The Ashby Canal

Saturday 3rd February
Watching the weather forecasts, all predicting a cold spell with freezing temperatures, we decided to move on and get to the Ashby Canal, we had booked our berth in Trinity Marina, in Hinckley from Monday onwards so wanted to get there before the cold set in. The day was cold and damp, but we wrapped up well and got underway, the canal was very quiet and we only passed one boat on our way down to the junction at Bedworth.

Marston Junction

The trip was enjoyable and we soon passed by the CRT yard at Hartshill and the moorings we stayed at on our trip to London in 2016. This area is dominated by the pointed heaps of quarry waste from the large granite quarries that cut into the hillside to our right. The canal meanders around the ridge maintaining its contour until the outskirts of Nuneaton are reached, we considered stopping here but as we pulled up onto the moorings we noticed that they were being used as a dog toilet and the concept of picking up dog waste does not appear to have reached this part of the world, we quickly moved on soon reaching Marston junction and the left turn onto the Ashby canal.
Canal myths say this is a very shallow canal with very limited moorings, however,  it soon became apparent that this was not the case, large portions of the towpath side are supported with pilings and therefore provide good mooring spots, we decided to pull up at the first official moorings close to bridge 6, the canal is shallow in places but no worse than many other parts of the system.
The following morning was frosty but the canal had not frozen so we decided to get as close as we could to the marina just in case the evening brought even colder temperatures, these moorings were quite pleasant just to the south of the A5 that bypasses the town center, we had a walk to the nearest co-op, about a mile from the mooring, to re stock, before returning to the warmth of the boat. The temperature dropped to around -3 through the night and we awoke to a partially frozen canal. We waited until most of the ice had melted, the sun now has quite a bit of warmth and it wasn't too long before we got underway, the short trip to the marina had to be undertaken carefully as we came across ice on some of the more shaded parts.
We pulled up outside the marina and took on fuel coal etc before been shown to our berth, a much easier position than that at our previous spot at Barton!
The marina has all facilities as well as a useful shop selling essential supplies as well as the usual chandlery. One useful feature was a container for dumping hot ashes, this is something all marinas should consider as it saves having to leave buckets of ashes outside the boat to cool down before being disposed of.
Hinckley
We spent he next couple of days exploring the town, the center is just over a mile from the marina but is well worth the walk, there is also a frequent bus service. On Tuesday we had a visit from Cox Automotive Electrics to service our Travel Pack generator system, we have become very reliant on this unit as it enables us to run the battery charger when the engine is running helping restore a full charge much more quickly than just relying on the engine alternator. They removed the whole system from the boat and took it away for a full makeover.
Later on we had arranged to meet Carole and Jim in the Lime Kilns, a small canalside pub by the A5 bridge. The food was ok with an extensive arrange of pies to choose from.

 We then went back into the town to explore a little further. The main street through Hinckley retains a number of local shops and has a market on Mondays. During our visit the bells of the parish church were chiming a redition of the national anthem! we also made our way to the railway station to purchase our tickets to Leeds, only to find that it closes at 1pm!
On Thursday we got a taxi back to the station this time making sure we arrived before it closed, and caught the train up to Leeds via a change at Birmingham.

Thursday 15th February
We made our return trip to Hinckley stopping off at the large Tesco adjacent to the rail station.
Thursday night was cold again and we awoke on Friday to a frozen marina, however the sun was bright and, we noted, quite high in the sky. Cox's returned and refitted the Travel Pack by which time the sun had done its work and thawed the ice.
We left our berth and moved on up the canal to moor at Sutton Wharf, these moorings are quite extensive with all boater services and a useful cafe bar.
On our way up we past the villages of Stoke Golding and Dadlington, both synonymous with the Battle of Bosworth, and now, after recent research, are close to the actual site of the battle.
Reaching this area was something I have been looking forward to for sometime as I have developed an interest in the medieval period as we have been travelling along.

