Rosie and Jim

For those of you that have followed our blog for a while you will probably remember our camper van experience. Well this time we had a canal boat experience along the river Trent, river Soar and the Trent and Mersey canal. We arrived to pick our boat up from Redhill locks at 1pm on Tuesday where Sue and Mac showed us around and gave us our instructions. Unfortunately our starting point was marred by Radcliff Power Station. Sue and Mac then came with us through the first locks to get us on our way and returned by taxi. The dark blue boat before the red one was ours, called “Acumen II”.

As Claire wasn’t keen to take the steering job she was forced to do the locks. Well, we had watched the video before we left but I think Claire was still not prepared for them so we managed to wait for another boat to come through with us so she could get some help. I whipped the rear rope off the helm so as to tie the boat up before the first lock and the rope lifted the teller pin out straight into the canal, plop. Never mind I replaced it with a screw driver. Although we had been warned to shut the control cover when in locks as it overhangs the side, I forgot in all the excitement and it got ripped off in this first lock. Not a good start for Sue and Mac. We reached the second lock and decided to moor up for the day just before it and get an early start in the morning.

We didn’t have to walk far to get our first pint in the Navigation. They seemed to have a very good menu and it had already been recommended to us by Mac who said he had their “Canal Boat Pie” which sounded i little like a Desperate Dan pie. Unfortunately, they were open for food between 12 and 2pm and then from 6pm to 10pm and we were in between these times so decided to have a walk along the canal to the next pub the Malt Shovel. This was a lovely friendly pub but they only served food at lunchtime so we thought we would have a drink and catch some food when we went past the Navigation on our way back. By the time we walked past the pub we decided against eating and made our way back to the boat for a slice of Melton Mowbray Pork Pie and a glass or two of wine. Shardlow is a nice little town with about 7 pubs and little else.

In the morning we waited for the first boat to stop at the canal and then Claire asked if we could join them through it which we did. We actually followed them all the way until we stopped for lunch at the “Crew and Harpur” at Swarkastone. This couple told us that we were illegally parked overnight as you should leave at least 2 mooring places before the locks for boats to wait whilst opening the locks. Never mind, no harm done. This couple seemed very nice but he seemed quite interested in telling me about all the gadgets and things on his boat. It was miserable weather in the morning which gave Claire a chance to try out her new (not so) water proofs. It also gives me space to put a few shots of our boat in. We had travelled a few miles and were hungry by the time we had walked to the pub but even though the prices were quite steep for a pub and the menu looked quite professional we were both disappointed with our meals.

Upon our return to the boat I had a quick look at the river guide and realized that we couldn’t turn around anywhere nearby and in fact had to travel about another 7 locks before there was a turning point. As this would take us a few hours we decided to get half of it done on the Wednesday otherwise we would have a very long way to come back on the Thursday so we could moor up somewhere close to Redhill as our boat needed to be back by 10am on Friday morning. Again we waited at the lock for another boat and travelled through all the locks with them. Once we had got through all the locks and I had turned the thing around we moored up before coming all the way back again. As we stopped by the lock there was no pubs or shops or anything nearby so we decided on a night in with the chilli we had brought with us and a few more glasses of wine. We didn’t hold much hope of getting tv reception as we seemed to be more in the middle of nowhere that the previous night and could get no stations at all but we did manage to tune into BBC2 on analogue. The trouble with campervan or canal boat tv’s is that you have to retune every time you move.

Off for an early start at 8am the next morning and Claire did her usual trick of waiting for the first boat and tagging on with them. This time it was Howard and Rosie’s turn to help us out. Here is Rosie, Howards little dog that loved the canal boat life. Howard is planning on spending the whole summer travelling around the British canal and river networks and hopes to travel the whole network by the end of next year. Rosie loves the locks and spots them before you stop there having a look each side and getting excited in anticipation of having a run around the lock looking for cats and rabbits and bringing any branches back for Claire or Howard to throw for her whilst they do their business in the locks. One lock we almost had a problem when somehow Howard’s boat got caught on the lock gate at the front while the rear sank lower and lower almost tipping it over. Howard managed to shut the paddles down at the front again and raise them at the rear to bring the water level back up so the boat could right itself. Even though I watched it, I can hardly believe that he travels around the country doing all the locks on his own. He drives the boat in, climbs out, ties the boat up whilst releasing the water paddles then comes back feeding the rope as the boat goes down or up. Goes back to open the lock and pulls his boat through the lock with the rope and climbs aboard and off he goes again.

We followed Howard all the way back to Sawley marina and moored up next to him for the night. Howard invited us out to a local pub for something to eat so we joined him but Claire insisted on paying for his meal for all the help he had given her. He took us to the Plank and Leggit where they had a “two four one” offer on. As there were three of us we ended up with 2 steak dinners and two fish and chip dinners; mmmm lovely, I can still taste it now.

Just as we approach this marina out boat started playing up and the engine kept on cutting out. When we got back on the Trent and river systems Claire became increasingly worried as the rivers were swollen and she was worried about our engine cutting out and being pulled over the weir so she decided to put on her lifejacket. We somehow managed to get back on tick over before the boat cut out completely just as we coasted up the Redhill mooring.

To sum it up, the canal boat experience for us was like the camper van one except you have to stand on the roof in the rain to drive the thing. Claire may get her way and we leave the Loin Hearts Cruising Club before we get our mooring place.