The Trent & Mersey canal starts, or in our case, finished, at Shardlow - the distinction decided by a bridge labelled number 1, which we passed under shortly after leaving the mooring. After travelling through Shardlow flood lock and then the main lock (Derwent Mouth), we entered the River Trent and headed down to the River Soar. It`s a sudden change from canal to a wide, open river, one overlooked by massive bridges and bordered by weirs. M always gets up a bit of an umph along the Trent, as it`s so wide there`s little or no waves left by the time her wash reaches either bank. Before the Soar, there`s Sawley with its large boat yard and moored cruisers, some of which are very Thames like - big and expensive with sea going capability - and two locks. The first, a flood lock, was open and the second, a pair of automated wide locks was, thankfully, not too busy. A wide beam went into one of them as we approached and a narrow beam with which we had shared Derwent Mouth Lock was opening up the other. The locks are hydraulically operated by the push of a button, so there are no heavy gates to `Suehandle` or paddles to wind. The problem, which we found a few years ago when we first used them without a lock keeper being there (which is more often than not), is knowing which button to push. This time we were lucky, the chap and his wife on the other boat got us in and then, very kindly, let us out while they closed the gates and picked up crew; not always an easy task on these high river locks.
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| R. Trent |
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| Approaching Sawley - R. Trent |
The junction of the Trent and Soar at Trentlock is also the location of the start of the Erewash Canal, Thrumpton Weir and the Cranfleet Cut. The cut is a short section of canal that takes boats using the Trent around the weir and off to Lincoln and beyond. The Erewash goes through Long Eaton and up to Eastwood, on the Northern edges of Nottingham. The River Soar takes us South to Loughborough and M`s home at Pillings Lock Marina. But the river carries on from there, passing through Leicester and becoming the Grand Union Canal, which then continues all the way to the Thames. The River Soar is part of the Leicester Arm of the Grand Union Canal, the navigation that links London to the North.
The weather was bright and clear as we headed up the Soar, and with all flood locks open, we had a pretty quick trip up to Loughborough. We accompanied the other narrowbeam from Sawley (retired physics teacher and his wife, a retired midwife) through the locks at Ratcliffe, Kegworth and up to Zouch (pronounced Zoch). There was a cruiser on the high, very small and awkward (especially in any wind) conctrete lock mooring at Ratcliffe. I squeezed M in front of it and asked the owner if he was waiting for the lock. "No", he said, "I`m cooking my breakfast". I said, "Don`t you realize these moorings are for boats using the lock, you idiot" (pronounced "Oh. OK").
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| Waterside - R. Soar |
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| Waterside - R. Soar |
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| Waterside - R.Soar |
The usual procedure in double width (wide) locks is for the crew - almost always the female - to work the locks and the helmsman to stay on board. This is the way it was as we came up the Soar. You always end up chatting to the person next to you - in this case, Sue up on the lock gates with the midwife and me on the boat with the physics teacher. They seemed extremely nice people, as most do, and we fell into conversation about bow thrusters. Neither boat had one and we agreed that the electric ones were of limited use - low power and short bursts only - but would be handy when reversing in a tight spot. Going backwards is a nightmare at times, and always in confined spaces when the winds up a bit. The bow of the boat has more windage (and becomes a bit of a sail) because it`s the highest part, and it has less draft (depth in the water) to resist disturbance by the wind. The physics teacher (I don`t know his name) suggested a mud weight. I`d never considered one before but it has merits. A mud weight is simply a weight on a length of rope that you attach to the bow when reversing. The weight drags along the bottom of the canal keeping the line taught and pulling the bow straight - we might try it one day.
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| Kegworth Deep - R. Soar |
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| Perfect day - R. Soar |
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| Bit frothy in Kegworth Deep - R.Soar |
We are now at Millers Bridge, about 500 yards from the marina where M lives. Weather permitting, washing and polishing will begin.
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| M is now home at the top of the Liecester Arm - Grand Union Canal (R. Soar) |
The Trent & Mersey canal starts, or in our case, finished, at Shardlow - the distinction decided by a bridge labelled number 1, which we passed under shortly after leaving the mooring. After travelling through Shardlow flood lock and then the main lock (Derwent Mouth), we entered the River Trent and headed down to the River Soar. It`s a sudden change from canal to a wide, open river, one overlooked by massive bridges and bordered by weirs. M always gets up a bit of an umph along the Trent, as it`s so wide there`s little or no waves left by the time her wash reaches either bank. Before the Soar, there`s Sawley with its large boat yard and moored cruisers, some of which are very Thames like - big and expensive with sea going capability - and two locks. The first, a flood lock, was open and the second, a pair of automated wide locks was, thankfully, not too busy. A wide beam went into one of them as we approached and a narrow beam with which we had shared Derwent Mouth Lock was opening up the other. The locks are hydraulically operated by the push of a button, so there are no heavy gates to `Suehandle` or paddles to wind. The problem, which we found a few years ago when we first used them without a lock keeper being there (which is more often than not), is knowing which button to push. This time we were lucky, the chap and his wife on the other boat got us in and then, very kindly, let us out while they closed the gates and picked up crew; not always an easy task on these high river locks. 
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