Hedgerow Jottings: Posh Perambulator!

Normanton Chain Ferry

Hello again Jotters

We’re making our way slowly along the River Trent toward Newark and we bagged this fantastic mooring here at Stoke Lock on Friday – what a stroke of luck! We've been here all weekend, enjoying the peace and quiet with my daughter Claire, who popped over from Shropshire yesterday. It’s a nice stroll from our mooring here, along the river to the Ferry Boat Inn, the closest place for her to park her car. We had a leisurely lunch in the pub then walked back across the fields to the boat. It was too far for Tricky and we had to pop her into the buggy - more of that later. After the hubbub of our city mooring earlier in the week, its been a little oasis of tranquillity here in the countryside.

Greylag Family Outing

Our little dog, Tricky, is getting on a bit and can’t walk so far these days. We have often ended up carrying her, taking it in turns to scoop her up until our arms ache and we have to swap over. I have been looking for a suitable ‘chariot’ for some time and was overjoyed to get a baby buggy from a charity shop for £5. It’s a bit small for Tricky but I managed to lower the back to make a bit more room and voilà - a dogmobile! Claire and Carl were embarrassed to be seen with me but Tricky and I don’t care and most people seemed to enjoy the sight of Princess Tricky in her Posh Perambulator!

Posh Perambulator

It’s been a brilliant week again, the trip from Loughborough to Trent Lock on Monday was an absolute delight. We meant to moor in Zouch but we met up with some nice people who were going our way, so we carried on through Zouch towards Kegworth. They turned round before Kegworth Deep Lock (now renamed Kegworth New Lock - why?) And we could have moored there, but the sun was shining so we carried on alone. We finally moored at Trent Lock, a popular spot with the locals on a Bank Holiday Monday, and I wandered along the bank, chatting to some lads that I thought were fishing. They had a rod, which usually gives the game away, but they were actually using a sonar device to map the murky depths of the river on their ‘app’. I thought it was a natty gadget but couldn’t enquire any further as their batteries had run out and they packed up and went off - new technology sabotaged by that old chestnut! I was accosted by a man with an accent I couldn’t place - definitely from across the pond. He was a fellow boater, moored on the nearby Erewash Canal, wanting to pick our brains about the river Trent and if we thought it was worth him going up that way. We met him again the next morning, as we came back from walking Tricky, he was reversing his boat through the lock and I stopped to help him while Carl got our boat ready to cast off and go along with him. We shared a couple of locks with him and found out he is Paul from South Carolina and has a boat here in England, which he uses every summer. I hope he’s not disappointed when he finally reaches the wilds of Lincolnshire - we’re looking forward to the big skies and remote moorings, but it’s not for everyone.

Paul Reversing out of the Erewash onto the Trent

We took a city mooring by Nottingham Marina for a couple of days, so I could visit Mum and my sister Jenny, who is here on holiday from Perth, Australia. It’s a short train trip from Nottingham to Bottesford and a pleasant stroll along the canal from the boat to the station. I did the trip alone on Wednesday and Carl and Tricky went with me on Thursday. We had a lovely catch up and lunch in the nearby Dove Cottage, sitting outside in the warm sunshine. The delights of England in May never cease to delight me - bluebells and hawthorn, lush green fields and warm sunshine bring a heady mix of scents to twitch our noses and bring on the yearly scourge of hay fever. Carl can’t wait for the tree pollen season to be over, we have tried every kind of remedy but nothing seems to help.

City Mooring

We’re not keen on a city mooring, it’s noisy and busy with bikes whizzing by at breakneck speeds so we were happy to get going again on Friday. We did a quick run to Sainsbugs for supplies and then set off through the heart of the city towards the Trent. The River Trent seems vast after the confines of the canal and we arrive at Holme Lock to find there is no lock-keeper on duty and we have to help ourselves through the lock. This isn’t unusual but we were joined in the lock by a little cruiser and we needed to rope up to prevent any chance of us coming into contact with them as the lock emptied. Normally, we would attach our ropes to the ‘sliders’ - steel ropes set into the lock walls and hang on tightly to keep the boat in place against the wall but I was up top, working the controls, which are electric on these big river locks. The captain of the cruiser saw our predicament and sent his wife to operate the lock so I could hold our bow rope. Getting back on board wasn’t easy - the river levels are quite low and the boat was way down below the lock sides so I had to climb down the ladder, not something I'm good at! All went well and we exited the lock and chugged off along the sunny Trent, drinking our coffee and guessing along to 'Pop Master'. I’m hoping that the rest of the big river locks are manned, I’m getting too old for shinning up and down ladders!

Leaving Holme Lock

That's all from us for this week. We are hoping to be on the Witham by this time next week, tides and weather allowing. If you want to visit us in Newark or Saxilby then please drop us a message and we'll send you our location. Look forward to seeing you soon

Love from

The Floating Chandlers

Ps. As we came through Normanton, a pretty village on the river Soar, we were held up by the ferry. The boat was taking passengers across the river and it was driven by a man hauling on a chain - hence the name Chain Ferry. What a lovely old tradition and I was glad to see that it was still surviving in these uncertain times.