Sunday 6th June 2021
In the bathroom this morning Brenda noted the quantity of hand wash and hand sanitiser alongside our Covid test kits, just in case! It reminded her of the first year we owned Jannock when we cruised sporting a tray full of disinfectant foot bath during the Foot and Mouth epidemic in 2001 – that was a grim summer.
A very quiet night was spent at Beeston lock with no calls for blood bike services after 9:30pm so Graham got a decent nights sleep. We cast off in ‘grey day’ mode and made our way towards the centre of Nottingham. On the way there were interesting things to look out for, not least the other end of the derelict Nottingham canal to Langley Mill basin. We’ve now been at both ends but unfortunately not along it’s whole length.
Just before Castle lock Brenda spotted a Dad explaining, as best he could, to a little girl how the lock worked. We offered them a ride through the lock in the front well deck, so picked them up and then dropped them off again at the lock landing below. They all had a ‘wonderful’ time. Hyperbole to my mind, but there were wide smiles and profuse thanks after the very short ride.
On to Meadow Lane lock where we descended and then turned sharp right to explore the top of the navigable section by the Civic centre. The water was shared with kiddies in canoes, rowing boats – athletic types rather than boating lake, and a dragon boat. We winded and set off downstream noting that the derelict areas we saw last time we came this way are now very smart flats with river views.
Further downstream there were more canoes and paddleboards pootling along both river banks – the Wombles Boating Club – pulling lots of litter and other items out of the margins. Does a whole motorcycle count as litter?
When we got to Holme lock we learnt that Gunthorpe Lock (2 down) is currently closed due to upper gate leakage – possibly for a couple of days. Good job we don’t have any time constraints – what shall we do now?
We tied up on the visitor moorings above Holme lock and spent the afternoon doing a bit of boat maintenance and watching the canoeists doing their thing in the National Watersports Centre rapids.
A time lapse video of our trip through Nottingham can be found at https://youtu.be/ShXV-DJ0OcU
G & B
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