d also moored at Swarkestone the night before.

It was a good day, cruising gently down the Trent valley, with Weston, Aston and Shardlow Locks to descend. Not a lot to say about the day, so this is more of a photo-blog.

Preparing to leave Swarkestone.

This little robin chick was on the towpath. I hope he can fly, or he’s not going to last very long…


There’s a heavily wooded section as the canal approaches Weston on Trent and our first lock.


St. Mary the Virgin Church and Weston House sit on a rise to the west of the village
The church is mainly 13th century, the house dates from 1865 and used to be the rectory. With seven bedrooms I guess Victorian clergymen were expected to have large families!

Weston Lock

Dodging the charity trip boat Serenade, out of Loughborough on an extended voyage

Weston Grange, alongside Bridge 7, is a fine Georgian building.

Weston was established as a village by charter by King Ethelred the Unready in 1009. A ferry crossed the River Trent just south-east of the village at that time, making it an important destination for north-south travellers.

The locks get shallower as the valley gradient lessens. Stenson Lock is 12’4”, Swarkestone is 10’11” as is Weston, then Aston is nearly 3’ less and Shardlow Lock is a diminutive 4’5”.

Aston Lock, good timing, two boats leave as we arrive.

Our locking companions for the day.
L-R, Luke, Lisa, Vanessa and Tom.

We parted company below Shardlow Lock, we filled with water and pushed on to moor above Derwent Mouth Lock, they stopped in the village for their last night aboard.

Black Swan leaving Shardlow Lock

Crossing the wide below the Clock Warehouse

Now a pub, the Clock Warehouse was one of several large warehouses in this inland port.

The clock’s stopped, though…

As I said, we moored out of the village above the last lock before the river, where Carol, Ellie and little Sealey came to see us.
A good day all round, a pleasant trip and good company.

Today we were just preparing to move out when a boat arrived out of Shardlow so we teamed up with them as they were also heading onto the Soar.

Below Derwent Mouth Lock, across the wide expanse of Derwent Mouth.
The un-navigable Derwent comes in from the north (left), the Trent comes in from the south and continues eastward towards Nottingham.

Under the M1, the orange buoys beyond the bridge mark the weir which takes the river around Sawley Cut

Yes, the chap on the boat in the middle of the picture is standing on the roof!

Sawley Locks, duplicated and push-button operated.
We’re dropping down on the right as another pair of boats are coming up on the left.
While we were setting ours up I spotted the other two coming upstream so emptied and opened the chamber for them. They, not surprisingly, thought I was the lock-keeper when I closed the gates behind them, offering me the ropes to drop around bollards. I had to explain politely that I was leaving them to do the rest of the work themselves…

Leaving Sawley Locks…

…and out onto the river
It’s great to be able to wind her up and blow the cobwebs out of the exhaust.

The four-way junction at Trent Lock is just about a mile below Sawley. Here, Cranfleet Cut takes the Trent Navigation straight on, bypassing another large weir, the Erewash Canal starts it’s ascent up to Langley Mill under the bridge on the left, and the Soar joins the Trent a bit up on the right, just above Thrumpton Weir.

Trent Lock Junction

Turning right onto the Soar, Thrumpton Weir, crossed by the railway, ahead.

Through Redhill Flood Lock, Redhill Marina through the bridge arch.


Not sure what’s going on here; several identical cruisers, all up on blocks. There’s another four or five out of shot to the left. They’re all named for composers, we have Verdi, Strauss, Ravel, Bach and Bizet, which implies they’re a hire fleet. But  can’t find any mention of them on the marina website.


The cooling towers of Ratcliffe Power Station loom over the area, one of a dozen large facilities alongside the Trent, giving it the nickname “Megawatt Valley”. Abundant cooling water from the river and coal supplies from the Nottinghamshire and Yorkshire coalfields made the valley an ideal location for power generation. At one time 25% of the UK’s power needs were supplied from here.

Ratcliffe Lock is the first “proper” lock, now going uphill as we climb the Soar Valley to the other side of Leicester.

Ratcliffe Lock, the old, infilled chamber in the foreground.
Flood protection measures have adjusted the river levels along here, making the earlier locks either too deep or too shallow. Or, in the case of Kegworth Flood Lock, superfluous in normal conditions.

Hitch-hiking damsel fly near Kegworth.

Kegworth Deep Lock is another new lock replacing the shallower chamber filled in alongside.

Kegworth Deep Lock


It’s too deep allow control of boats from the lockside bollards, so slip-ropes are fixed in channels in the lock walls which the boat ropes can be taken around. These are common on Trent locks.

Above the lock there’s a good mooring spot opposite fine house where the river course leaves the lock cut.

But you need to be a bit deaf…

It’s on the landing flight path for East Midlands Airport!

Having learnt our lesson by mooring here once, we pushed on another mile or so.

Moored between Kegworth and Zouch

Two anglers, cormorant drying his wings, heron looking hopeful.
We’ve had a really enjoyable two days, one way or another.

Hi Peter, thanks for the kind comment, welcome aboard!

