Erewash Canal - Easter trip.

Over the Easter break, we only had a few days spare, so we thought we would investigate the Erewash canal. Its just under 12 miles, wit 15 broad locks. Reading the various guides, it seemed like you could probably go up in one day, and back the next.

We moved the boat to Trent Lock a few days before, as Nicky had a couple of gigs / auditions in between. Coming through Trent Lock we had literally hundreds of on-lookers watching us - it was a beautiful sunny day, and everyone had come to the tea rooms and the Steamboat Inn to while away the afternoon.. Luckily, it all went smoothly, and we moored up on the 48hr moorings opposite some rather impressive looking house boats.

A few days later, and we were off. We didnt really take any pictures on the way up, as it was grey and overcast, though dry at least. I'll describe the route coming back down. However, before we could go anywhere, we needed to get a Erewash Water Conservation Key.. We went to Sawley Marina, but they had run out.. At Trent Lock, we were going to ask the coal boat, but we spotted a couple of C&RT workmen, so asked them where we could buy one, as Sawley had run out. "Newark" was the reply!! Arrrgh... When I explained that we intended to go straight away, and we only had 3 days holiday, he gave us his own key! Great service from C&RT - many thanks :)

Immediately I noticed its a shallow canal.. We arent a hugely deep drafted boat, but we struggled, barely being able to get above tick-over before we generated a huge stern wave. Indeed at several parts, we suffered very strong bank effect, which on two occasions got us stuck! Take your poles with you... I wouldn't want to go up there in a deeper boat.

Long Eaton

 Going through Long Eaton, there is a tight S-bend under a road bridge, and beyond some visitor moorings. These are quite handy for the town centre, but we decided we would moor up for lunch at Sandiacre. Passing through Long Eaton, there were some stunning old buildings in various states of disrepair.

Some stunning old buildings - this one in Long Eaton, and rather neglected.

Graffiti above Long Eaton Lock.

Sandiacre Lock, with the Lock cottages (headquarters of the Erewash Canal Society) was next, and we were surprised how well maintained all the locks were. Indeed as we progressed, the majority of the locks had obviously been maintained and refurbished recently, and nearly all were very well greased. We had read that they could be very stiff, but only a couple of them (Trent Lock being the worst) were very stiff.

Sandiacre Lock Cottages. Hope of the Erewash Canal Society.

Useful mooring in Sandiacre by two pubs, Co-Op and Lidl.

In Sandiacre, there are very useful moorings in the centre, just by the Co-Op, and a brief walk up the road takes you to the newly refurbished Plough Inn, which does a decent, very well priced meal. It has moorings itself, but wouldn't be suitable for our 70-ft boat.. There is also a Lidl here, and public toilets, chip shop and another pub. 

Approach to Stanton Lock

Approach to Hallams Field Lock

We saw several Coot nests. 

Continuing up, we encountered kids at a couple of locks - they were friendly, and chatted away whilst we worked our way through. We were surprised to find anyone at Pastures Lock, as its probably the most rural of all of them, but a group of amiable children were there - must have walked miles from Stapleford to get there.

Refurbished, and in use - great to see these buildings at Sandiacre.

Rear of a paint shop. Chimney cleverly reused as a phone transmitter.

Pasture Lock

Stenson's Lock looking attractive despite the grey sky.

We moored that evening just before Gallows Inn Lock - this is a nice spot, being by sports fields. We ventured up to Gallows Inn, and had a nice pint or two - the beer was well kept, and well priced too. They allow dogs and children, which is handy.

A good mooring spot below Gallows Lock.

The next day, we continued up through Ilkeston, and onto Eastwood. Another good mooring spot, which we used the second night, having turned around at the end, and come back down, was just above Potters Lock. You can walk to the Dew Drop Inn (though we were too tired by then to do this) - they also allow dogs and children. We had an early night instead!



Langley Mill, the terminus was quite different from the rest of the trip - it feels very much like a piece of history. It is at the junction of the Erewash, Nottingham and Cromford canals, and the latter two have short stretches still here - used for mooring boats. A swing bridge crosses the Nottingham canal, and the Great Northern pub is just around the corner.

I was pleasantly surprised by the Erewash canal. It is alot less industrial and alot more rural than I expected. The locks are better maintained than many, the towpath is superb (as its part of the Erewash Valley Cycle Trail), and we didn't pick up anything on the prop all journey. We did see a half-submerged shopping trolley near the side at the Park in Ilkeston though.. near the M1 bridge.

