Random Writings

It was a windy morning on Friday as I set off from Cranfleet. Unfortunately, in my haste to set off, I left my much-loved Tilley sunhat on the roof of the boat while I popped into the kitchen for something else, and when I came back it was nowhere to be seen. Given the wind speed it could have been half-way to Nottingham by the time I realised. Oh well…

At the end of Cranfleet Cut is a complex junction where the Trent meets the Erewash Canal and the River Soar – it’s sufficiently complex to have a system of roadsigns telling you which way to go and make sure you don’t end up in Thrumpton Weir! As I passed into the Soar, I crossed an imaginary dividing line separating the popular canals of the Midlands from the rest of the network – suddenly the place was crowded with boatyards and moored boats, whereas the Trent and the Yorkshire waterways had been distinctly sparse. I passed Ratcliffe, with its power station (last one!) and then Kegworth, which has a prodigiously deep lock and a very impressive system of wiers, like a water-garden writ large.
The lock turned out to be a little tricky – as it’s so deep, it has vertical risers (steel wires covered in plastic) set into the sides to moor up to. Unfortunately the plastic on one of the risers had frayed, and the stern rope caught on it, holding Innocenti down. I managed to free it, but it was a bit fiddly.
I carried on to Loughborough and moored near the station.

Day 67: Cranfleet to Loughborough, 10 miles and 8 locks.

This entry was posted on Sunday, September 12th, 2010 at 7:05 pm and is filed under Narrowboat.