23rd June - 8th July

We’ve come a long way over the past couple of weeks, covering a lot of miles, and passing through many attractive towns and villages en route. However, time is pressing if we are to achieve our aim of reaching the Pennines before returning home to Leamington for good in September, so we have not lingered long for sight-seeing. We continued along the River Soar to Leicester,

Weir outside Leicester

 where we struggled with heavy, badly maintained locks, and tried to avoid often ill-signposted weirs. 

Canalside sculpture in Loughborough

We continued through Loughborough, before joining the River Trent near Ratcliffe-on-Soar, just south of Nottingham. 

Ratcliffe-on-Soar power station

  North of Nottingham, the river becomes more impressive: wide and fast-flowing, 

River Trent, leaving Nottingham

with enormous locks, all manned by cheerful lock-keepers, glad of something to do since virtually all commercial traffic on the canal has ceased. 

VHF radio

We alerted each lock in advance on our new VHF radio, which Roger has installed in the engine room, with a magnetic aerial intended for taxis (!) mounted on the roof.

 After stopping briefly in Newark, 

Castle ruins overlooking Newark Lock

we arrived at Cromwell Lock, gateway to the tidal section of the Trent, and booked our passage for the following day.  Unlike the Thames, the Trent tideway is very quiet, with very little boat traffic, and few villages along the way. 

Boat leaving Cromwell lock

The main worry is running aground, rather than colliding with another boat. We had bought a copy of the “Sissions Chart” for the tidal Trent, which has aerial photos showing all the hazards to avoid – shoals, gravel banks, sunken islands, submerged barges and a Roman ford! 

An unexpected hazard on the Trent
-a waterskier!

Narrowboats aren’t powerful enough to get all the way from Cromwell to Keadby (from where one can access the Yorkshire waterways) in one day – it’s 45 miles, which is a long way, even going downstream on the ebb tide!  We did it in three hops, mooring overnight at Torksey, then on to Gainsborough to wait for a couple of hours the following morning for the ‘flood’ tide to turn.

Floating pontoon at Gainsborough

We overshot the floating pontoon and were carried downstream, broadside, for nearly half a mile before succeeding in struggling back to moor up. Finally we made our way to the giant Keadby Lock, which felt like a haven of safety after the rigours of the tideway. 

Safe in Keadby Lock, alongside "Allusion"

 We were happy to find we had fellow voyagers for this stretch aboard another narrowboat “Allusion” -  although speedier than us, they very kindly dawdled to keep us in sight to make sure we were ok, as they had travelled this section before

Next morning, we set off along the Stainforth and Keadby Canal, which doesn’t have many locks, but makes up for that by an abundance of swing and lift bridges, some operated electrically, some by brute force.  Many carry a road across the water, so one is conscious of a queue of drivers glaring irritably as they wait for the boat to pass and the bridge to be restored to normal. 

Railway swing bridge ( note weed-covered
surface of water in foreground)

The first swing bridge after Keadby lock carries the railway, so you have to wait for the signalman to open it for you between trains!

After 15 miles, we turned right on to the New Junction Canal, where we suddenly found ourselves at the head of a flotilla of 6 boats, having barely seen another boat all day. 

Queuing for a lift bridge

We each took it in turn to operate the swing or lift bridges for the other boats to pass through, and all managed to fit at once into the huge Sykehouse Lock (which has a swing bridge in the middle of it!)

After the ruler-straight 5 miles of the New Junction canal, we joined the Aire and Calder Navigation, in some places river, in others canalised, but a large commercial waterway, at least until recently ( and also pretty straight)

The empty Aire & Calder Navigation

 It appears that the gravel barges and oil tankers which used to ply the navigation have finally stopped – it seems a shame that those goods are no longer transported by water, but selfishly, we have been very grateful not to have to worry about trying to avoid a gigantic vessel coming round a bend!

Vincent Joseph lost in an enormous lock

The locks built to accommodate such boats are truly vast: 20ft wide and 200ft long – Vincent Joseph looked tiny in the cavernous depths. These locks are no longer manned, but are self-operated via control panels on the lock-side.

 

Lock-side control panel

Now we are in Leeds, and about to attempt the steep climb up the Pennines to Skipton, we hope. The locks on this part of the Leeds and Liverpool Canal are only 60ft long (and we are 61ft!) but we have been assured that we can fit in diagonally…. Time will tell – you’ll have to wait for the next exciting instalment to find out!