Monday 8th September (Continued)
The Taft to Handsacre
While we had a good signal we booked car hire with
Enterprise for Wednesday, requesting that we get collected from Alrewas. We had decided to go to the Graham Bell funeral,
and miss the Doris Armstrong funeral, as it was too early.
We moved across to the fuel barge opposite, and bought £100
worth of diesel at 79p per litre.
Crossing the Trent at
Rugeley
On arrival at Rugeley we visited Aldi and Tesco. We also met Gary on a hire boat, who had
called in at the Taft as we were leaving.
He had an interesting card for evangelism entitled “Are you going to
heaven?”
After the very blind and sharp bended bridge 62, we stopped
at the water point by Hawkesyard Hall.
As we were finishing, Grace came past, so we followed them
through the narrow cutting known as Armitage Tunnel and past the Armitage
Shanks factory.
Armitage Tunnel
Armitage Shanks
factory
Grace moored by Bridge 58, but this was by a busy
road, so we carried on a little further and moored after Bridge 56. We had lovely views, but the trains were a
little noisy. We had to use mooring
spikes and the earth was a bit soft.
Speckled Wood
Butterfly
Gary went past on his hire boat.
0 locks, 6 miles, 3hr00
Tuesday 9th September
Handsacre to Alrewas
We had a heavy dew this morning, leading to a lovely sunny
day.
We passed Gary who had moored a bit further on, and headed
for Wood End Lock, where one boat was waiting and one boat was coming up. The house by the lock looked empty.
The next lock was Shade House Lock. Again there was one boat
each way first. The house here was for sale for £625,000
Shade House Lock
As this is where HS2 is due to pass through, is this an
example of property blight?
Fradley Junction
The five Fradley locks were mostly quiet. We stopped at the sanitary station where we
found there were not enough mooring bollards, so we had to tie on to a ring
with the centre line.
A boat came past too fast, and Hazel asked him to slow down.
Our stern was sucked out leaving a dangerous gap for stepping off with
cassettes.
James thought he heard him say, “Why are you using just one
rope?” James replied, “I’m only using
one rope because there are no bollards”.
He had a very loud voice, and said, “That’s not my problem”
We caught up with him at the next lock, where he said in his
huge voice “I never go too fast. I was on tickover. I never asked “why are you
using one rope?” - that’s not my problem, that’s your problem.”
The name of his boat was unpronounceable, so we referred to
him as Mr Loudmouth. We found him trying to moor after lock 14, and his boat
was up on one side on a submerged ledge.
We went past very slowly, showing him how it was done, and offered to
tow him off, but he declined.
We arrived at Lock 13 Bagnall Lock, where a hire boat was
coming up. A CRT volunteer was also there.
They closed the paddles before opening the gate, and James struggled to
open the gate. James suggested to the hirer that they open the gates before
closing the paddles in future. When
they had left and Gabriel entered the lock, we closed the gate and were
chatting to the volunteer, and the level in the lock dropped quickly before we
had even moved to the other end of the lock. We discovered that one of the
bottom paddles had not been closed properly.
We moored in Alrewas, three boat lengths before the
footbridge.
Alrewas Church
Gary went past on his hire boat. Later he returned going in
the other direction. It was a lovely evening for a cruise, he said.
8 locks, 5 miles, 3hr55
Wednesday 10th September
Alrewas
We decided to move boat the other side of the footbridge,
where it was better for Hugo, with access to the churchyard. Also it was not so
overlooked by houses.
We walked to the George and Dragon, our rendezvous for
collection by Enterprise Car Hire. The
car was a bright green Vauxhall Corsa.
We were driven down the A38 to Lichfield to the Enterprise base. Then, after completing the paperwork, we set
off back up the A38 past Burton.
Our first stop was Kedleston Hall, a National Trust property
we had never visited. It was a
wonderful place with amazing landscaped parkland. It was one of the locations
for the film “The Duchess”.
Kedleston Hall
Marble Hall
Saloon Ceiling
Saloon
We had lunch there before looking round the house and
chatting to the friendly and helpful volunteers and staff. Then we drove up
over the hills before heading for Mansfield.
We have a 2006 road atlas, and we discovered that some
junctions had been changed on the approach to Mansfield. Two anticipated
roundabouts were missing. However, we found the Civic Hall sooner than we
expected.
We were there to celebrate the life of Graham Bell, a friend
of ours for many years, and leader of Ashwood Church in Kirkby in Ashfield. We
have never investigated to establish a family connection, although if we went
back far enough we might find a link.
Before Graham’s
memorial service
We had a warm welcome from Molly and eldest son Matt. We were a row in front of Chris Bowater and
Norman Barnes. It was also good to
catch up with John and Christine Noble.
The place was almost full, and the worship was excellent, led by Paul
Bell. There were nine eulogies. A very good send off for Graham.
We drove back from Mansfield to Alrewas, and parked in the
churchyard, just 50 yards from Gabriel.
No boating today
Thursday 11th September
Alrewas to Branston Water Park
We made us of the car by driving to the National Memorial
Arboretum, just outside Alrewas. It was a very moving place and we had glorious
sunshine.
