As we turned to go downstream on the River Trent, I realised that we were leaving Leicestershire behind and moving into Derbyshire. The confluence of the River Soar and the River Trent would be the northernmost point that we would go this year. We had wanted to explore the Erewash canal but unfortunately the canal is too shallow for Winedown; the Erewash allows for a maximum draught of 2'6" while Winedown draws 2'10". The best I could do was take a photograph as we passed by Trent Lock, the gateway to the Erewash.
Then it was on to Sawley Cut almost a mile along the River Trent. Entry to the cut is via a pair of mechanically operated locks, however I must just say that on approaching the locks, I had to be quite nimble to clamber up to 'ground' level with the centre line so that we could tie up and operate the lock. There is a control panel at the side of the lock and its operation is similar to that of the lock-side control panels along the River Thames and at Brentford so we were quite eu fait with its workings. Once through the lock, we moored opposite Sawley marina and headed off into the village.
The area around Sawley is a major canal navigation junction where the Erewas canal and the River Soar reach the Trent and Mersey Canal by way of the River Trent and the Cranfleet Cut, but that is not all; to the north-east is Trent Junction, a five-way meeting point in the national railway system. All that aside, we were attracted by the promise of a beautiful medieval church with lime trees that line the driveway. Should you want to stretch your legs, there are many footpaths around the village that will take walkers through some beautiful countryside.
We usually look after our Granddaughter, Hollie, on alternate Wednesdays but are now finding it difficult to get into Reading and back in the day so we booked temporary moorings and put our boat into Sawley marina for a few days. Visitor rates were reasonable at £8.50 per day which included electrics and access to all the facilities. We then booked a hire car and asked the hire firm (Enterprise) to collect us from the marina which they did obligingly.
Since we were now in Derbyshire, I sent an email to a friend whom I had lost contact with, in the hope that she would respond...and she did!! We agreed to meet up once we arrived at Sawley Marina, and so it was that we spent the best part of the week in and around Sawley, catching up with Jackie and John, before continuing our journey along the Trent and Mersey canal.
While we are at the IWA festival earlier in the year, Ian and I had expressed an interest in the new Brigantine, a 'wide-beam' boat that was to be launched at the show by The New & used Boat Company. Due to unforeseen circumstances, it wasn't launched at the IWA in July and its launch date was postponed to 7th September. We were invited to the launch which was scheduled to take place at Mercia marina, so leaving Sawley behind on Friday 6th September, we headed for the marina near Willington. All that I can remember of that day was that it was very wet and cold. Temperatures fell from the mid-twenties to between 15 and 17 degrees C and the rain fell steadily. We chose a lousy day to do the 12 miles and 7 locks, and to add insult to injury, we moored just before bridge 22 which turned out to be alongside a railway freight yard and it felt as if the freight trains were coming right through the boat all night. It was not a good night to say the least.
Sunday was a much better day and we set off for Burton Upon Trent. On entering the town of Burton, the first lock we came to was Dallow lock, just beyond Horinglow basin. This was the first of the narrow locks so we knew that we wouldn't see any wide-beams along this stretch.
We had first visited Burton Upon Trent in 2011 when we attended the IWA festival and had liked it so much we knew we would return. We found people to be very friendly and the residents embraced the canal, taking pride in the towpath that ran alongside their gardens. At the time, we had met a lady named Vera who had made us feel very welcome; she had left quite an impression on us and so it was with these fond memories that we moored up alongside Shobnall Fields. No sooner had we secured our mooring ropes, we saw Vera walking along the opposite side of the canal. How lovely to see and talk to her again after all this time.
Burton Upon Trent is best known for its brewing heritage having been home to over a dozen brewers in its heyday. The water quality allowed for the development of a pale ale which is still brewed today and the canal here partly owes its existence to the breweries. With all this knowledge to hand... a visit to the brewery was the order of the day.
We learned of a unique method of brewing called the 'Union Method' (the beer is brewed in open vats) which is used only for the Pedigree beer; and discovered to our astonishment that Marston's is the home of Hobgoblin.
And of course, the tasting at the end of the tour didn't go amiss either - although mine was a glass of wine!
Well it was time to move on, so after spending 5 days in and around Burton Upon Trent, we pulled up the mooring pins and set off towards Barton-Under-Needwood.
The weather hadn't improved much so we didn't get far, however we did find lovely blackberries along the way. The best way to warm up the boat and lift our damp spirits was to put the oven on so with this in mind, I made a blackberry and apple pie and with the left over fruit, made the blackberry vodka that will continue to 'prove' over the next month or so, to be ready in time for Christmas!
There was a bit of a bottleneck at Alrewas lock with hire-boats coming and going but we were in no hurry so it didn't matter to us. While winding our way through the village we were hailed from a bridge and were surprised to find Barry and Ketruna waving at us. They were our marina neighbours for a number of years when we were at Frouds Bridge Marina, so it was a very pleasant surprise to see them so far from home.
Just around the bend, their boat 'Merlin' was moored in a lovely sunny spot. Just goes to show... you never know who you may meet along the canal.
The village of Alrewas dates back many hundreds of years and its unusual name is derived from 'Alder Wash' (swamp) due to the Alder trees that used to grow in and around the flood plains alongside the village. It still retains much of its historic charm with its old mill to the north of the village, the 12th Centuary church and its half-timbered thatched cottages.
Leaving Alrewas behind, we were once more in open countryside for approximately 2 miles as we continued on to Fradley Junction (at the now familiar pace of a little over 2 miles per hour). This canal junction between Fradley and Alrewas near Litchfield is where the Coventry canal joins the Trent and Mersey and we would be leaving the Trent and Mersey canal at this junction. A very busy place with its famous canal-side pub and many gongoozlers (spectators) who line the bank, it's not the place where you would want to display poor lock-operation skills or bad etiquette! Ian was on the helm, expertly turning 60ft of boat around the tight 90 degree turn while I had the swing bridge open for him to allow Winedown to leave the Trent and Mersey and enter the Coventry Canal.
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