Day 8 and 9 - The final leg of the journey

11/03/2007 by Mark.Whalley.

Saturday 10th and Sunday 11th March

On returning home on 24th February having ‘abandoned ship’ in Shardlow, I telephoned British Waterways - West Midlands (www.britishwaterways.co.uk/contact/southern/west_midlands_office.html) to let them know that we were moored on a 48hr mooring, and that I suspected we would be there a bit longer! The very helpful lady from BW thanked me for letting them know, and that she in turn would notify the enforcement officer for that area - at least now I won’t get back to find the boat clamped!

Over the following days (turning into weeks), I carefully monitored the BBC weather web site (www.bbc.co.uk/weather) with the occasional phone call to Sawley Marina and British Waterways (Newark) to ascertain the state of the Trent. Each time there seemed to be no respite from the rain, and therefore no opportunity for the Trent to return to a navigable state. Then around the 5th / 6th the BBC forecast seemed to be showing a milder, dryer spell - fingers crossed for the weekend of 10th / 11th March. On Thursday I called BW at Newark. They said that although the water had dropped by over 2ft, the river was still not navigable. However, for as long as no more rain fell, the river should be safe for passage on Saturday or Sunday. Again, being the very helpful BW, they suggested calling the lock keeper on his mobile on Saturday, for even though he wasn’t working, he would not mind advising us on the state of the river. On Saturday, although grateful for the offer of advise from Dave (BW), I decided to call Sawley Marina as their office was open throughout the weekend. They said that as of this morning, the river had dropped from Red to Amber - implying the river was navigable with caution. We (Bev and I) decided that with a dry forecast and river levels currently dropping, we should make the 400 mile round trip to complete the last mile and two locks.

 

Rather than do the whole journey of 400 miles (plus 1 mile and 2 locks) in one day, we would drive to Shardlow on Saturday with the intention of moving the boat on Sunday. Setting off early in the afternoon, we reached Sawley at around 16:00. Wanting to get to know the area a little better, we drove into Long Eaton where we saw the shops (and pubs and restaurants) that would be visited over the coming months. We then drove back to Shardlow (via a Co-Op for milk and liquorice) where we unloaded the car and then returned to a long stay car park next to Shardlow Marina.

After unpacking, getting the boat warm (and of course cracking open a bottle of red wine), we set off to the Clock Warehouse for a very pleasant bar meal of lamb (for me) and a vegetarian spinach dish for Bev (not that she is a vegetarian of course!), then returned to the boat to finish the previously opened bottle of wine.

In the morning, we started relatively early (~09:00) and slowly moved out of Shardlow (again!).

 

 

Looking back up the canal to a number of boats that had also been waiting for the waters to subside

 

A tastefully restored canal side property

 

ditto

(with rounded lower wall on road corner changing to pointed edge on 1st floor - I’m sure there’s a technical name for it - maybe someone will let me know?)

 

deja vous

(as we pass the new marina in which we did an about turn a couple of weeks earlier)

 

That ‘traffic light’ notice board

 

Cautiously sitting in the lock whilst I check the water level marker board

 

If you look REALLY hard, you can see a bit of amber (or yellow as it appeared here).

Do you know how difficult it was for me to paint that amber bit last night

 

The start of the ‘Trent and Mersey’ mile post…

 

… and the inscription.

 

Leaving the Trent and Mersey …

 

… and joing the River Trent!

(what was all the fuss about?)

 

Looking back up to the Trent and Mersey

 

OK, maybe they were right.

Do NOT proceed, strong stream conditions (stream? I call that a river!)

 

After passing under the M1 bridge traveling at 7-8 miles an hour - with the engine hardly ticking over (and probably faster than the vehicles on the motorway!), we left the River Trent and on to Sawley Cut (and Sawley Flood Lock). After leaving the lock (and leaving the RED paddles open - as requested) and immediately passing under Sawley Bridge, we came across Sawley Marina - and Tastoma’s ‘new home’.

 

Sawley Marina

 

…and the entrance to their ‘Platinum’ moorings

 

… and the entrance for the lower classes!

 

Passing under the foot bridge and into the main part of the marina.

 

I will eventually post some more pictures of the marina (and moorings), but just right now we want to get moored, have a ‘Full English Breakfast’ in the cafe, walk to Shardlow (to retrieve the car), sort out the electricity on the mooring, find the Elsan disposal, pack our bags, secure the boat - and return home - the second leg of 200 miles!

 

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