Memorial Arboretum
We returned the car back to Enterprise, and were then
dropped back into Alrewas, where we visited the famous butcher for ham, pork
pie, turkey, chicken breasts, and feta cheese.
Then lunch on board before setting off.
We timed it well at Alrewas Lock - a boat was just coming
out. This was followed by the river
section where the navigation joins the River Trent for a short distance. This
sometimes causes stoppages in the winter when the river goes into flood. No problems today though.
Alrewas Lock
At Wychnor lock there was a queue of one.
We called in at Barton Turns Marina for gas and elsan. Since our last visit there is a whole line
of new buildings including shops and restaurants.
Facilities are a bit spread out along this section. We
stopped at Barton Turn Lock for water, and then again half a mile further on
for rubbish.
Barton Turn Lock
At Tatenhill Lock the bottom gates had been left open so we
had to fill the lock before we used it.
We moored by Branston Water Park, where there were several
boats already.
There were lots of rabbits on the path, and something similar to a shield bug on
a plant by our window. Hugo was happy.
Shield bug?
4 locks, 5 miles, 1 mouse.
Friday 12th September
A leisurely departure today, with only one lock to operate
before mooring at Shobnall Fields.
We walked into Burton town centre past the Coors brewery,
almost a mile.
Monument to beer
Burton beer town
James wanted some brown socks, so he went into M&S. You can’t buy dark brown socks there unless
you also buy light brown ones and beige ones.
Why do they package them like this?
No sale.
We stopped at a lovely teashop and had tea and cake, before
taking a bus back to near the station and walking through to Lidl for our provisions.
Back to the boat for supper. We heard on the news that Ian Paisley had died.
We walked the short distance to the Cottage Tavern where Brewtown
Folk Club takes place every Friday. The
guest artists were Harry Bird and the Rubber Wellies – very entertaining with
their own songs, which had a folk feel, with a touch of reggae. They had been at Greenbelt this year, where
they had sung Sydney Carter songs.
Floor singers only had one song each, so we sang Well, well,
well.
There was a raffle where they sold tickets by the strip of
5. Instead of folding up the stubs
singly to put in the basket they folded the whole strip. A lady was asked to draw the first ticket,
and she drew her own strip. Then James was asked to draw one, and he also drew
his own strip! Very odd. We took away a nice bottle of Hardy’s Shiraz Cabernet.
Brewtown Folk Club
1 lock, 2 miles, 1 mouse
Saturday 13th September
Burton to Willington
It was sunny today as we set off through Dallow Lock, the
last narrow lock. We stopped at
Horninglow Basin to fill with water and empty the loo.
Dallow Lock
As we crossed the Dove aqueduct, Hazel spotted some flowers
for our vase, so we stopped on the aqueduct and took some photos.
13th
century Monk’s Bridge at Egginton
Aqueduct over the
River Dove
We moored at Willington, where the trains rattle loudly past
on the other side of the hedge, and traffic rushes along the minor road the
other side of the canal. We will try and avoid mooring here in future.
James tightened the stern gland and replenished the grease,
to stop water leaking in by the prop shaft.
We walked round via the bridge to dump our rubbish, and then
went to explore the baptist church, the shop and the three pubs.
Back on the boat, despite the noise, we had Zzzzzzzzzzz. Hazel made a shepherd’s pie with the mince
be had bought at the Alrewas butchers - lovely.
Willington moorings
1 lock, 5 miles, 2hr15
Sunday 14th September
Willington to Swarkestone before bridge 15
As we headed for the service at the baptist church, we
spotted a Fox boat, and James was just about to get a photo for Peter Ekins
when he realised it was March Mole, Peter Ekins’ boat! They weren’t on board but we spotted Peter
and Pam further along the towpath so we went to say hello.
Peter and Pam
At the Baptist Chapel we had a warm welcome, and discovered
that Peter Brooks was also visiting.
The service was very real, with no formality. There was an excellent
children’s talk to explain what taking communion was all about.
Willington Baptist Chapel
Music group
We had a good Sunday lunch at the Green Man, and it looked
better value than the more popular Dragon, which is on the green in a better
location.
Originally we had planned to spend two nights in Willington,
but due to the noise we decided to move on.
We paused at Mercia Marina to buy some blue. We tied alongside another
boat, as there was only one mooring space by the chandlery. The couple on board
had met Norman Woolley on heartbreak hill (Pat and Terry).
A little further on we came to Stenson Lock, our first wide
lock since the Thames. It was also quite deep and took a while to fill. We gave out two “How do locks work?”
leaflets.
Stenson Lock
Gongoozlers
The railway line had divided into two, with the main line
going off to the left, and a minor line staying with the canal. We moored just before bridge 15 at
Swarkestone, where there was a thick hedge between the canal and the
track. We only heard very occasional
trains here.
We noticed Hugo jumping around on the stern deck, and when we
opened the door, we found a very active bank vole, who wisely decided to escape
by running and leaping into the canal, and swimming away.
1 lock, 5 miles, 1 lively bank vole, 2hr15
Next week: heading up the Soar
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