On the canal again

Saturday 19th June 2021

We left our tall concrete mooring at 9am and made our way up the Trent towards Nottingham. At Stoke lock, even though we had recce’d the shoal last time we were here, and rung ahead to let the lockie know we were coming, the current from the weir stream forced Jannock sideways and we ended up with the bows stuck on the gravel bank. The marker buoys placed by CaRT to warn boaters bear no relationship to the actual location of the hazard. Luckily a bit of heavy reversing got shallow drafted Jannock unstuck and we had another go and successfully got around the obstacle this time.

 

On the next section of river we watched a family drama play out on the river side. Mum, Dad, about 5 years old daughter and old family dog. The daughter had one of those plastic ball launchers with a ball fitted into the end. Dad wanted a go and was wrestling the item from daughters grip which caused her to cry. The dog was at the waters edge but not paying much attention to the on-going drama. Having gained control of the thrower, Dad hurled the ball way out into the river, probably further than was a good idea for a retrieve, but then the dog wasn’t watching anyway and had no idea that it had gone, let alone where to! It stood watching it’s ball-less master in anticipation and ignored all attempts of them to alert him to it’s whereabouts. Too late – little girl realised she wasn’t going to get a go at all now and the crying escalated to almost a temper tantrum. She was having a right paddy when they went out of sight behind the bushes. Just goes to show that a Dad is much better off if he has two balls!

 

We also passed this fisherman whose dog looked like he was ready to retrieve any fish he caught. There are several examples of flood damage still to be seen on the Trent, like the boat below.

 

Up through Holme lock to find loads of sailing boats crewed by kids having a good time on the river. We kept over to the starboard bank and their ‘guardian angel’ in a small power boat remained between us and it’s sailors all the time.

 

At Park End lock we ascended sharing with another narrowboat onto the Nottingham and Beeston canal. We continued on but shared City lock with yet another boat that was already there when we arrived. We moored for the night just before Sainburys where the office buildings shielded us from the local road noise and gave us a very quiet night. After some shopping we had dinner and then Graham did another night of controlling the SERV-OBN blood bikes from the boat. Unfortunately all his calls came between 2 am and 6:30 am so he was very tired in the morning.

G&B