Onto the Trent

Tuesday 9th Jan. 2018
Following a much warmer night we awoke to find the canal was, at last, free of ice so we decided to move along the few miles east to Willington.
As we approached we discovered there was plenty of mooring space so we tied up up close to the village. Willington has plenty to offer the boater with a choice of three pubs, a good chippie, a couple of good shops for restocking supplies and a railway station.

Wednesday proved to be a dry and quite mild day so we opted for a walk across to Repton over to the south of the River Trent. Just outside the village we arrived at Willington bridge, crossing the now wide and fast flowing river. The bridge was opened in the 19th century, replacing a ferry crossing, and tolls were charged for the passage over the bridge, in the early 20th century the bridge was purchased by the village and the tolls removed.

A further mile or so across the valley Repton rises on the low slopes of  the valley side.
The approach to the village is marked to the left of the road by the church of St Wystan in turn surrounded by the imposing buildings of the public school that dominates the place. The more modern school sports and science facilities are evident on the right.

Repton Church

Repton claims to be the oldest town in the country and was the capital of the Anglo Saxon kingdom of Mercia. The church was founded during these times (early 8th century). We visited the crypt that formed the basis of the church and is the resting place of the Mercian royal family, history just seeps out of the ancient stonework and its location illustrates how the ground level has risen some 4 or 5 feet over the centuries.

The Crypt

The Kingdom came to an end with the arrival of the Vikings in 873 after which the history disappears into the dark ages.

Market Cross

1172 saw the founding of a priory adjacent to the church, following the reformation this became the basis of the current school with some of the school buildings dating from this time. The original priory arch forms the main entrance to the establishment.

Priory Arch

We left the church to explore the rest of Repton passing the old market cross on our way up the main street. The place has the chalky, dusty feel of an old school room and was very quite during our visit, there was the occasional pupil scurrying along presumably going to see matron in the medical centre or to attend a lesson in one of the many annexes that are scattered throughout.
The school was used for some of the scenes in the film Good Bye Mr Chips, which explained the name of the local fish shop "Good Buy Mr Chips"!
The only pub we saw on the main street was the Bulls Head and we called in as this also doubles as the public conveniences for the village. The pub appeared to have had a recent make over in that sort of doing up by doing down way. The result was a success in our opinion, the interior had a dark Dickensian feel with flickering candles on the tables and shafts of winter daylight shining though the few windows, all quite in keeping with the rest of the place.

Thursday 11th January 2018
A fine January morning today and we set of to our next stop at Swarkestone. A mile or so we came to a foot bridge that leads over the canal to the large and busy Mercia Marina. We pulled over and went to Midland Chandlers to purchase a new coolie hat for the chimney to replace the one that had blown away during the recent gales at Barton.
We carried on soon arriving at the lock at Stenson, this is the first wide lock we had encountered since Manchester, it is deep too with a drop of 12 feet. The locks from here down to the Trent are all wide and were built to allow larger boats to serve the breweries at Burton U Trent.
A further couple of miles  brought us to Swarkestone, a place we had visited before.
Next morning we walked back along the towpath passing a memorial marking the spot where the body of a 16 year old girl was discovered in 1978, a strange case this as here assailant was only jailed after a successful civil case brought about by the determination of the girls family.
We continued along until we reached the road leading down to the village of Barrow on Trent, we followed the lane down arriving into what is pretty much a commuter village, although it has a good share of older buildings and church. Continuing through the village we arrived at the banks of of the Trent, turning east to follow its course down to Swakestone.
Our reason for returning here was to see the medieval stone bridge, reputedly the longest in England. This incredible structure takes the form of a causeway for most of its length before crossing the river and was built to provide a safe passing over the rivers floodplain.

Swarkestone Bridge

It was built in the 12th century and according to the Pearson's Canal Guide "in 1347 the scale of tolls quoted charges of a 1/2 penny for a cask of Sturgeons". Swarkestones other claim to fame is that it was here that Bonnie Prince Charlie abandoned his attempt upon the English throne, returning, your homework is to find out why!
On our way back to the boat we called into the Garden Centre, here you can but what is probably the best coffee and walnut cake ever tasted.

The bridge, looking south

On our return we noted the weather forecast for the week ahead, this was suggesting high winds, rain, snow, hail for the next week so we revised our plans. we decided that we would continue down to the Trent to visit the facilities at Sawley before retracing our steps back to Willington, the Erewash will have to wait for another day as we didn't want  to become stuck unable to enter the Trent for what, especially at this time of year, could become lengthy wait for it to reopen.
The following morning we made our way through the three locks and 5 miles to Shardlow. we passed through the village, wanting to stop but knowing we would soon be returning, to reach the flood lock that protects the area from a flooding Trent. The lock was open but the red indicator was on indicating that the Trent was in flood and it was in advisable to proceed. This seemed strange as the level shown on the internet was at normal for the time of year, a walk down to the river lock at Derwent mouth confirmed all was ok as the old fashioned green/amber/red gauge was below green therefore passage should be ok.

M1 bridge

A call to CRT confirmed this with them calling back to say there must be a fault and that if the level was green then carry on. We locked down onto the short cut leading to the confluence where the Derwent meets the Trent then along with the flow passing under the M1 before arriving at the lock leading up to the Sawley Cut.

Derwent Mouth - Derwent to the right, Trent to the left

We turned the boat around before mooring up for an overnight stop, I walked up to the facilities only to find they were closed for refurbishment!
The following morning I walked across to the impressive BWLM marina and enquired if we would be permitted to use their facilities and thankfully they kindly agreed.
Following a walk into the village with the sound of church bells in the back ground, to do some shopping we moved the boat across the cut to the marina fuel point where we took on fuel and used the facilities. We were soon ready to make our way back to the relative safety of the canal at Shardlow and were soon rising up the lock at the start of the Trent and Mersey. There is a sign at this lock indicating the start of the Derwent Valley Trail, a 55 mile walk through Derbyshire, terminating at Ladybower Reservoir to the west of Sheffield.

We spent Sunday night moored at Shardlow, listening to rain and wind lashing against the boat, thankful to be warm and snug inside.
The following day our intention was to explore this former inland port but the weather made this a rather short quick look around.
The village surrounding the canal is a collection of old warehouses and boat yards, in its day this place was a significant port with transshipment being made from narrowboats to much larger vessels that proceeded along the Trent and up to the Humber and North Sea. On the impressive clock warehouse is a sign indicating the navigation linking the Trent to the Mersey quite a feat in the late 18th century.

Shardlow

Monday saw us returning back to Willington to review our next move and the weather. Our intention is to travel up to Fradley junction where we will turn south west heading down towards Coventry and the Ashby canal.