Unintentional Detonation

Derwent Mouth Lock

Morning Jotters

We left the River Trent this morning and returned to the canals for our summer cruise to Blisworth. We thought this was a quiet spot above Aston Lock, but then the roar of motorbikes from Castle Donington floated our way - so much for listening to the sounds of summer! The cabin is swathed with assorted summer tee shirts drying in the breeze. The mustiness of their winter storage has been washed away and the fresh smell of Lenor is mixing with the unique ‘parfum de Tricky’. The mats are all out on the towpath, having an airing, and the doors and hatches are flung wide, summer has been declared on board the Lady Aberlour.

Sunbathing

Our What3Words location today is 'received.ozone.lifeguard.’ We are happy to be back on the canals and Tricky is delighted to find grass by the boat instead of a pontoon. Our trip along the river to Newark and back has been a delight and we have made the most of the mainly dry weather and the virtually empty, pontoon moorings. The river is wide and deep and Carl enjoys the freedom of ploughing along at a rate of knots that is unthinkable on the shallow canals, we time our progress by the kilometre markers on the bank but I can’t do the sums to convert that to knots!

Shadows

We spent another night at Fiskerton, and walked along the river toward Hazelford Lock and found a little footpath leading from the river bank behind a housing estate, towards the village. We met a man walking his dogs and he regaled us for long minutes with the story of his parking wars with the landlord of The Bromley and I nodded and edged away until his wife saw what was happening and called him in!

Leaving Sunny Fiskerton

We lingered for several days in Gunthorpe, Les and Jane arrived on Thursday and we set off on a cruise up the river, enjoying their company and grateful for the emergency supplies they brought with them - newly laid eggs (thanks Paula) and fresh bread, Jane’s home made sausage rolls and date slices. Yummy! We entertained the people on the boat next door with an impromptu ukulele practice and let me tell you our rendition of ‘Valerie’ was unique (star struck emoji). Celia and David popped in as they were just passing through Gunthorpe(perhaps they heard the singing!!) and called in to say hello. Nice to see you both and I hope you can stay longer next time. We felt quite flat after all the visitors had left and I foraged in the fridge and found a Moo Pie that was still in date and promised the Captain some fresh veggies once we got back to the city.

Les and Jane cruising

We set off on Friday, through Stoke Lock, where we encountered a very grumpy lockkeeper - our first on this trip. We exited the lock in silence, without any of the usual pleasantries about weather, boat name and number and our planned destination - they usually ring ahead to let the next lock keeper know so that the lock is ready for you. The lock was ready so I suppose he did do that much for us. There was a much more civil welcome at Holme Lock and I hung onto the rope as the lock slowly filled. 25 minutes passes very slowly when you’re 12 feet down with a slimy black wall for entertainment especially as the splashing of the water set off an unwanted chain reaction in my bladder. Unable to leave my post, I had to count backwards from 777 in 2’s - a tip I leant from TikTok which seemed to do the trick.

Leaving Stoke - heron on duty

Meadow Lane Lock is the first manual lock as you exit the Trent and I wasn’t looking forward to it, I had been pampered by the electrically operated locks along the Trent and Meadow Lane is particularly obstinate and back breaking. The top gates leak like hell and there is only one working paddle on the bottom gate so getting the lock to empty is a challenge for one person. After a while, Carl came up from the pontoon and with our combined effort we prised the gate open. All went well once we were in the lock and we moored up on the services for the usual filling/emptying tasks. There was a distinct aroma of marijuana floating around the area and I waved and smiled at the little gathering on the opposite side thinking they were definitely in their happy place if that smell was anything to go by (smiling face with sunglasses emoji)

Vibrant Colours

It was late by the time we moored outside Sainsburys and I wasn’t really in a shopping mood but Carl cracked the whip and we went off in search of dog food and ‘bits’ from B&M then plunged straight into the supermarket for salad, fruit and veggies. We didn’t linger in the city and set off next day for Beeston and then swished up the river to Cranfleet, where there was a full complement of 3 lock keepers doing the hard work for us. The sun was shining as we chugged by the entrance to the Erewash Canal and on towards Sawley Lock which was manned by 3 volunteers. We moored and walked back to ‘The Lock Keepers Rest’ for a cider and spot of gongoozling at the boats coming through the lock. It’s a micropub/cafe located by Sawley Lock - a great place to visit if you’re in the area. I peeked inside and saw it was not much bigger than a phone box but there's lots of outdoor seating which was very busy on this sunny Saturday evening.