Ambion Hill looking towards the battlefield

The moorings are close to the Battlefield Heritage site, now, unfortunately for them, some 2.5-3 Km's from the actual site, on Saturday we had a walk up to Ambion Hill to stand and look at the view across the fields, a view that the Yorkist Royal forces must have taken in, however they were staring at the rebel army of Henry Tudor, soon to be victorious and take the crown of England.
We decided to move on the following morning our plan being to get to the end of the canal, turn round and make our way back slowly visiting the villages on our way. The latest weather forecast is, again, predicting a cold easterly blast due to start in around a weeks time, this means we may have to move on faster than we would have originally wanted as we want to get down to Coventry then back up to Atherstone, where we will be able to sit out any cold spell and frozen canal.
We had a good cruise up the canal on Sunday, near the village of Congerstone we came across a fishing match, I slowed down and passed them on tick over, maintaining a course down the center of the canal, recalling our previous experience at Wigan, these fishermen were a lot more friendly and we had a good bit of banter as we passed by, probably because none of them had caught anything so our presence had presumably not made any difference. We  arrived at the terminus just beyond Snarestone Tunnel, here we turned around, passing through the tunnel again to moor up just below the village. Snarestone is a very quiet village with no facilities, other than the Globe Inn. (note for boaters, there are full CRT boater services at the winding hole at the Terminus.)

Ashby Terminus

Snarestone Tunnel

We had Sunday lunch in the busy pub and I would think it advisable to book later in the year, we enjoyed our lunch before returning to the boat.The weather was really mild and we noticed that the night was much warmer than any we had experienced for sometime.

The Globe, Snarestone

Monday 19th February
The day brought rather dull and miserable conditions more akin to November, but the rain was light and we moved back down the canal retracing our steps to the village of Shackerstone. We pulled up here and had a quick walk around the village, a very pretty but quiet place with the remains of an old Motte and Bailey castle along side the canal.

Shackerstone Castle

We returned to the boat and moved onto our next stop at Market Bosworth. This was our overnight mooring and we walked the mile up the hill into the town. Just up from the canal we passed the site of the Churchill Aircraft Factory, this was moved, along with its staff, from Coventry, following the blitz. It is now and Industrial Estate but there is still a Churchill Factory here specializing in precision engineering.

The town itself was very quiet, probably because Monday is half day closing. The market square is dominated by the Dixie Grammar School reminding us of the atmosphere at Repton, visited earlier in the year.

Dixie School

Chip Shop pun - The Batter of Bosworth 

Bosworth High Street

Tuesday morning brought sunshine and a mild start to the day, as we were preparing to set off the fuel boat approached and I flagged him down to buy some coal. These guys provide a really useful service and travel the cut in traditional working boats supplying coal, gas, and diesel.
We were soon under way, arriving at the peaceful moorings between Dadlington and Stoke Golding in the early afternoon. The moorings are about as close as you can get to the newly defined site of the Bosworth battlefield and both villages played their part in the battle. Dadlington is the location of the church, known as the Battlefield Chapel, consecrated by Henry VIII 1511, in the graveyard are several mounds indicating the location of the burials of many of the soldiers that died during the battle.

Battlefield Chapel - Dadlington

Stoke Golding also has a church, this was founded in the 12C so would have been there in 1485 and it is difficult to believe that Henry VII would not have taken thanksgiving prayers here following his victory however there are no records of this happening.

Stoke Golding Church

Burial Mounds - Dadlington

 The village is also the location of Crown Hill where the new King was crowned with Richard III's battle crown salvaged from the field. Henry went on to rewrite history to try and strengthen his tenuous claim to the Crown whist establishing the great Tudor dynasty. He also proceeded to marry Elizabeth of York again giving more credence to his claim.

