River Trent - Cranfleet Cut to Newark - A big THANK YOU to all the volunteers who operated the locks!

Over the last week we have travelled both downstream and upstream on the River Trent on a return journey from Cranfleet Cut to Newark.  The weather has not been the best, in fact it has felt like April at times, but we have had a great time and met some wonderful people including the dedicated C&RT Volunteers operating the large electric locks on the River.

On the outskirts of Attenborough Nature Reserve, we cruised past Barton Island. Here, the 2nd Beeston Sea Scouts have superb 'back to basic' facilities, no running water or electricity but plenty of proper good old fashioned fun.  What a fantastic experience for young people and all maintained by volunteers. Even though it is only accessible by boat, they have unfortunately experienced vandalism, which we find very sad. 

Barton Island

Beeston Lock allows you to bypass an unnavigable section of the River Trent and the Beeston Cut/Canal takes you through the centre of Nottingham. Sainsbury's is a convenient mooring spot to stock up on provisions.

At the end of the Beeston Cut, Meadow Lane Lock takes you back on to the River Trent.  Unfortunately the C&RT facilities at this lock are closed due to vandalism, however there is a water point.

We carried on down the Trent, mooring just before Holme Lock.  At the side of the lock is Holme Pierrepont National Water Sports Centre.  We thoroughly enjoyed an afternoon watching the white water rafting/ canoeing taking place there. 

May we take this opportunity to thank all the volunteer Lock keepers.  Every one of them we met were friendly and made the ascent or descent a lot easier for us throughout this trip.  They do fantastic work!  The lock keeper at Holme Lock put us safely down at 9am the following morning.  It was lovely to see all the lovely Sand Martins flying over the water and going back to their little burrows in the sand banks and all the Canadian and Greylag geese with their goslings along this stretch.

Arriving at Hazelford Lock we were pleasantly surprised to be greeted by 2 very friendly peacocks!!! 

We moored for the day on the C&RT visitor pontoon (which is for 2/3 boats) outside the Bromley Pub at Fiskerton.  This is a delightful village with a small post office/convenience store and some lovely walks on the riverside.

Fiskerton

The next morning, we carried on towards Newark.  With nobody on duty at the lock, we operated it ourselves and made our way into Newark.  The lock is just beside the ruins of Newark Castle which was a Royalist stronghold during the Civil War.

The pontoon visitor moorings were full, so we moored on the opposite side which has mooring rings on the wall.  This was great as it was actually more convenient for Newark town centre and the Castle Barge Pub! 😀

Over the next couple of days we explored historic Newark. Chris visited the National Civil War Museum (£8 entrance) which was very interesting. Later we enjoyed a tasty meal at the Castle Cuisine, a curry house which is not far from the Wharf and was  BYO. 👍

We also enjoyed a beer at the Castle Barge, a floating pub with a fantastic interior which gave it a cosy, authentic feel.🍺

Bottom blacking and replacing top bearing of the rudder assembly

Bottom blacking always comes around too soon!!!   It has been 3.5 years since we last painted Coventina's bottom and we have just had a week in the dry dock at Mills Dockyard at Trent Lock/ start of Erewash Canal.

The steelwork turned out to be in better condition than anticipated.  Not too much rust and more importantly, not too much pitting of the hull.   The anodes have done their job and so it seems we had too at the last bottom blacking.  Perhaps a full week with adequate drying in between coats also helps!

After jet washing and preparing the hull, the following day we completed the first full coat of bitumen; she was starting to look good!  We were very lucky with the weather.  The first two days were sunny and therefore the paint dried well and we managed to get a lot of other bits completed too.

Our rudder vibrations can no longer be ignored - top bearing to replace and skeg cup to investigate!

Chris, Steve and Liam tried to remove the tiller to start the job.  After many years of rusting etc, it was pretty much stuck.   However, after persevering, banging, oiling and eventually heating the tiller boss, it came off !! with Chris attached !!!  the top bearing had to be cut off with a grinder.

New top rudder bearing 

We replaced both the bearing and bearing housing.  With the rudder lifted out of the bottom skeg cup, Chris was able to insert a piece of plastic piping to tighten the free play in the cup.   Reassembled and finished by lunchtime.  What a great job. To keep the rudder bearing drier in future, why not use the end cup of a rubber sink plunger!?

We lived onboard for the week in the dry dock, enjoying many different types of local cuisine from the many takeaways in Long Eaton/Sawley an easy walk from the boatyard.

Johnsons Chandlery is located at Mills Dockyard. It is excellent, the staff are so helpful and friendly, very handy for some bits and bobs we needed.

  

Wednesday brought torrential rain most of the day causing the River Trent to go into flood.  Although we came out of the dry dock on the Saturday, we were unable to cruise back up the River Trent to Shardlow until  Sunday when the river level had receded just enough. Plenty of revs and a good 'workout' for the engine ensued! 

Leaving Sawley Locks 😀

 

Dog greeting cards including a card in aid of Soi Dog Foundation

In my 'senior years' I was able to take up drawing, something I had always wanted to do, but never had the time.   I had a couple of lessons from a professional, but I am mainly self taught from YouTube and Patreon channels, passing the London Art College 'Pet Portraits' online course with distinction in 2022. 