Langley Mill lock, like Trent Lock, has no by wash, and it thus a wier. It refills itself in under an hour.

Swingbridge on the Nottingham canal.

Cromford Canal - end of the line at Langley Mill.

 The Erewash is well worth a look.. It has a range of views (see below for contrast!). Also, there is very little traffic... we saw only two other boats moving the whole three days. With 15 locks, it made good practice for me to do the locks whilst Nicky drove in them. It also taught us another few lessons - driving in very shallow canals is tricky, and we had to use all sorts of tactics to get going on a couple of occasions.

I go over this bridge every day on the way to work - nice to go under for once..

St Glies Church standing majestically on the hill, just above Sandiacre.

Fradley Junction to Shardlow - Last Leg

The final leg of the journey was from Fradley to Shardlow - a leisurely two and a half day journey. We got back on the boat on Sunday afternoon, and thought it would be nice to go and investigate Alrewas for the evening. The journey was an hour or so, through three locks. Fradley Junction was busy, with queues for the locks, and as Rivendell is a long boat, when we came to queue for the first lock, there wasn't a large enough space for us to fit near the lock. I therefore pulled into an empty long-term residential mooring on the right, quite a bit back from the lock. As boats passed up and down through the lock, our turn was coming, and with two other boats ahead of us in the canal, but behind us in the queue, I got the wave to get in the lock... This is exactly the sort of time when you want to smoothly pull out from the bank and cruise neatly into the lock.... Needless to say, the boat had some different ideas! I pushed the front end out, and ran down the bank to jump on the back before it got too far into the canal. I put her into forward, and tiller to the right to push the front end left into the middle of the canal. Now, this also pushes the rear end towards the bank. Not usually a problem, as the back end will just rub along the bank for a bit before you can use heavy left tiller to bring the rear inline with the front. However, as this was a long-term mooring, there had not been much movement on this bit of bank, and sediment had built up. The rear end beached.. Damn!! Only way off is to reverse (the back of the boat is the lowest in the water, at around 2ft 4 draft, so reversing is the best way off a shelf). This brought the front end back into the bank. Deja vu.... Get off, push front end out, drive forwards, get stuck. Repeat several times.. Now the other boats, who had been very courteous in allowing me through looked annoyed! What the hell is he doing?

Eventually, I reversed a good 50 ft down the cut, into nice clear water, and a large bust of power got the boat nicely in the middle of the canal, and I could cruise into the lock... What a start to a gentle afternoon's boating! The rest of the journey was simple, and we moored up in Alrewas, looking forward to a nice pub meal. Time for cock-up number two... In Alrewas, as in many parts of the country, on Sundays pubs do Sunday lunch, but no food in the evening. Damn again!! Back to the boat, and I made a surprisingly good and quick veggie chilli. Went down a treat, and saved us a few quid to boot... We went back to the George and Dragon for a few pints later. Nice pub - had a band on, but we were tired, so headed back for an early night.

Moored in Alrewas on the first night.

 The next morning, it was cold, but looked like the rain of the past week might have abated. The forecast was for 8-10 degrees and light winds, with occasional heavy showers. The stretch to Burton Upon Trent was fairly uneventful, apart from some rather tight spots going through bridges. I was getting to know the boat much better now I had driven it for 180 miles over 13 days or so. These would once have made my heart race and made me very nervous, but not anymore - I managed to get through without the slightest scrape. Probably because there was none around to notice!!

Lazy bridge builders! Loads of room, so lets make the boats go through the little channel on the left!!

Tight squeeze! an inch either side of this bridge!

As we came into Burton, the industrial history of this hallowed town was obvious. The heart of the Brewing industry for centuries, we found Burton to be surprisingly pleasant by boat. In contrast, it is grim to say the least going through on the A38. There are brewery tours for both Marstons and Bass breweries, but we had to push on. Inde Coope is my favourite Burton brewer.

Welcome to Burton

Burton is very pretty by canal..

After what seemed like an age going through Burton, we quickly came to our overnight stop, Willington. We chugged through the village and all the mooring spots were full, so we had to head out the other side before we found any space, on a non-piling bank. It had been raining for the past 30 minutes or so, and we pulled up and put in some mooring pins (look like a 2 ft massive nail). As a boat came past at rather too quick a speed, our boat moved and ripped the 3 mooring pins out of the very soft bank.. Time to move further down the canal onto more secure moorings!! Another quarter of a mile down the canal, and we were just coming into a nice size gap, and the heavens absolutely opened! It rained so hard, it was difficult to see the front of the boat, let alone the bank! I've not seen rain like it in Britain before - as bad as I saw in the storms in Texas when I lived there. Drenched, we finally moored up, changed clothes, and wandered off to town in the hope that pubs served food on Mondays here! Luckily, they do. We had a good meal in the "Green Man" pub, and then went over the road to the Rising Sun for a couple of pints. This pub lets in Dogs and has scrabble, connect 4 and various other games, and a great Rock/Metal jukebox. We spent quite some time here!