The weather forecast continues to threaten the cold snap, due to arrive in a few days time. We decided to leave the Ashby on Wednesday and head on down to Coventry. The trip down was very pleasant, with the birds singing away in the hedgerows whilst busily preparing their nests. The daffodils are now starting to flower and crocuses adding a splash of colour to the white patches of snowdrops. It really did feel like early spring despite the gloom and doom forecast.

Spring Flowers

Passing the marina at Hinckley, we soon arrived at the junction with the Coventry canal at which we turned left heading south to Coventry basin. We have been along here before but always turned off at Hawkesbury junction (know as Sutton Stop to the boating world), on this occasion we continued south heading along the five miles into town. This stretch is avoided by many as it has a bad reputation, we found it a pleasant cruise with just one mile where the rubbish was every where. For some reason people around this stretch tie bag fulls of rubbish to the railings at the side of the canal along with large quantities of plastic floating on the surface even though there are waste bins around.   I slowed down through these areas but still managed to pick stuff up on the prop a couple of times, fortunately these were removed by a burst of reverse.
We are now moored in the town basin, it seems quite enough, and there are a few other boats around as well a large fleet of hire boats. We intend to spend Thursday here before moving back to Atherstone to sit out the cold spell.

Typical Ashby scene

Coventry pics to follow

Coventry Canal

Sunday 28th January 2018
We have had an enjoyable couple of days at Fradley and  particularly enjoyed catching up with Gerry and Stephen, with whom we shared our trip up to Sheffield with last June. Can't believe it was so long ago.

Fradley, looking towards the junction

We had lunch together in the Swan Inn overlooking the junction of the Trent and Mersey with the Coventry Canal. This is a typical boating pub, no frills but good food and beer and we all enjoyed our meals. 

The weather Sunday morning was glorious with bright sunshine and bird song, it real did feel like spring is just around the corner, we decided, as it was such a lovely morning, to move down the Coventry to Whittington a cruise of about 5 miles through lovely countryside.

We arrived just after lunch and moored up just to the north of the village.

During our conversations with Gerry and Stephen we had mentioned that Sainsbury's were selling stove fans for £29.95, a really good price as we paid around £50 for our last one. They contacted us to say they had found them in Aldi for better price and had bought one for us, they very kindly offered to bring it over to Whittington, we tested it out immediately to find it works perfectly. Stove fans sit on top of the stove and are driven by the heat transferred and help to push the warm air around the boat, they work really well and are a useful addition to the stove.

Monday morning brought high winds and heavy rain, soon clearing to give a bright and sunny afternoon, however, it was much colder than the previous day, a sharp reminder that we are still in the depths of winter.

Early Crocus blooms at Whittington

The grave stone of Thomas Spencer

Taking advantage of the better weather, we had a walk to explore the village, as with a lot of the villages around here there is a lot of modern housing, but the original village centre is pleasant with plenty of interesting buildings. The village church looked relatively modern but this we found out was due to it being rebuilt after a fire in the 18th century. One interesting point was the grave of Thomas Spencer (of Marks and Spencer fame), he retired from the retail world to buy a farm in the village, he died aged just 56 not long after moving here. His grave notes the fact that he was born in Skipton, something we hadn't known.

The village is also the point where the Coventry canal becomes the Birmingham and Fazeley for the remaining route down to the junction.

Tuesday 30th January 2018 

We awoke to a frosty morning with clear blue skies so we decided to move on to our next stop at Glascote, near Tamworth. Following a bit of tidying in the engine bay we were soon underway.

Canal boundary marker

The journey was one of those memorable winter cruising days with the water like glass, smoke and shimmer gently rising from the chimney inviting one to the cosiness and warmth of the cabin below. The birds and water fowl all seemed busy pairing up for a new season, another hint of the passing winter.

The route meandered through gently rolling farmland, the contours being enhanced by the furrows in the fields now beginning to disappear beneath early crop growth.