I  recently opened an Etsy shop Pastelpoochesbyhelen.Etsy.com  selling greeting cards with different breeds of dog on, which I hope to build up slowly but surely.  The original artwork is drawn using pastel pencils on Claire Fontaine Pastelmat paper and professionally printed onto blank greeting cards for any occasion.  

I have recently added a new card to my Etsy shop featuring 'Dulcie' a dog saved by Soi Dog Foundation a non-profit organisation for the welfare of stray dogs and cats in Asia.  Dulcie was destined for the barbaric meat trade, saved by Soi Dog in 2014 and my friend Catherine adopted her in 2015.  She came over to the UK 2015 and has had the most amazing life since.  To help other dogs like Dulcie, any net profits from the sale of this card will be donated to Soi Dog Foundation UK charity no 11769305.  

Dulcie

 

Our adorable Nugget 

Sandiacre Lock Cottages Open Day Feb 2024

On 18 February we visited Sandiacre Lock Cottages on the Erewash Canal for an Open day which they hold on a monthly basis.  The cottages were built in 1779 and became derelict in 1961.  They were condemned by British Waterways and due for demolition in 1964.  However they were saved by members of  the 'Erewash Canal Preservation and Development Association' who purchased and have lovingly restored them.  It was great to look around and the volunteers were on hand to give some interesting historical facts. They had some wonderful quintessential English refreshments available for just a nominal donation.  A list of the open days during 2024 is below. 

Blacksmith on the cut - our new wonderful weather vane!

While recently visiting the Shardlow Inland Port festival, we met Brian Greaves and his wife who travel the waterways selling items made on their blacksmiths forge boat called Bronte which he built himself over 30 years ago.

 We were really impressed with his work and commissioned a weather vane in the shape of 'Nugget' our Patterdale Terrier.  Brian was only too happy to accommodate our request.

 Brian set to work and then called us within 2 weeks to collect the completed vane.  We couldn't be happier with it, its great. 😀  

Brian has a website www.briangreaves.com  .  We also follow Heidi on her Narrowboat Pirate YouTube channel, which has a section on one of her vlogs about Brian which is really interesting to watch, click here to watch this  episode  Narrowboat Pirate Youtube 

Shardlow Inland Port Festival 2023

 This weekend has been HOT! but it didn't stop a huge turn out for the Inland Port Festival.  What a great event with lots of stalls, activities and Heritage working boats.  Here are some photos from today.

 

Atherstone to Shardlow

 We have now completed the Leicester Ring and are back at our base in Shardlow.  We have had great fun on the trip, seen some wonderful views, wildlife and met some lovely people.  This final  part covers the journey from Atherstone through to Shardlow.

The night before we left Atherstone we enjoyed a delicious meal at 'Herbs and Spices'.  The food was excellent and as you can take your own alcohol and Aldi is a couple of  minutes walk away, this made the evening just perfect.  😋🍷 

The following morning we came down 9 of the 11 Atherstone locks and managed to moor just before the heavens opened!  After calling at Bradley Green CRT services the following morning (great pressure on the water tap here) 👍 we moored for the evening between bridge 63 and the pipe bridge, where once again the rain came down in droves.  Over the next couple of days we descended the two Glascote locks which were quite busy and through to Fradley South.

Glascote Locks

The following morning, we descended the locks at Fradley Junction (as always, there were some wonderful volunteers to help) and arrived at Alrewas just in time to catch the bus into Lichfield to enjoy some lunch sat out in the sun.

Lichfield Cathedral

The bus takes approximately 30 mins from Alrewas and is worth a visit  to see the many historical buildings and a look around the amazing Cathedral built 1340.  In the evening, it was lovely to have a catch up with Ian, Lin and their lovely dog Marley on Narrowboat Probity.

Tatenhill Lock

The next day we descended the locks to Branston and moored for the evening there.  We walked into the village in the evening and enjoyed a very tasty meal from the Chinese take away.  There is also a handy Co-op store in the village, not to mention a couple of Pubs!

The following day we headed towards Burton Upon Trent, calling at Shobnall Marina for fuel and other items from the excellent Chandlery. The fuel price here was reasonable at .95p per litre. The staff are always helpful and friendly.

Just outside Shobnall Marina

The aromas from the hops at the Marston's Brewery nearby were very tempting🍺.  We walked into Burton-Upon -Trent to top up our supplies at Lidl.  Unfortunately the rain poured once again that afternoon and also the following day.  

Sunday Roast at the Green Man Willington

However, we were soon cheered up on the Sunday, as when we arrived at Willington, we were in time for the Sunday roast at the Green Man.  It was very tasty and the adult portion was extremely generous - we will definitely be returning.

On our way back to Shardlow, we had an overnight stay just above Swarkestone Lock and had a walk on the footpath through the fields of corn and poppies to the River Trent.

18th Century 5 arch Bridge over the River Trent

So we have completed the Leicester Ring once again. Last year we cruised it anti clockwise and this year clockwise.  We have moored at different locations and surprisingly have seen many new places.  The main difference was the weather. Last year it was so hot and it was upsetting to see the fields of ruined crops, however this year a lot wetter, however the crops were really thriving which was so good to see. We have seen lots of wonderful wildlife including a snake swimming 😮, and would love to share some photos below: