Roger's Web Site | Narrowboat Blog | Summer 2010 Journal

August 8-17
Here are a few photos taken while off the boat. Click to enlarge, as usual.

We happened upon this beautiful garden attached to a private house which was open for charity. The photo does not do justice to the garden (or Barbara!), which was laid out with numerous little areas of flowers, veggies, an orchard and a cute water garden.

Barbara and friend Liza at the Abbey gardens, Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk.

Southwold, Suffolk. We stayed here in the Swan Hotel for 2 nights.

The beach at Aldeburgh, Suffolk.

Here am I (center) with Barbara and my sister-in-law Angela enjoying a rare sunny day by the sea at Sandgate, Kent.

World's Smallest Pub, Bury St. Edmunds.

It rained a lot in Southwold. Here's the view of the Market from our hotel room.

Fishing boat at Aldeburgh.

Barb and I at Sandgate. Later we had fish and chips which rated 9-10 on the Raven scale of excellence. I woke up that night drooling grease on my pillow.

World's Smallest Pub interior.

The ferryman rows us across the Blythe estuary from Southwold to Walberswick.

Window at Hartington in the Peak District.

Detail of the windmill at Woodchurch, where I grew up. This is an old smock mill which is still run up occasionally to grind wheat or barley.

The Mill restaurant, near Bury - sorry Liza, can't remember the name of the town; let me know, OK!?

The Lighthouse at Southwold.

Click on any photo to enlarge.

Restored working narrowboat Aquarius on the Trent and Mersey canal near our marina.

August 24

We are on the move again, somewhat fitfully as weather and weary old bones permit. Wind batters Basil's flank as I write and Barb is slumped in the saloon nursing her aches and pains after tackling the most recalcitrant locks we have ever encountered.

But, to begin at the beginning... We left Mercia Marina on the 18th and set off at a leisurely pace down the Trent and Mersey canal east towards Shardlow. The T&M is our 'home' canal, familiar to us now but still revealing new delights. We stopped the first night at a quiet spot in the country (right) and went for a long walk along a disused railway line now transformed into a public path.

We spent the next two days in Shardlow, a fine old canal town with good pubs but no shops (see last year's journal for more about Shardlow). Once again we copped the best mooring in town in front of the old Clock Warehouse, saved in 1979 by conversion into a fine pub and restaurant. Next morning we had a rude awakening as a giant crane rumbled up alongside us. We had to move Basil so that they could raise a boat out of the water on to a transporter. Later, Michael Culley and his son Paul came over to work on our stove. They run Lockgate stoves and serviced ours for free. Michael is a Harley fan (far right) and we had sent him some kit from our local dealer in Phoenix, so he returned the favour and then some. The stove now works better than it ever has.

While we were moored up, some friends sailed past by chance and I hailed them. Angela and Patrick publish Pipeline, the magazine of the Piper Owners Club and I have written several articles for them. They tied up next to us and we spent a couple of interesting hours with them, culminating with lunch in the Clock for all six of us.

Next day (August 21), we cruised down to Sawley and the mighty intersection of three rivers and three canals. The Rivers Soar and Derwent lose their identity as they flow into the larger River Trent. The canals are the Erewash, the Trent & Mersey and the Cranfleet Cut which leads to Nottingham. (See sign, far right).

We went up the River Soar for about a mile to meet Peter Fairhurst who showed us his Piper Dutch Barge Kathe II, the best equipped floating home we have ever seen. It has every modern convenience and is beautifully designed by Simon Piper with a lot of input from Peter. It is capable of cruising the wider waterways of England, coastal waters and most of the waterways of Europe, which Peter intends to do when he retires. I could write reams on this boat alone (the engine room is an engineer's dream) but we must move on.

Move we did, back up to the confluence with the River Trent again. This is one of my favourite places on the entire system and we found a perfect mooring (far right) against the wall opposite the Trent Valley Sailing Club. The whole place is a hive of activity with boats appearing from all directions, squadrons of swans taking flight and a bevy of horses galloping around in a field opposite. The next day was sunny and hot, a rarity in these here parts, so we went for a long walk up the towpath to Sawley (right) and then lazed on deck until sundown. That night, the heavens opened and I had to check our lines every couple of hours in case the river rose in flood.

Next day, we tackled the Erewash canal, despite grim warnings about the condition of its locks and the hoodlums who prowl its towpath. It begins at Trent Lock (far right) where we spotted Hereford (right) the restored butty owned by Chris Deuchar, who writes regularly in Waterways World magazine.

The Erewash is pleasant enough to begin with, setting off along the backs of houses through Long Eaton and flanked with lines of houseboats. There are numerous reed beds, islands of water lilies, clear water teeming with fish, and huge swan families - one had eight cygnets - all good eco signs. However, the navigation is very poorly maintained. The locks are incredibly heavy. We made it as far as Sandiacre, which is a faded, nondescript Midlands town which does boast two good shops within walking distance and two kebab joints, obviously the local fast food of choice. The town mooring is right by a busy intersection of two main roads so was somewhat noisy.

Today we continued through the next two locks and decided to turn back. We have encountered numerous broken paddles (the sluice gates on the locks), leaking gates, low water in the pounds, and debris wrapped around the prop. In my youth I would have continued undaunted but I guess I am not the Little Red Rooster I once was. Barb is no spring chicken either. The locks are very heavy to operate even for me and I constantly had to help Barb out, slowing our progress. We have only seen one other boat on the move since we left Trent lock. The wind is gale force which adds to the boat handling difficulties. We are now moored up for the night next to a field above Sandiacre.

Link to MAP of the Erewash Canal to Sandiacre

COUNTRY MOORING on the T&M

RIVER TRENT at SAWLEY

ROGER TAKES TEA (pinkie retracted)

AUTHOR CHRIS DEUCHAR's BOAT

EREWASH ECOSYSTEM

MOSTLY BARB WORKS ALONE..

...BUT OCCASIONALLY HAS HELP

MICHAEL CULLEY and his HARLEY SOFT TAIL

SIGN at the JUNCTION of 5 WATERS

PERFECT MOORING, SUNNY DAY

TRENT LOCK and RATCLIFFE POWER STATION

SANDIACRE MOORING

SANDIACRE

Click on any photo to enlarge.

August 29

EREWASH MOORING in the RAIN

SHARDLOW TRAFFIC

VIEW from the 'PERFECT' MOORING

We returned to Trent Lock from Sandiacre in a day, this time mooring above the lock on the Erewash for 2 nights. Quite a different scene here even though it was only a few yards from our earlier mooring on the Trent. It's been raining hard and often and the Trent is running fast. The River Soar is closed due to floods but as one boater succinctly put it "you only have to piss in the Soar and it floods". This has undoubtedly been the worst summer yet for weather, consistently gray and gloomy with rainy spells. We have not had sustained sunshine since the first few days of July. The stills and video I shoot do not capture the depth of the weather because I am loath to expose my cameras to the rain, and even when I do (see left and bottom right) it really does not capture the gloom adequately.

The next day (27th) we dropped back into the Trent and forged upstream against a strong current. The lockkeeper at Sawley Locks was MIA so another boater and I did a lot of head-scratching to figure out the hydraulic controls to operate the lock ourselves. Meanwhile, Barb was struggling to hold Basil back against an undertow which had him trapped against the top gate. With a little help from our friends we got it all sorted and headed upstream past the urban jungle of boats at Sawley Marina. I had trouble entering the Trent and Mersey canal at Derwent Mouth as the current entering from the Trent was so strong. I banged Basil up badly on the lock dock - more painting to be done! We stopped the night in Shardlow, this time mooring above the lock (right).

From there it was a short trip through two extremely difficult locks, Aston and Weston, to our present location on the 'Perfect Mooring' in the country. I picked out this spot on the way down. There's a little bench overlooking the Trent (see left) and the promise of peace and quiet. Unfortunately, on a hill above is the Ukranian Youth Centre and they were having a holiday bash complete with loud Ukranian rock music. A few of them spilled down on to the canal and were clowning about and simulating sex on 'our' bench. Plus, passing boats ripped out our mooring pins twice. The moral here is to strive for but never expect perfection!

We are keeping our heads down and staying here another night as this is a holiday weekend and the canal traffic is usually pretty heavy, though actually there do not seem to be too many boats. The weather is gloomy and cold with frequent showers, so it's not good cruising weather anyway. It's been so cold that we've had to leave the stove on all night. Still, we have plenty of food on board and we are snug. Barb cooked an amazing stir-fry with vegetarian 'sausage' on Friday and we had warm quiche (from a Sawley local baker) and salad last night.

I'm going for a walk in the rain now, so goodbye...