Passing through the woods and village of Hopwas, somewhere we intend to stop on out way back up, the town of Tamworth began to appear in the near distance. The river Tame, still swollen by winter rains, raced past us in the opposite direction on its way to the Trent and Humber before reaching the North Sea.

We eventually reached the old CRT wharf at Peel, close to the Fazeley Junction, here there used to be full boater facilities but these have now closed along with the CRT offices that were once also located here. We made a right turn at the junction to continue down the B&F until we reached the charming Fazeley Mills marina, they were very welcoming and helpful and we were able to use all the facilities as well as taking on fuel and coal.

Fazeley Mills

Fazeley Junction Coventry to the right
Fradley to the left

We returned back to the junction again turning right to rejoin the Coventry, a tight turn and one that I would not like to attempt in windy weather. 

 Aqueduct over the river Tame

Aquaduct Pill Box

We progressed towards the aqueduct over the river Tame, with its WW2 pillbox and views across to Tamworth, the canal tends to circle around the town so it seems to take a long time to pass before reaching the two locks at Glascote and our mooring just above. The area to the left, between the two locks, was the site of the Reliant factory now sadly long gone and replaced by a housing estate.


The first lock is famous for being slow to fill hence the poem in the picture.


This is the closest point to the town centre and is a useful stop for shops etc. We had a walk into Tamworth (our third visit since we have been in the area) its about a 15 minute walk from the canal and having explored the market we returned to the boat.

First of the Glascote Locks

A note at the side of the lock

Wednesday 31st January 2018

Another fine day to day so we decided to move along the few miles to Polesworth, this is and interesting part of the canal and at one time was surrounded by large coal mines, apart from a few old wharves, little evidence now remains with the main sites now tree covered. As we passed under the M42 we spotted the "Tower of Leaves" monument sitting on top of an old slag heap and just around the corner is the heritage centre reminding visitors of the industry that used to be here. There were in fact three collieries Tamworth, Pooley Hall and Alvecoat, these were all merged and linked underground and became the North Warickshire Colliery, this finally closed in 1965.
Shortly after passing this point we arrived at the village of Polesworth and our mooring for the night.

Abbey Church

Polesworth is mainly now a dormitory village but retains its charm at its core, we wandered down to the Abbey Church and its old monastic remains, it is an interesting building and many of the original abbey buildings can be explored, the refectory is now part of the visitor center. We explored the church before returning to the refectory where we were greeted by the lady who was on duty for the afternoon. she offered us a cup of tea that we gratefully accepted as it become cold during the day. We sat and chatted with her for an hour or so and learned that she was an ex-midwife, 80 this year and still took three week trips to Malawi to help out in the hospitals over there. She is the wife of the local butcher and directed us to the shop. On our way we passed through the old gateway to the abbey passing a bed of spring flowers desperately trying to burst into bloom.

Super Moon

The main street of the village has quite a few shops alongside quite a few older interesting buildings.

Abbey Church

Abbey Gate

We arrived back at the boat at dusk noticeably later these days and witnessed the rising of the Super Blue Moon, unfortunately it rose into cloud before reappearing an hour or so later providing a very brightly lit evening.










The next morning was bright although rain was forecast for later in the day, we cast off and got underway towards our next destination, Atherstone. It wasn't long before we reached lock 11, the bottom of a flight of 11 locks rising through the town. we progressed steadily having to reset each chamber as they were all full, at the fourth lock we met a boat coming down, this meant all the locks from here would be in our favour.
Immediately after the sixth lock there is a marina and unfortunately for us a boat had just departed travelling up all the locks in front of us. We got back into our routine climbing through the edge of the town close to the imposing Merevale Hall. We soon arrived at the top lock with its welcoming volunteer lock keeper, our mooring was a 100 yards along from here. Atherstone is a charming town straddling the old Roman road, Watling Street, this is the A5 London to Holyhead road thankfully the more modern route by passes the town, leaving a traditional high street with many traditional and local shops as well as the usual chains.
The town is charming and and has a long history, sited next to the roman settlement of Mancetter.
Atherstone is where Thomas Stanley waited prior to the Battle of Bosworth, he was hedging his bets as to which side to support, positioned here he could claim to be protecting the roman road from the invading army of Henry Tudor or could also appear to be waiting to join the invading forces, he maintained the "sitting on the fence" position pretty much until the battle was decided when he then made his allegiance to the victorious Usurper, who became Henry VII.
We are  planning to get to Hinckley on Sunday/ Monday where we will leave the boat in the marina before returning to Leeds for a few days.