Moored in Willington.

One of the three pubs within 2 minutes walk from the canal in Willington

The next morning, we made the walk to Mercia Marina, where we went to the cafe for what must be the best breakfast you are ever likely to find for a fiver. It is amazing!!! Bellies full, we headed off, and quickly came to the first of the wide locks since we left the Grand Union. This first one is a monster.. about a 12 ft drop. As was to be the case for most of the day, as we came to the lock, it started to rain... First we had to wait for a couple of boats to come up. This was not made easy, as both of the bottom lock gates wouldn't open fully, and the second boat to come in struggles to push past the first. The driver of this second yellow boat then climbed out to help with filling the lock, tying his middle rope to a bollard at the top. As the lock filled, it was quickly clear that it was going to be difficult for him to control his boat using a tied rope. As the boat rose, the rope got slack, and the boat went forward, jamming its nose into the serrated cill. The bow got jemmied in the cill, and within a few tens of seconds, the boat was in danger of being sunk - the water level was rising quickly, and the bow was jammed, water rising all the time, threatening to pour over the front at any minute. Panic ensued, and people shouted to close the paddles letting water into the lock, and open those to let the water back out. The people on the paddles didn't quite get the urgency of the request, so I shouted "the boats about to sink, let the water out!!!" and that seemed to leave no room for confusion. Within another 10 seconds or so, paddles were shut and opened, and the level started to recede. Another 30 seconds, and the boat was free... These locks can be dangerous!! A few minutes later, and the two boats left the lock, and we entered, along with a 45 ft boat, ready to go down. This was uneventful, but when it came to exit, those non-opening doors caused serious problems. First I tried to exit, while the 45 after reversed as far back in the lock as he could. It didn't work - I came to a halt. Wo we tried the other way - and juuuuuuusssssstttt he managed to push past on full throttle, metal scraping metal and timber as he went. BW really need to fix these gates - if two 50ft+ boats went in, there would be no way either would get out, and you would have to waste a lot of water and time re-filling the lock for one boat to leave whilst the other went back down again to get out.

Large Stenson Lock

The boat and the cill..

Non-opening doors make it very difficult to leave the lock if two boats are in.

 We were now getting close to what will become "home" for the boat for the next 6-9 months. The countryside around here, just south of Derby is really stunning.

Lovely countryside around here

Getting close to Shardlow!

Lovely bridges along this stretch

Before we knew it, we were at Sharlow. Once again, this village, which looks pretty grim when you drive through by road, is transformed when you go through in a boat. Really lovely. Lots of pubs, a wharf, boatyard, and many pubs litter the towpath. This was obviously an important place in the history of the canals, being the end of the Trent and Mersey canal.

Shardlow Lock

Working boats 

Great pub - the Clock Warehouse. Another dog friendly pub.

Moored below Shardlow lock - Sun at last too!

After 200+ miles, and about 15 days of boating, we finally arrived at Chapel Farm Marina - our mooring for the next 6-9 months or so, whilst Andy (who's mooring it is) has his new boat built. All we have to do now is go and park! This, it turned out, would not be that easy.... And of course, there were lots of spectators... In 200 miles, I had not hit another boat. As we finally came to our our marina, I managed to hit three as I tried to get into the mooring! Ah, the shame.. The "problem" was that the wind had picked up, so when I came to come in the entrance, and tried to manoeuvre the boat to go into the mooring, the front end was being pushed closer and closer to the line of boats. I quickly realised that this could only result in one thing - you can't control the front end of the boat at slow speed. I slammed it in reverse to try and get back out of the marina entrance. When reversing, if the front is could in any direction other than straight, reversing seems to speed up the lateral movement, and I bashed into two boats (fenders luckily) before the middle of the boat was far enough through the entrance of the marina to push the front end badk into safe water. One of the owners came quickly out to assess the damage (none, luckily as I hit his fender, and at a low speed). After a few more attempts, and one of the other boaters helping my front end in with a rope, we were finally in! What in introduction to my neighbours to be! Hopefully I'll get a bit better at this tricky bit of manoeuvring over the next few months!

