Left at 09:50
arrived at 15:20
Last night I went to bed at
9, Derek not long after, I was absolutely shattered, I slept well any way. Derek was up filling the water, me up and
ready for 8,we went over the water to the Marina side and filled up with Diesel
and set off. The Duplicate locks in
front of Sawley were ahead of us, the left hand side is out of order so there
is only one working, a few boats had gone down, so wait and see what happens. It is an electrically operated lock so there
are only buttons to press, you never know I may get a ride. Looking at the moored NBs, there was a name that struck a cord “Penny Less”, I
know that feeling. At the lock there
were 3 boats going through and a lockie on, a cruiser, NB Balloo and his mate,
another NB. Then a lovely broadbeam was
coming in with a titchy cruiser. The
lockie explained that the other lock has a copy key stuck in it, so needs
sorting out after the Bank Holiday. I climbed off to take a look at the
Broadbeam coming in and take photos, then we went into the lock, roped off and
I did get my ride. The house at the side
of the lock is coming on very well, it will be a stunner when its
finished. I had a chat with the lockie,
a lock keeper called Dave has bought the house, he intends and has, planning
permission for a little tea room there.
The only proviso for the building, is that the kitchen units have to be
high off the ground, because of potential flooding. He is unable to get insurance against floods
and the lockie said the water in 2000 was up to the kitchen windowsill. It will be a lovely place when its done and I’m
sure we will be seeing it again. There
is a little stone alcove near the top windows, I asked the lockie what would be
in there, he said a boat lantern, that was what was originally there, Dave is
looking for a suitable one? Good luck to Dave and his family its obviously a
labour of love. Cranfleet was our first
proper lock, I had forgotten what was coming up, there was a volunteer lockie
on, so another ride. Derek pulled over
to the pontoons after the lock to check his prop, there were two NBs coming up. Its getting busy out on the river, a
beautiful Dutch Barge passed by, then 2 NBs fastened together, it looked like a
rescue job to me, then a very shiny NB heading towards us, NB Coopers
Pride. The sometimes pretty tatty, but
always interesting cabins on the right hand side of us have people in them for
the weekend. There was a sign saying for
salw, it was in front of a piece of land, £90 000 ? it surely cant be right,
that seems a bit steep. A little further
along there was a very tatty NB and at
the side of it a wreckage, it looked like there had been a fire, it was awful
to see. Another NB coming towards us,
this time with a cruiser fastened to it, who was rescuing who I’m not quite
sure. Excitement!!! Well for me anyway, I saw a young Cormorant
diving, coming up, throwing a fish in the air and then gobbling it down, he did
this three times !! now thats cool. Beeston River Lock, one boat was out, he
had shut the gate, poor man he saw us and dashed back to sort the paddles??
This is the mad one, it has 2 red paddles, one at each end, they have to be
left open when you leave, its very confusing, it goes against all you have to
do normally. We had a laugh about it
when I went up to him and he opened the gates for Derek to sail in. We had a couple of gongoozlers asking where
we came from, the accent gives me away, they were lovely and wished us a safe
journey home. There are lots of
wildfowl, we just saw a moorhen 2ft off the ground, climbing a bush to escape a
beautiful tabby cat, he wouldn’t get her, she just got into the water and
sailed away quite unperturbed. There are
lots of Coots on this side of the river and quite a few ducks on this bit, I
gave them some bread, I love it when the ducks fly in and do a crash landing,
it makes a lovely splash and looks really comical. We have just been overtaken by a young man in
a canoe, we last saw him at Cranfleet, he was chuffed when Derek said we were
doing 3 m.p.h. It seems a long way to Sainsburys which is in the middle of the
canal going through Nottingham, we are passing a Marina, there are lots of
people coming out of Nottingham, I had forgotten I think, because we are
usually going away from it. At
Sainsburys I went for the provisions, got lots of lovely grub, an Indian
takeaway for tonight and got myself a bunch of flowers to celebrate we are on
our way home, I always have flowers in the house. I took the trolley to the boat, as instructed
by the Captain? We unloaded it through the kitchen hatch and Derek took the
trolley back. We had a cuppa and a Ginsters
slice, then on our way to Pierrepont. At
the lock near the pub, it was full with gongoozlers, boozers actually, I filled
the lock and then another NB came up behind us, they didn’t think they could
share, well that was their excuse for not coming to help. Derek signalled they and they entered the
lock, I gave the guy a bit of instruction, they sailed through with a thank
you. They were two older men with dolly
birds (thats showing my age) as the skipper sailed by me holding the gate he
said he needed a whisky, what a whimp he had only come from the Marina. On the tight corner of the canal next to the
Premier Inn, I gave it a wave. When we
arrive I always feel as if we may join the guests there for Breakfast. Its 2:34 now, still muggy, Derek insisted on
keeping his water proofs on, now with his crocs instead of willies, sartorial
elegance prevails. The water is busy,
people were sailing in their sail boats, we kept close to the shore so they
could tack out of our way, it was a space we hadn’t been near before. There was a Grebe diving for fish, then her
baby appeared too, now that was worth seeing up close, they are so pretty and
wonderful divers. At Pierrepont there
was no room at the inn??!! Derek starts
to get annoying in these situations, he pulled us on to the No Mooring,
Passenger Boats site, left me and went to see if there was any space further
along. I was dangerously close to a
plastic boat (fibre glass) we are a lot harder then him, I spent 5 or so
anxious minutes making susre we didn’t bump his bow, the last thing we need is
a large insurance claim. He came back,
no room, we decided we would go through the lock and see what was further
on. Heading for the lock, there was a
little cruiser on the end of the lower down wall, Derek asked him if he would
mind moving slightly forward, we could then turn round and put our nose to his
back and then the front half of the boat would be against the lower wall to
enable us to get Jess off, he said fine.
We then moved round and moored behind him, pointing the wrong way, but
ok for us to get the dogs on and off the boat.
We finally tied up for the night
at 3:20.
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