Atherstone High Street

Atherstone Locks

Early Iris

Willington and onwards

Tuesday 16th January 2018
We arrived in Willington mooring right next to the Dragon, a lovely pub with a large beer garden crammed with tables, must get very busy in the summer.
This is a 48 hr mooring but, as with most of these, this is extended to 2 weeks during the winter months.
We planned to stay here for the rest of the week as the weather forecast was threatening us with every sort of winter weather over the next few days.
It started out wet and windy,  culminating in a howling gale on Thursday night, the boat was shaking and I had to get up at 4 am to remove things off the roof before the wind did it for us! Poor old Scruff was terrified and was restless all night. Following the wind and rain the weather settled down and became much cooler with the canal freezing over night on Saturday, then Sunday brought heavy snow eventually turning to rain in the afternoon.
Willington turned out to be a good choice for us to sit out the weather. As mentioned in my previous post it has everything you need, we took the opportunity of having the railway station close by and got the train into Burton to take the washing to the launderette. As it was cold we decided to call into one of the local pubs whilst waiting for our return train. We called in to the Coopers Tavern on Cross Street,  right opposite the enormous Molson Coors (formally Bass) brewery. 

Stepping inside was a revelation,  walking back in time to lots of tiny rooms fitted out in original Victorian fixings, it took a little time to find our way to the tiny bar with a backdrop of different beer barrels.  The pub is now a Joules house and sold a full range of their own beers as well as many others.
To compliment a great pint of IPA they also sold a number of large Scotch eggs including chilli, chorizo, black pudding as well as the standard flavour, each is a meal in itself. Joules brewery also have there own herd of pigs,  presumably to consume the various by products from the brewing process. The meat from these is used to produce their own delicious sausage rolls. We almost missed our train waiting here.
On our return to the boat we decided to investigate the open mic night at the Rising Sun just around the corner from our mooring. This pub is a friendly local and the evening was enjoyable, I even managed to get up and do a spot.
Friday saw us returning to Burton to pick up the washing and of course, another visit to the Coopers.
On Saturday Keith and Cheryl called to see us and we had an enjoyable lunch in the Dragon, with a short stagger back to the boat for coffee.
Vicky and Ian called into see us on Sunday as they were on their way back to Bristol from Leeds, it was nice to see them again as they had struggled through the snow and rain to get to us.

Monday 22nd January 2018
A much better day today, the wind had subsided and the temperature had almost reached double figures with some welcome sunshine. We got underway making our way back to Burton, crossing a swollen River Dove,  with the aim of making our way to Alrewas. We called at the services in Horninglow and whilst there received a notification from CRT informing us that the river section at Alrewas was closed due to high water levels. We had no option to moor up at Shobnall fields (again) and await further news.
I have to admit that cabin fever was starting to set in and I was ready to move on from Burton as we seem to have spent too much time here. To make matters worse I managed to lose my varifocal glasses seeing them slowly and teasingly sink into the gloom of the  canal. No amount of trawling around the area managed to rescue them.
The following morning brought the news that the river was still shut so we spent the day catching up with a few jobs before going for a walk. The forecast was bad again so we battened down the hatches in readiness for a rough night, sure enough, the early hours brought strong winds with torrential rain starting around 8.00 am, it was beginning to look as if we would be stuck for another day. 