ABOVE SHARDLOW LOCK

POPPY

'PERFECT MOORING' in the RAIN

September 3

After three nights holed up against the holiday traffic, we finally said goodbye to our "perfect

mooring" by the River Trent (far right), and headed for the final trip home to Mercia Marina. Before we left, though, I climbed the hill to Weston-on-Trent, about half a mile above the canal because there was a pub marked there on our guide book. Instead of the small sleepy village and pub I was expecting, there is a rather large sprawling village with a very grandiose pub indeed - the Coopers Arms, housed in an old baronial mansion surrounded by a moat. Inside, several cozy bars and an excellent carvery (right). The beer was cheap and well-kept, although I'm not sure if Bob Dylan knows about the rip-off on the beer pump (left). The next day I took Barb up the hill to sample the lunch. Most excellent. The best pub we have encountered this year. Now we have an superb 3 or 4 day trip for short-term visitors - start at the Marina, first night at the Coopers Arms (bracing walk up the hill from Weston Lock to get there), then on to Shardlow, the canal village par excellence (see Aug 29 above) for night 2. Optional extension for a third night on the Trent at Trent lock, then back to the Marina, stopping for night 3 or 4 at Nadee's for the best Indian food we have yet discovered. Back to Mercia next morning. How can y'all resist?

Now we are back at the Marina and preparing for two trips to London, so I am suspending the journal for now as we won't have Internet access. The weather, by the way, is incredible. The proverbial three days of summer... See ya soon!

KNOTICAL KNOT

COOPERS ARMS CARVERY

MERCIA at DUSK TONIGHT

GOODBYE to the TRENT

MISTY MORNING on the 'PERFECT MOORING'

Click on any photo to enlarge.

September 9 - Flashback to 1974

The nights are 'drawing in', as they say here, a few leaves are falling from the trees and the air is decidedly autumnal in the morning and evening. We have just returned from our first trip to London to visit some old friends, Colin & Sue. I joined the BBC on the same intake as Colin in 1963 and so we have a lot of shared memories and interests. While we were there he produced some very old photos which he took of an early canal trip in 1974 aboard a 70' converted working boat Bittern which we hired from Willow Wren Co. So, by way of a diversion, I am publishing some of them below.

This is the approach to Atherstone Top Lock on the Coventry canal. We were there in 2008 but I don't have a picture of this scene as it is today.

Here's Pete, hauling through at a bridge which looks like a bridge near our current mooring at Willington but I walked down there and it isn't.

We must have had some good weather! From left, Sue Clode, Pete Osborn and Sandy (probably), adorn the roof while I steer.

Bittern had no weed hatch, so prop clearance was a major operation. John Scott was always up for getting wet, cold and muddy; while Rowena Scott and I look on.

This is me again, but I have no idea where we were. Any ideas?

This looks like Hatton top lock. If it is, the scene is very different today with a tea shop, carefully manicured verges and lots of gongoozlers (onlookers).

Checking our progress in the Canals Book, an early guide. This one volume covered the whole network.

All photos by Colin Clode

Click on any photo to enlarge.

September 18

We just got back from 3 nights in London. Went by train and had a fantastic time. Both of us fell in love with the place all over again. Our hotel was ideally situated half way between Trafalgar Square and Piccadilly Circus on a quiet street. It was also incredibly expensive but it was an anniversary splurge. Other than that, we did not find London particularly expensive, or maybe we had been softened up by tales of it being the "most expensive city in Europe". We ate very well for very little, bought an Oyster card for the tube and buses and spent about 10 pounds ($15) each on transport over the three days.

The first night we walked down to the South Bank and found ourselves engulfed in huge crowds attending the Lord Mayor's ('Boris' to Londoners) Thames Festival. It was extreme.

Next day we took a river boat to Greenwich, home of the zero meridian (or 0 deg longitude). Tourists straddle it (see right). In the Observatory there is a fascinating display of clocks developed to solve the "longitude problem" which beset early seafarers. That a British clockmaker solved the problem ensured that Greenwich became the world's timekeeper, hence Greenwich Mean Time, adopted by all except the French in the late 19th Century. There is also a huge Maritime Museum there and acres of glorious parks and beautiful old buildings, but we moved on.

Back into town via the Docklands Light Railway, an automatic train that plunges up and down like a roller coaster through the East End. We passed Limehouse Basin where we moored Basil two years ago on our trip down the Thames Tideway.

