Swarkestone to Weston on Trent

I see that Granny Buttons had met the Tom Rolt memorial cruise while they were at Shardlow. Check his blog for more.

While I was waiting for the morning rush of boats to go through the lock I spotted 'The first Bio-fuel Boat'. Very noticeable was the two dogs with their heads out of the porthole wondering what was going on.

Wiki - Swarkestone - In 1745 during the Jacobite Rebellion led by Bonnie Prince Charlie, the advance party of his army reached here to gain control of the crossing of the Trent. Finding no reports of support from the south, they turned back to Derby; the invading army then retreated to Scotland and final defeat at the Battle of Culloden. Swarkestone thereby being the most southerly point reached during that army's advance on London.

Below the lock is the folly.

Wiki -  the Jacobean grandstand called Swarkestone Hall Pavilion and walled area, locally called The Cuttle, they used to bait bulls. The pavilion is attributed to John Smythson who also designed Bolsover Castle. It was repaired and is now owned by the Landmark Trust who maintain it and rent it out to holidaymakers.

The mileposts get rusty and there are a group that go around cleaning and painting them.  Just taking a pride in their canal.

There are some long curves following the contours and at stages you can see the boats that are way ahead of you. The pylons are everywhere.

Passed a couple of boats from Thorne.  They were both built by Louis & Joshua and I noticed that one of then was No 100.

At Sarson's Bridge there are notices to say that there is a shallow shelf on the towpath side of the canal.  I kept well away but it then all went wrong by meeting another boat at the bridges.  I stopped away from the bank but his wash moved the bows to the left and swung the stern onto the shelf.

First, with the aid of another boat, tried to pull it off after moving the heavy items from the engine room to the bow.  That didn't work.

Then another boat tried to pull me astern.  That didn't work either.

However a group of cyclists arrived and, in their words, 'We are experts at this' :-) A couple of poles and they rocked the boat as my engine went astern and the other boat pulled me back and slowly I got free.  Knackered.

Thanks everyone.

I reached Weston on Trent and decided that I had had enough excitement for one day.  


Before I get onto the Trent proper I will have to spend some time checking out the shaft again.