Saturday 7th September
Yesterday it rained but it wasn’t as bad as we thought it would be. We went to Nottingham on the bus (Trent Barton Sky Link £5 zigzag) with Mick and Cathy. We did the usual shopping and Wetherspoon’s. Actually we didn’t do the usual Wetherspoon’s (Joseph Else) we went to The Roe Buck instead which we thought was better.
When we got back we went to the chandlery at Sawley Marina and got some stern grease and some new large fenders. Our old large fenders have become sticky and leave a horrible black deposit on the side of the boat when we use them. This deposit is very difficult to get off being a bit like tar. We are going to paint under the gunwales again when we get back to Gloucester so hopefully the new fenders will be better.
This morning a quick check on Waterscape revealed there were no stoppages on the Trent so after I had walked into Sawley for a paper and some other bits from the Coop we all set off for Trent Lock. As we approached Sawley lock we were surprised to see it opened for us by a lock keeper. All the times we have used this lock in the past there has never been a lock keeper there.
We had actually planned to stop at the sanitary station before going in the lock but as he had opened it we went straight in and explained that we needed to empty the loo and get rid of our rubbish. He wasn’t bothered and waited until we had sorted ourselves out before locking us down on to The Trent.
We travelled the short distance to Trent Lock. There was one space on the outside of the pontoons which we let Mick and Cathy have and we went round and moored on the wall opposite the Trent Valley Sailing Club. After we had moored up we went round to see if Mick and Cathy had got in ok and had a cup of tea.While we were there a boat left the inside of the pontoons so we went and got our boat and came round and moored there.
There are two pubs here, The Trent Lock which was formerly The Navigation Inn before being refurbished by Vintage Inns and The Steamboat. We went to The Steamboat first but they were having a beer festival and as is usually the case with beer festivals there were no beers we had heard of and the ones we sampled were rubbish! Ken had a pint served to him which looked like soup it was so thick! In the end he and I had Thatcher’s cider. Mick and Cathy had beer but neither of them were very good.
After one pint we went to The Trent Lock where we had some better beer, albeit a bit pricey. The pub was quite busy with meals so we sat outside but it was a bit chilly when the sun went in. Then there were some children running around with kazoo-like things making a bit of a row. Tomorrow we have decided we will walk in to Long Eaton and go to The Bell.
The moorings here are 72 hours so we are going to stay here until Tuesday. Mick and Cathy are staying until Monday when they are going back to Weston so Mick can go fishing at another lake there.
