Nottingham Canal

It was overcast at the start of the day but at least the river didn’t look any different to yesterday.  I walked up to Holme Lock and discovered the same lock keeper who worked us up through Newark Town Lock yesterday morning.  He told me we had made good time whilst I mentioned the tight bend and fast flow which had almost brought us to a stop.

He then emptied the lock whilst we loitered below the bottom gates.  This is a deep lock!

We did the usual thing using bow and stern ropes to hold Waiouru against the side of the lock whilst it slowly filled.  So much water for one 58’6” narrowboat.  That though proved to be quite amusing as we watched the boat entering from upstream as we left.

One tiny ‘tinny’ with two fishermen!

The river is quite wide above the lock which means the current isn’t nearly as strong.

Upstream lock channel and moorings

Looking back you can see the lock channel to the right and the long string of buoys across the front of the sluice gates.  The gantries from the sluice gates can be seen on the skyline.  Apparently the sluices were constructed after WW2 as part of a flood prevention measure.  More recently, approval was granted for the construction of a hydro-electric system which is currently being installed in the ‘old’ lock which is adjacent to the current lock.  The turbine will produce sufficient power for 700 homes in the local area.

It was an uneventful cruise up the Trent to Meadow Lane Lock passing the dilapidated lock at the entrance to the former Grantham Canal.  Part of the top end of the Grantham Canal has been restored and hopefully one day boaters will see a fully restored canal.

A cruiser had been moored and left on the lock landing at Meadow Lane Lock.  I get really annoyed when inconsiderate people do this sort of thing.  My mind envisages a 22t steel narrowboat breasting up and hearing the squeek, pop, crunch of plastic and a puff of white cloud.  There was a second floating pontoon beyond the lock which has “Visitor Moorings – 48 hours on it.  That’s where the cruiser owner should have left their boat!

An elderly couple were coming down the lock (these days anyone older than me is elderly).  Actually they were struggling and were grateful for Jan’s assistance.  Their plan was to reach Newark tonight, somehow I think they were being optimistic.

Above the lock with the CRT services block on the right.

The CRT facilities moorings are immediately above the lock and there we found a second cruiser moored and abandoned.  This owner had chained and padlocked their boat to the bollards.  I was tempted!  The plan is to stay in Nottingham for at least the weekend so we took the opportunity to top up the water tank. The map shows there isn’t another tap until you reach the far end of the canal. 

Jan had set the next lock (Castle Lock) and I’d entered it when the lady sitting on the gate told Jan we had already passed Sainsbury’s.  I then reversed out of the lock and back to some moorings near a couple of fishermen.  They told Jan the supermarket was above the lock, so it was a case of going back into the lock where Jan worked us up. 

Has anyone heard of British Waterways?

We cruised on for several hundred metres before finding a good mooring with rings.  After tying up we discovered the Sainsbury’s was behind the trees adjacent to our mooring (ideal mooring).  Jan wandered off to the supermarket with her trolley whilst I needed to do a major service on the engine.  It’s now done 3556 hours!  The new 1.5 litre vacuum suction pump worked a treat emptying the gearbox.  There was a brief heart stopping moment when I though I didn’t have sufficient new oil, before realising the second 5 litre container was behind the engine floor hatch.  I checked the two fuel pre-filters finding a tiny amount of “gunk” from the first of the pre-filters whilst the second pre-filter was clean.  The hardest task was reaching under the domestic battery bank to insert a tiny squirt of silicone grease into the water lubricated dripless stern gland.  I’m simply not as flexible as I used to be.  Of course the relaxed stomach muscles also get in the way!