Leaving Beeston 

Today we crossed the last river stretch and came in through Derwent Lock and onward through Shardlow - looking for a quiet spot to tackle the list of jobs that have accumulated while we have been lazing along. The anchor needed to be put away as it’s superfluous to requirements on the canals. It lives in a nook under the deck boards together with the huge pile of chain. The coil of anchor rope and the life jackets live under our bed and it’s a bit of a rigmarole to access the storage. I only get in the way during operation 'Stowaway', so I left Carl to it and was outside talking to a couple of ramblers with a cute Border Terrier when Carl  came up, looking sheepish. Apparently, a life jacket had spontaneously detonated in his hand while he was putting it away. It inflated with a loud whoosh and filled the confined space all on its own, with no help from Carl - that’s his story and he’s sticking to it! We spent several frustrating minutes trying to repack the thing and zip it up, carefully removing the gas cartridge, so we can replace it sometime along the way. Initial google research is not looking promising – I expect it will be a new life jacket (sad face emoji)

Railway Bridge

That’s all from me for this week. We’ll be chugging back along the Trent and Mersey this week and I'll be back again next week with more Tales from The Towpath.  Take care everyone.

Love from
The Floating Chandlers

PS. Note to self: make sure the mats aren’t covered in ants before you bring them in!!


PPS The cygnets have arrived and the damselflies – such a very beautiful blue!

Sheep Dip

Pond Geese

Pond Geese- so cute!

Gunthorpe

Unusual boat - Enigma

Enigma coming alongside

Gunthorpe -  Pontoon Mooring

Nice to have friends aboard

Swan looking Fluffy

Railway Bridge

Coffee Stop at Gunthorpe

Sunny spot for coffee - Gunthorpe

Unusual War Memorial Gunthorpe

Hawthorn at Fiskerton

Pretentious or Artistic?

 

Looking a bit wild

It's 1976 All Over Again!

Morning reflections

Morning Jotters

We’ve spent most of this week tied up on various floating pontoons, enjoying the weather and making the most of the beautiful river moorings between Stoke Bardolph and Newark. The plan was to potter down to Newark, spend a few days there then catch the tide to Torksey and onward to Boston. Unfortunately for us, the Trent is at an all time record low and so we have reluctantly, decided not to risk making the journey and finding ourselves marooned on the Witham, unable to escape until the levels rise. The gardeners amongst you will know that this is another incredibly dry year and there is no sign of any significant amounts of rain in the near future. If the rivers are running dry then I’m thinking that the canals may suffer the same fate - not great news for us. Apologies to our friends who were planning to meet us along the way but we will be spending the summer at home so hopefully, we’ll see you there.

Leaving Stoke Lock Visitor Mooring

Monday morning, up with the lark and Hey! Hey! Hey! It's a beautiful day! We walked Tricky along the riverbank before we set off and it was one of those perfect summer mornings, fluffy clouds and clear blue skies, a warm sun sparkling off the clear water and beautiful blossom perfuming the air. The early morning mist had cleared and a family of geese, with their newly hatched young, swam under the pontoon and then set sail for the distant shores, all in a neat line with an escort of quacking ducks. I watched them from the side hatch, which does make you feel part of their world. I can never resist feeding them and threw handfuls of porridge oats onto the fast flowing waters which wasn’t at all to their liking - in fact, I swear they turned their beaks up at it. I don’t think they have read the guidelines about bread being bad for them and the ducks squabbled furiously over 2 slices of Sainsbury’s stale wholemeal.