Finally at our new home marina!

Finally moored up.

Buckby to Fradley Junction

Having been persuaded to not attempt the Leicester Arm, we were now heading back to go the "long way" round to Shardlow.. This would take us back on the Grand Union, then on the Oxford Canal to the Coventry Canal, then the Birmingham and Frazely up to the Trent and Mersey at Fradely Junction.. We had been informed that there would be a Folk Session at the famous Swan Inn there on Thursday night, so that was our next target... First though, we had to get to Braunston Locks before 2.30pm, which was when they were due to close for the day. It was 10.30am, and we were at Watford Gap Services.. Time to get a shift on! 

On the wide open rivers, we could just open her up full throttle, and we would eventually reach the heady heights of 6 mph.. On the shallow (approx 4 ft) canals, at anything above 3 mph, we generate a huge stern wave with white water either side of the boat.. So mostly we can only do just about quick walking pace. To be fair, manoeuvring a 70 ft long, 18 tonne boat on a relatively narrow and windy canal is best done at a slow pace anyway..

Back at Norton Junction, we passed the New Inn, where we had spent an enjoyable evening the night before.

An then onto our first experience of a tunnel.. The 1800 metre Braunston Tunnel. Torches were ready, lights on, and in we went. I had read all sorts about going through tunnels. About how you can get disorientated and start to steer left and right rather than going straight. About not looking up the vent holes as you will loose the built-up "night vision". But I have to say, it wasn't as bad as I thought. There is a slight kink in the middle of the tunnel, but I could always see the far end. We went slow and steady, and about 30 minutes later, we were out the other side.

Ominous looking tunnel entrance. Hope we don't meet another boat in there!

Can juuusst see the other end - looks like the light of another boat coming towards you. Gets very dark. And was damn cold!

Moored up at Braunston

We made it through the locks at Braunston, just as they were closing it all up for the day (at 2.30).. Once again, we had been lucky at getting in just in time. We moored up and went in the various shops to buy some milk and maps of the new route we were going to take.. 

Beautifully engineered bridges at the entrance to Braunston Marina. Lovely looking working boat in there too.

Having bought a clutch of maps, and ice-creams, off we went again, turning onto the Oxford Canal, the wind picked up and blew the map I had bought a few minutes earlier into the canal... I could have slammed it into reverse, waited for us to come to a stop, reverse, and try and fish it out.. But, knowing the propensity for the front of the boat to swing off in exactly the direction you would rather it wouldn't take when doing this type of emergency manoeuvre, and seeing as there were boats moored either side, I thought it sensible to just accept the loss, and keep going, and concentrate on not driving into anything!

The rest of the afternoon was lockless, so easy cruising, interspersed with meeting boats coming the other way, usually halfway round sharp bends, or just at a bridge, where only one can go through at a time.. Lots of traffic! (Well, compared to what we had become accustomed to on the rivers). That night we moored up just above the three locks at Hillmorton. We could have gone through, but it was 6pm, and we thought that was probably enough for the day. By the time we had cooked dinner, walked the dog, and done the washing up it was 8.30, and time for an early night. It can be surprisingly knackering this boating business, we were finding out!

Moored up at Hillmorton Top Lock

The next morning, we were up at 6.30, ready for an early start, and hoping to get through the locks before the astonishingly slow boat we had been following the day before. It was so slow, we had to go into reverse to slow ourselves down from tick over speed a few times. It seems there is no etiquette for overtaking. Disappointingly, it seems boaters don't tend to pull over and let others past if they want to enjoy a leisurely pace either. With a long 70ft boat, we had found that it is often far easier to steer when going at a reasonable pace, but at tick over, it becomes a real pig to steer, as there simply isn't enough water going over the rudder to make much of a force to change the heavy boats course. Small boats probably have an easier time at slow speeds. Furthermore, we have effectively got a 280 square foot sail, and you also need to go at a reasonable pace or you simply get blown to one side of the canal by the wind.

On walking the dog, though, my heart sank... Vandals had been busy in the night, and completely drained the two pounds between the locks. Thats a lot of water to loose, and I thought it would take a long time to replace it. A phone call to British Waterways had workmen there by 8am sorting the situation out. By 9am, we were going through. I was really very impressed indeed with this level of service. I don't mind paying £800 for a licence if this is the result!

Middle pound at Hillmorton Locks. Vandals had broken into a boat, nicked a windlass and opened the lock paddles in the night.

