Tuesday 10th September
It took over 5 hours to travel the 6 miles and 5 locks from Trent Lock to Weston Upon Trent today. This included a water stop and a Shakespeare hire boat rescue!
We left Trent Lock, with Mick and Cathy, in good time heading for Sawley Locks. When we got there it was apparent that the appearance of the lock keeper when we went down on Friday was an anomaly because he was not in evidence today. I got off and operated the electric lock for us all.
After ascending the lock we both stopped for water at Sawley. Derwent Lock followed and we were in luck as a boat was just coming out so we went straight in. This did mean I had to scale the ladder in the lock to get off to operate it! Mick wouldn’t let Cathy go up the ladder so she had to wait until the boat was up before getting off.
At Shardlow Lock we came up behind a single hander who had just started his ascent when we got there. We helped him up then we reset the lock for ourselves. When we were ready to come out a boat appeared wanting to go down so that was convenient.
Aston Lock proved a little more difficult. As we approached the lock a boat was coming towards us and the chap aboard said to hang back a bit because it was chaos up there! When we got there we found one boat in the lock, our single hander on the lock approach and a Shakespeare hire boat well and truly grounded on the bank!
They were trying to push the boat off with a pole and serious amounts of revving of the engine but to no avail. The single hander went to help but he couldn’t budge it either. We pulled up, got their stern rope and tried to pull them off with our boat, backwards, but no joy. The single hander then decided to try to pull them off with his boat, forwards, still no joy. In the end we had to attach our rope to them as well and with us and the single hander both revving like Hell the Shakespeare finally came free of whatever it was caught up on. We then had to extricate ourselves from them and get on the lock approach.
The boat that was in the lock when we arrived was still patiently waiting and eventually the Shakespeare was able to join them. Meanwhile, Mick and Cathy, who had not been able to get near the lock approach, were moored some way back down the canal and for some reason Cathy was boiling some rice! We helped the two boats up the lock and another boat down then we went in with the single hander. Mick and Cathy pulled up to the lock approach and Cathy joined me on the lock.
When our boat was up the lock Ken and I hung around to help a boat down and then helped Mick and Cathy to come up. Mick was spotted practising his golf swings on the lock approach while he waited for the other boat to go down, nice to see him doing something useful! By the time they had got up the lock a boat with a group of lads on had caught us up. They had been moored at Trent Lock with us last night and when we left this morning they were just getting up after a heavy night!
When we got to Weston Lock Mick was able to go straight in with the single hander and there were two boat crews from boats waiting to come down helping on the lock. We went up with the lads who had caught up with us again. They went in first and started off on the left hand side of the lock with a chap on the bank (with no windlass) and one on the roof trying to throw him the centre rope. But he was a useless rope thrower and they then drifted over to the right hand side of the lock so by the time Ken got there he had to do a nifty avoidance manouvre to get in!
Meanwhile two further crew members with windlasses and no shoes (bizarrely) climbed up the ladder and got ready to fill the lock. Me and the chap waiting to come down just stood and watched. We eventually moored up just past the lock approach and hot footed it to The Cooper’s Arms for a pint of Bass just before 2pm!
Tomorrow Ken and I are off to Swarkestone.