Just Hatched

We timed it just right as we approached Stoke Lock, the gates were open and a smart boat shot out at a good clip, heading for the open river. We entered the lock, tied up on the sliders and waited for the lock-keeper to pop his head over the side to take our number and have a chat. He was happy to see us as he hadn’t had a single boat through on Friday. We dropped down to the lower river level and set off towards Gunthorpe. We did meet an occasional boat as we headed downstream but mostly it was just us and the birds. The floating pontoon at Gunthorpe was temptingly empty but it was much too early to moor up so we continued on through the lock and down to Hazelford. I would like to have moored there but there wasn’t room so we continued on and found the pontoon mooring at Fiskerton was free. Whoopee - we’ve never been able to get on there before, Carl did a quick u-turn and we tied up right below the Bronley Arms - a great place to dine if you’re ever out this way. We sampled it on Tuesday when our friends Pat and Malc drove over to find us. We wandered along the riverbank before lunch, delighting in the views across the river and peeping into the gardens, bright with yellow laburnum and purple and white lilac, I took a phot of something that looked like a fuchsia but the leaves were different. Can anyone identify it?

Anyone recognise this?

It was a very different morning when we left Fiskerton on Wednesday, wet and windy, and we huddled in our waterproofs as we chugged off along a dark and dismal river. Tricky was tucked up in her bed under the hatch, warm as toast. We pulled the stern doors closed behind us and kept our legs almost dry as we chugged past Staythorpe Power Station and the huge weir next to it. We admired the diving skills of the grebes along this stretch and counted the cormorants standing guard on every available warning post. Apparently, canoeists using the weir do so at their own risk and I suppose that someone must have attempted it the past or they wouldn’t have needed the warning sign! We watched the black clouds scudding along the sky and a fierce wind blew us along towards Newark, where we were hoping for a mooring on the floating pontoon. If you’re not a boater then you might wonder why I’m wittering on about floating pontoons. The alternative is tying to a wall which, in some places, means climbing a ladder to get off the boat. We have had to do it sometimes and I can manage it if I must but its not easy with a dog like Tricky, who needs emptying often and sometimes wants to sit on the grass, staring vacantly at the horizon. She likes the pontoons and trots confidently up the ramp but we do keep her on the lead now since she fell in at the marina last winter and nearly gave us a heart attack. She just walked off the edge, straight into the water and then swam off into the darkness so we couldn’t get her out very quickly.

Wet start leaving Fiskerton

Got through the Town Lock and chugged past the Castle and under Newark Bridge and our luck was in, there was one space left on the pontoon and Carl was very determined to get in it. The river swept us along too fast to get in at our first attempt, so Carl swung the tiller hard over and we whipped round and chugged back past the space and then let the current nudge us gently backwards into the gap. The captain on the wide beam behind us came out to congratulate Carl on his skills, remarking that he was lucky not to have been swept sideways in the current. I just smiled and didn’t reveal that we had been sweating a bit ourselves! We enjoyed our stay in Newark and it was a great spot to meet up with our friends and family but, once we had made the decision to cancel our trip to Boston, we were happy to move to this quieter mooring in Farndon and watch the regatta of boats racing up and down the river in the sunshine yesterday. Some hardy fools were swimming and I shuddered as I thought about what might be coming downstream from the Severn Trent Pumping Station ( Ewwww face emoji) 

'Sonning' Trip Boat from Newark

So that’s about all from us for this week, I hope all is well with you. Take care and write soon

Love from

The Floating Chandlers

Staythorpe 

PS Sunday Lunch in the Riverside pub was slightly marred by a table full of young Mums next to us discussing bed wetting toddlers, breast feeding woes and the impossibility of erecting a modern travel cot. I’m just glad those days are behind me. 

Newark Pontoon Mooring

PPS I’m not easily shocked but a painting, casually propped up against a wall in a fairly upmarket antique shop, did bring out the Mary Whitehouse in me - don’t scroll down if you’re easily offended(blushing cheeks emoji)

Pub Lunch

Fiskerton by The Bronley

Leaving Stoke Lock

Carl in his Cassette Tee shirt

Newark 

Staythorpe Weir

Exiting Gunthorpe

Naughty Artwork

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.

Nottingham Marina

Cranfleet

Paired up in Cranfleet Lock

House Boat on the Erewash

Trent Lock Mooring

Love this house at Kegworth

Normanton

Chain Ferry at Normanton

Beeston Cut

Leaving Cranfleet Lock