We were soon at Rugby, and went through the very nicely lit Newbold tunnel. This was short, at only 250 metres. Mooring at a Tescos, we stocked up, and the skies darkened. It was turning colder. The week before it had been 23 degrees. It was now down to 8 degrees and getting colder. The rain started.. The umbrella came out! We moored at Nuneaton that night. 

Newbold Tunnel in Rugby

Moored on the Coventry Canal at Nuneaton

The next morning, it had been forecast to snow. Yeah - right! It hadn't rained in 6 weeks, had been 18+ degrees for the past 2 weeks. Snow?!! .... Ah, yes, snow.. In fact, a blizzard! The umbrella went up. A few minutes later, it blew inside out, and it came down. We froze. It was going to be a long day. We had to do the 11 locks of the Atherstone flight, and get on to Polesworth if we were going to stand a chance of getting to Fradley for the session on Thursday evening.

Here comes the (much needed) rain...

Here comes the Snow!! Not fun driving in the wind-chill of -3 degrees! 

We got to Atherstone, and had a decent lunch in a pub at the top of the flight, trying to warm ourselves up. The wind had died down, the snow gone, and it was now just very cold and drizzly. We decided to press on. The flight took around 2 hours to get down, but most of the locks were set in our favour, and Sam was helping by closing one half of the V-gates, which speeded things up. It was bloody freezing though, and we wished for a quick and easy run into Polesworth. The moorings were all taken when we got there, so we made do on a bend just after the bridge. After warming our hands on cups of tea, we set off in search of a pub with a warm fire and some grub...

An hour later, we had figured that none eats out in Polesworth unless its in an Indian. Sam doesn't like spicy food, and Nicky wasn't in the mood for that either. One pub smelt so much of cannabis, we decided that we wouldn't even wait to see if they did food - not really a place for a 7 years old! Chinese take-away it was, with a bottle of red in front of our own fire.. The morning brought slightly warmer weather, and the rain had stopped. It wasn't warm - still only 5 or 6 degrees, but a more inviting day was in prospect.

The next morning at Polesworth

The first stretch was quiet, and we were putting along at what I thought was a decent pace, when I looked behind and there was a canoeist struggling through our wake.. "Do you want to come past?" "Yes Please" - having been annoyed at being held up myself before, I thought I'd ask. We slowed down to reduce the wake, and pulled over, and he shot past! Guess he wasn't pushing 18 tonnes! 

Overtaken by a canoe..

Traffic was starting to build by late morning, and just before Alvechurch, we had to wait for about 20 minutes to get through a bridge. Must have been a flotilla of hire-boats picking up their new accommodation for the week.

Alvechurch

 Progressing onto the Birmingham and Frazely, we started to spot quite a few other Norton Canes boats.. Often we weren't too quick at getting the camera, but we saw Malleous, a couple of others I can't remember the names of, then finally were ready with the camera for Railay (1086) and Montmorency (1089).

Loving the name plate.. Need to do something similar for Rivendell.

Montmorency, no.1089. Not named on Norton Canes Register.

Our boat, 1017, moored at Fradley Junction.

Our dog, Rosie, moored at Fradley Junction.

Inside the Swan Inn, deep in the cellar. Waiting for "tea' to arrive.

The evening was great. We met up with fellow folkies and boaters, Val and John, who were on their boat Tickie. The folk session was good, with around 10 or so musicians turning up. I had quite a few beers, and sat back and relaxed. Sam found some friends, and went off playing. All happy! The next morning, Val took me to the local train station, and I got a train back to Northampton to pick up the car. We had to go back to Norfolk, as Nicky had a gig.

It took an hour by train back to Northampton, and an hour and 20 to get from Billing back to Fradley by car.... This had taken us 6 days by canal! You can see why trains and roads won out! As I returned, Nicky had some horrific news. One of Ouse Washes members husbands, Matt, had been killed in a motorcycle accident the evening before. I really liked Matt. He was a fellow spanner wielder, and was into Landys, bikes and computers. I had shared many an hour talking engines with him over the years, and on one occasion even several bottles of whiskey! His poor, poor family. He was only 41. A car just pulled out in front of him. A mistake with the most terrible consequences. The pit of my stomach churned. I cried. Life is so fragile. Oh my goodness - what is the sense in this?

Today I went to the spot. Its only a mile from our house. There was nothing to mark the spot, but dried blood. I laid two spanners in the shape of a cross. I'm not religious, but it seemed the right thing to do. I can't see why anyone could believe in religion in this type of situation. A good, honest, loving husband and father was taken by someone just not paying attention. Its just not right.

Rest in Peace, Matt. Great man.