We saw two great theatre performances - we had front row seats to see Jeff Goldblum and Mercedes Ruehl in Neil Simon's "Prisoner of 2nd Avenue". Jeff (I feel we are on first name terms, as when he ripped his shirt off in one scene a button hit me in the leg) gave a hilarious and brilliant performance of a New Yorker losing his mind in the face of adversity. It was written in 1974 but could equally apply in today's insecurity and fear. Mercedes was great, too, and it was obvious that they were having a lot of fun. Their characters faced terrible challenges but their love for each other shone through everything. Not in a soppy way.

GREENWICH MERIDIAN

ST. JAMES' PARK

TATE - LICHTENSTEIN's "WHAM"

TATE

HANDEL and HENDRIX

ST. PAUL'S & MILLENIUM BRIDGE

TATE - DIEGO RIVERA

TATE

TATE - WARHOL

Click on any photo to enlarge.

THE LONDON EYE

TATE - RODIN'S "The Kiss" DETAIL

TATE

The other play we saw was "Educating Rita". We happened across this while on a walk down the Strand, and got good seats for £17.50 ($27) each for the same night! Tim Piggot-Smith was the Professor. He usually plays really evil characters, such as the racist colonial policeman in the Raj Quartet and it was strange, but a mark of how good an actor he is, to see him playing a relatively sympathetic part. In short, my love of the theatre was restored by these two plays after a long period of duds in many cities, including London.

The next day we walked and rode to the Tate Modern, a huge edifice of Modern Art housed in an old power station on the bank of the Thames. It is approached across the river by the new Millennium Bridge (see above). There are many famous paintings (also above) and a lot of dross, but modern art is all in the eye of the beholder. Best to enjoy, not interpret.

Back in Trafalgar Square, Audi (the car company) were setting up four industrial robots to paint messages in 3D to be controlled from the Internet. I posted an anninversary message for Barbara for the robots to play. You can see it HERE. We had walked miles and sank gratefully into our hotel bed after a light supper in a cozy Italian restaurant on Villiers Street.

On the last morning we visited Jimi Hendrix's flat in Mayfair which is open to the public for a few days only. By chance he lived next door to the house where Handel lived. Two musical adventurers seeking fame in London two hundred years and two doors apart. The houses are now joined and form a museum to both. Very different music but I was struck by how dedicated and hard working they both were in the service of their art. Handel died there and Jimi a few blocks away - Hendrix so young and Handel in his prime. Their houses are stamped with blue plaques (above).

Back on the boat now we have one last outing to the Peak District for some hiking and conviviality in a little hotel we found.

September 24th

In three days we will be back in the States. The summer seems to have flown by. We have a hired car this week, so we went for one last jaunt for two nights in the Peak District, a beautiful area of hills and dales sculptured during the last Ice Age. We stayed in the Charles Cotton Hotel in Hartington, named after a co-author of The Compleat Angler. It turned out to be a real gem and we will definitely return there if we can, preferably with friends and family. The rooms are cozy and fairly priced at about £65 ($100) a night including a huge breakfast. The new managers are very enthusiastic and they and all their staff are very friendly. There's a snug bar, a lounge and two restaurants, one of which was being refurbished while we were there. The food was excellent - I had poached cod and salmon the first night and the best fish and chips of the summer on the second night. This was cooked perfectly - piping hot, moist, flaky haddock encased in a crisp, light tempura beer batter. A 10 on the Raven scale of fish and chip excellence for sure!

We really lucked out with the weather, it was truly the last day of summer when we set out on a 6.5 mile hike through Biggin Dale to the River Dove. Some of the hills are pretty steep but no threat to a reasonably fit walker. The views are breathtaking, the photos below do not do them justice. The grazing herds of cattle and sheep roam fields fenced in by drystone walls instead of hedges. We saw several walls being built in the same manner, so the craft is alive and well. The farmhouses and barns are all built of the same local stone, so the whole area has quite a different look and feel from the rest of England.

My brothers, Nigel and Michael and Mike's wife Angela are all coming up by train tomorrow to wish us bon voyage. Basil is all painted up and ready for the winter, except for refuelling and pumping out the toilet tank, which we will do on Sunday. Then it's off to Manchester airport overnight before catching our flights back to Phoenix on Monday.
Thanks for all your comments and e-mails. We look forward to seeing all our American friends and family soon!

CHARLES COTTON HOTEL