Amazingly, on Wednesday morning, the news came through that the river section had reopened so once the rain eased a bit we set off. Our first port of call was the marina at Shrobnell, enjoying the intoxicating smell from the Marston  Brewery on the opposite bank. Here we took on supplies of fuel and the rain finally subsided although the wind was still quite strong. We progressed well, cruising alongside the busy A38 past Barton Marina and the Barton Turns pub, resisting the temptation to call in for a pint and another sampling of the delicious food they serve there. 

Alrewas river section

We then arrived at Wychnor lock lifting us onto the Alrewas river section. Here the canal joins the river Trent for about 1/2 a mile or so,  above the lock you enter a short canal section directly fed by the river and the flow was quite strong, inching our way along past the moored boats, before arriving at the river proper. The flow here comes downstream from the right before hurtling off to the left over a large weir. The flow at this point almost brought us to a halt and required full power to traverse the torrent. Finally we made it to the lock at the other end lifting us back onto the safety of the canal.
We moored just above the lock, relieved that we do not have to worry about river flows for a while.

Thursday 24th January 2018

Canalside cottage in Alrewas

A lazy day to day with just a stroll around the village, we always enjoy our visits here, the village has lots of old half timbered and thatched cottages as well as most of the amenities a boater would require. There is a butchers here that is famous for its wide selection of home produced meats, pies, etc and we couldn't resist calling in to stock up for the next few days, like most of the local butchers they are always happy to vacuum pack fresh meat to enable it to last a few days longer in the fridge.

We also called into the local church, another fine example of a village church and to our joy the church yard was full of snowdrops in bloom with daffodils not far behind. The weather really did feel spring like and we managed to get quite a few amps into the battery from the solar panels.

Alrewas is also the location for the National Arboretum http://www.thenma.org.uk/ this is well worth a visit in its own right with a very moving centrepiece. 

Our next move is onto Fradley where we will join the Coventry canal.

Medieval Art in the church

Alrewas mooring

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.

On the Move Again

Monday 8th January 2018

Happy New Year to all our followers.

We saw the New Year in up in Leeds, returning to the boat on Thursday 4th.

The trip back was a lot easier that anticipated as we have left the car in Leeds, returning to Burton by taxis and train, we had no issues at all and the guards on the train made a big fuss of Scruff which of course she enjoyed.

We spent the following day preparing for our departure on Saturday, the forecast was good so it should be easier manoeuvring the boat around the moorings.

However we awoke to pouring rain and as we were pulling out, howling winds, typical! 

Goodbye Pier 279

After a struggle we made it to the canal and moored up to empty the loo and get coal etc, we also collected our deposit for the key and found to our surprise that we had money left over on the electric meter, this was also refunded.

The weather brightened up but turned colder however we were well wrapped up and made our way down to Shobnall Felds and tied up on the moorings we stayed at in November. We had a walk into Burton to take on supplies ready for the rest of our journey.

Spot the animals and faces hidden in this tree!

Our plan for the next stage is to head east towards Nottingham, to Trent Lock,here we will turn north onto the Erewash Canal. We intend to spend several days exploring this relatively short route and look forward to reaching the terminus at Langley Mills, here we will be reunited with the Cromford Canal at the opposite end to the one we visited in November with Keith and Cheryl.

We had planned to move onto Willington on Sunday but decided to stay put and celebrate Lucia's birthday on the boat with the intention of moving on Monday morning but the canal had started to freeze overnight so we stayed put and will hopefully get underway on Tuesday.

We had a walk over to the ridge to the northwest of Burton and were rewarded with views across the town and the Trent Valley.

View over Burton - all the large buildings
 are the Molson Coors Brewery

We walked along the ridge dropping down into Horninglow, one feature of this area is the number of pubs, at the end of the rows terraced houses, most of which are still open. 

We returned to the boat via the towpath and look forward to being able to get underway tomorrow (hopefully).

Not sure why they have two sign posts?