Locks 7, miles 13 (both days)

Among the broad locks.

Although the Trent and Mersey Canal is classed as a narrow canal, either end it’s actually broad. In the north-west Big Lock in Middlewich allowed salt barges to trade up to the Bridgewater and the Weaver, south and east six broad locks take the canal up from the Trent to Burton, carrying raw materials and Burton’s finest product, ale, to and from the town.



Ne'er tell me of liquors from Spain or from France,
They may get in your heels and inspire you to dance.
But Ale of old Burton if mellow and right
Will get in your head and inspire you to fight.
(19th-century rhyme)

These six locks were added by Brindley during the construction of the waterway, and were bitterly opposed by the Burton Boat Company, who owned and managed the Trent Navigation and warehousing on the riverside. The Trent, at the time, was navigable from Shardlow to Burton, although subject to closure in floods. Brindley's new cut bypassed the flood-prone river, and the warehouse owners were afraid that the ditch would take business away from it. They unsuccessfully petitioned Brindley to end his new Grand Trunk Canal at Horninglow, ensuring that traffic to and from the east would use the river.
They were right; soon after the canal opened trade dwindled on the river, the locks deteriorated and the navigation ultimately closed.

The Bond End Canal was built to link the two routes, from Bond End on the river to Shobnall on the cut. But the T&M company refused permission to make the connection, so goods travelling from one canal to the other had to be transhipped.
Finally, in 1794,  agreement was reached, a 3’9” lock was constructed on the Bond End, and Shobnall Basin was connected to the T&M. But the Canal Company were wily. The connection was through a narrow stop-lock, ensuring that barges using the broad Bond End couldn’t also use the less hazardous Trent and Mersey back down to Shardlow. Sneaky, eh.

The Bond End Canal was pretty much disused by the 1870’s, succumbing as many canals did, to the introduction of rail transport. The final insult was the infilling of the canal for a line to be built on it. This left just the upper basin at Shobnall in water, a situation which still exists today.

Entrance to Shobnall Basin, actually the chamber of the narrow stop-lock
The basin was never adopted during the British Waterways Board introduction in the 1930’s, and still remains private water for which boats don’t need a licence. Unsurprisingly there’s a waiting list for moorings in the marina…

History over, back to today. After a very pleasant weekend at Branston (known as the home of the pickle, but also a machine-gun factory in WWI), we pushed on towards Shardlow. Our first lock, Branston Lock, was just a few minutes down the canal.

Approaching Branston Lock.
If it’s not anglers on the lock landings it’s Canada geese!

From here the outskirts of Burton upon Trent start to fringe the canal, and the malty smell of the breweries occasionally drifts tantalisingly on the breeze.

There’re lots of chicks along here, coot, moorhen and duck.

Spot the moorhen chicks…

There’s three in the picture.

Shobnall Fields moorings were shunned as being a bit dodgy at one time, but now they’re well used. We’ve stayed here overnight a couple of times; great for dogs!

Dallow Lock is the last of the narrow locks, beyond is Horninglow Basin and the stretch of broad canal to Shardlow.

In Dallow Lock

It sits discretely under a road bridge.

I’m on the tiller instead of Mags because we’ve gained a helper. The chap on the left had just left a boat at Shobnall Marina to be blacked and needed a lift back to Willington. He offered to do the lock for us in exchange. It’s a pity there weren’t more to do…

Out of town now, and about to cross the River Dove Aqueduct.
The WWII pill box on the left formed part of one of the defensive lines built in the event of an enemy invasion.

Despite the proximity of the railway, Willington is always a popular spot for mooring. Pubs, shops and take-aways make it a good overnight stop. It was fairly quiet as we came through today, though.

Willington
Then again, it was only lunchtime.

We dropped our erstwhile hitchhiker off near Mercia Marina
Lloyd had been interesting company for an hour or so..

The steady stream of boats coming the other way seemed to dry up as we headed for Stenson and the first (and deepest) of the broad locks. As we arrived two boats were just going in to go down ahead of us. Typical. So we pulled in at the end of the moorings opposite the marina for a bite to eat, hoping that a) someone would come up the lock, filling it for us, or b) someone would arrive to share the lock.
Of course, neither happened, so I refilled the chamber and we went down on our own.

Filling the 12’4” deep Stenson Lock

Going down, not the place to cock-up your locking technique with a popular cafe right alongside!

Another three miles of steady cruising brought us to Swarkestone Lock. On the way we’d had to pause for a couple of minutes while the dredging crew moved their gear.

Dredging. Offloading near Bridge 17…

..and the target area near Bridge 16

Once again we had to refill Swarkestone Lock and descend on our own, mooring just below.

Moored below Swarkestone Lock

Apart from a gaggle of anglers at the far end, the length of piling here is unusually empty.
Spoke too soon, we’ve just been joined by a Canaltime boat with two couples from Pontypridd…

A long day today, but we didn’t want to have to do all of the broad locks in one go. Now we’ve only three before stopping at Shardlow.

Locks 4, miles 12.