What's next?

Well, we had planned to go straight from the GU cruise up to Peak Forest on the Macclesfield Canal. The return trip from Yelvertoft would be about five weeks long. But Lockie John at Watford Locks put us off that idea a bit, with stories of the visitors' centre at Whaley Bridge not being finished yet, and people he knows being stoned by morons as they passed through a nearby urban area. On top of that, though, Grace has won a pair of tickets to see Benedict Cumberbatch playing Hamlet at the Barbican Theatre. Performance choices were limited, so she chose the August 9th. That put the kibosh on a five-week trip.

No matter. We would have stopped in at the marina anyway, to get shopping, do washing, collect mail and suchlike. And instead of the Peak Forest cruise, we'll trip up the River Trent, via Nottingham, to Cromwell Weir, the furthest one can go in non-tidal waters. On our way back, we'll do the whole length of the Erewash. We had to turn back before getting half-way a couple of years back. That trip should take just three weeks, which means we can do it in a leisurely manner, with no time pressures.

Cromwell Weir

So, we were going to set off today. But we awoke to a strong wind which got stronger as time passed. Sarah and Trevor took NB AtLast off on their annual visit to Sharpness, braving the wind, and leaving the marina in style. Trevor 1 - Weather 0. But then came the rain, so we looked at the weather forecast, saw that things were not going to improve today, and stayed put. The rain stopped. The wind didn't.

Tomorrow, then. Early!

Erewashout - Friday and Saturday

Friday

While Trent Lock had been a good place to moor, it has to be said that we became less and less impressed with the canal as we moved on yesterday. True, the weather didn't help, the rain coming down in heavy showers accompanied by a strong breeze, but the canal itself had very little to offer in the way of interest or beauty. The water was very shallow; not because of lack of rain, but simply because that's the way the canal is. Shallow water meant that we could only go slowly – there simply isn't enough water for the propeller to push through and push against. And there was a great deal of weed threatening to wrap itself around the prop shaft, too. A resident of one of the houses backing onto the canal told us of a boater he witnessed recently, pulling armfuls of weed off his propeller. But, fortunately, we reached our second mooring without suffering that problem.

A bit of a dodgy place to have a nest!

The mooring was another matter. Spoken of in positive terms in the map book - “delightfully landscaped” - it turned out to be separated from a busy road by only a few metres of grass, planted with a number of trees. Yes, we could have seen that on the map, and we didn't.

The mooring on the other side of the canal, the towing path side, gave us better distance from the road, and, as it turned out, far fewer passers-by. It passed the graffiti test – there was none – so we settled in there for the night. The weather continued to be wet and, at times, very windy. That there was a good Co-Op very close by was a great bonus.

Nearby, there is a wonderful piece of Victorian architecture; a huge factory/warehouse complex renovated and now serving as offices. We saw a similar building yesterday, but not nearly so clean and tidy.

Saturday

As we prepared to leave this morning, we were passed by a young couple in a boat, asking if we wanted to travel with them, to share the locks. That always makes good sense, so we followed and went through the next two locks with them. However, we turned around just after Stanton Lock, returning to this morning's mooring (see above). Being in a smaller boat - 35 foot - the couple were able to travel faster than us in the shallow water, but we were not happy with the water the way it was. The canal was getting more rural, and prettier just as we got to the winding hole, but we decided against going any further. Even if we had had the time to finish the length of the Erewash, we probably wouldn't have done so. We are not very impressed.

But hey! It's sunny!

As I finish this post, the other couple, in Emma B, are mooring just beyond us, having winded some way further up from us.

Tuesday to Thursday

The mooring at Barrow-upon-Soar was a good one, with shops nearby, and services. Here, we were only three easy days away from Sawley Cut where we are to do our IWAHC course next Wednesday and Thursday. So we had time on our hands, and we stayed here throughout Tuesday, too.

Grace had some sewing to do, making Jess a dress, and we both had reading and various other things to do to relax with. Very frustrating was our extremely poor 3G connection via our suppliers, 3. Even though our router was telling us it was receiving a very strong signal, the bandwidth available to us was pitiful. 3's fault, I'm certain.

Wednesday morning, we left in dull weather, joining the River Soar again after Barrow Deep Lock, and winding along past Loughborough and mooring just below Bishop Meadow Lock.

The air was full of fluffy seeds floating from trees or plants in the area, and honestly looked like snow at times. The water developed quite a scum from them.

Continuing the next day, we really were feeling the difference between being on a canal and being on a river. The width and the depth of the water allow faster cruising, and the river has a certain majesty inherent in its size. But we were on a river prone to flooding, and passes through a number of flood locks, and past warning lights and water level indicators. Later, we were to come to emergency moorings for those who are between locks at a time of flooding.

The scenery was beautiful, greatly enhanced by some wonderful lighting created by the sun in one part of the sky and very heavy rain clouds opposite.

Finally we reached the end of the River Soar, at its intersection with the River Trent going east and west, and the Erewash Canal headed north.

Looking back to the Soar from the mouth of the Erewash

West up the Trent

Turn left to head off east

We made our way across the seemingly huge expanse of water, and into the entrance of the Erewash.

We had had quite a lot of fairly heavy rain over the past hour or so, with sunny spells in between. As we went up the Trent Lock just inside the Erewash cut, it started to rain again, with a very heavy downpour looking imminent, so we were lucky to find a good mooring straight away.

In our hurry to moor before the storm broke, I fell, sitting down very hard and fast onto the concrete path. It felt as though I had broken something to start with, but fortunately I had not fallen on the base of my spine, but on my right buttock, bruising the muscles there. Sitting down was very painful, lying down was better, standing was best!

The storm broke just as we went down into the cabin. Torrential rain, thunder and lightning. The rain came and went throughout the afternoon, but, come the evening, it had abated, and we went to the nearby pub restaurant for a meal. Sitting on the hard seat there wasn't too bad!

Trent Lock is a good mooring, quiet and secure, with three places to eat and drink, and all services. We were surprised to see a number of floating homes, here and further on up the canal the next day.

It's good to see that someone at CRT has a sense of humour!