Up the Erewash and beyond

Whoah! Where has all the time gone? My last post was eight days ago. Then I was desperately trying to play catch-up and get up-to-date; now I am woefully behind again. So ... I'll try again. This time I'll be stricter with myself about the number of photos I publish. But first, where we were on Monday a week ago two weeks ago (eek!), using photos I had already resized.

Monday 8th June 2015

We left Cotmanhay and continued up the remaining locks to Langley Mill, the head of the Erewash Canal, and Great Northern Basin.

Some of the bridges are on the low side.

This was the second time we have been through the top lock; the last time was Easter 2013.

We tied up on the left beyond the lock in front of Remus. Eric and Sue came for a meal on Jubilee; during the meal I leapt out to take a photo of the Nottingham Canal Toll House lit by the setting sun.

The next day we explored our surroundings, finding a large charity shop next to B&M near the station. Walking in the other direction we looked for and found some remains of the Cromford Canal still in water. I stood on an old railway bridge to take this picture.

And this is the railway bridge from under the lattice girder bridge.

In the evening we ate at the Great Northern pub with James and Hazel from Gabriel, who tied up behind us.

Halfie, Jan, Hazel, James

Right, I'm only 13 days behind now. At this rate I might have caught up by autumn!

Bennerley Viaduct and Nottingham Canal (unnavigable section)

Last Monday we explored by foot the land to the east of where we had been moored at Cotmanhay on the Erewash Canal. The unmissable edifice striding over the River Erewash and its flood plain is the Bennerley railway viaduct, now devoid of rails and ending almost in mid-air.

It is now a listed structure and there are plans for it to carry a cycle path. I believe a certain Gustav Eiffel had something to do with its creation, but I don't know which wrought iron lattice construction came first.

A little more walking brought us to the start (end?) of a watered section of the Nottingham Canal which used to run from Nottingham to the Great Northern Basin at Langley Mill where it joined the Cromford Canal and Erewash Canal.

The Nottingham Canal was known as the Top Cut as, for the last few miles, it ran more-or-less parallel to the Erewash Canal but at a higher level. The Erewash Canal was the Bottom Cut.

As we walked past this fisherman we saw him land a large fish (well, it looked large to us non-anglers!)

He told us the best fishing was to be had at night (see sign!)

Our route back to the boat took us the other side of the viaduct. The water in the foreground is the River Erewash.

A look round Great Northern Basin

7th April 3013

At the top of the Erewash Canal is Great Northern Basin, where what remains of the Nottingham Canal and the Cromford Canal come together. Here are the Great Northern pub ...

... a Nottingham Canal toll house ...

... plenty of boats ...

... including Petrel, a 1914 Josher (according to the National Historic Ships Register).

Trying to get a bit of perspective at the far end of the basin, where the currently unrestored Cromford Canal continues, I walked to the end of a jetty.

A wire fence blocked access.

Poking my camera through the fence I was able to photograph the state of play as it was back in April.

Won't it be good when the canal is restored all the way to Cromford, with all the interest of Arkwrights mills and the connection with the Cromford and High Peak Railway?

Great Northern Basin

Easter Cruise day 7, 7th April 2013

I'm writing this from home seven weeks later. The weather seems hardly any warmer in Norwich than that cold, cold cruise - it's only 6˚ outside! I hope it's warmer in MK as we're off to visit Ally and Ben; then Crick; then we may even go boating - hooray!

Back to the Erewash Canal. Jan, as usual, steered into the lock while I, as usual, worked her through.


At the top there was a scattering of old boats: here is Dane ...


... and here is what looks like an Admiral class with an unusual cabin extension.


I always like to go to the very end, if possible, so I winded opposite Yorkshire Rose. There wasn't a lot of space, but we got round all right, and looked for a mooring. Well, it appears that there are no visitor moorings in the basin, as much of the pedestrian access is behind locked gates (non-BW key).


A fine old BW sign explains that this is the junction of the Erewash, Nottingham and Cromford Canals. The Cromford Canal meets the Erewash end-to-end just below the lock; and the Nottingham Canal - what's left of it - joins at an acute angle. The boat Electra in the photo below is moored on the Nottingham Canal.


And here is the Nottingham Canal seen through the swing bridge across its entrance.


There are more photos to come, including some of Birdswood, the Cromford Canal's trip boat which came up through the lock while we were there.

Right, the rain has stopped so I'm off to finish loading the car. No - I spoke too soon. The appearance of sunshine fooled me. It is actually still raining.

Ilkeston to Langley Mill to Trowell

Snow report: today I saw NO SNOW! Perhaps it has all, finally, melted.

I'm sweltering writing this this evening as I loaded the stove up with some coal to see if it will keep the boat warm all night. This morning there was a hard frost, and we woke up with cold faces to a cold boat.

This morning we went with Alan and Hazel, on whose mooring in Ilkeston we were guests last night, to their church, a small Elim church nearby. By the time we got back to the boat and set off it was nearly 1300, so we were likely to run behind schedule, especially as I wanted time to explore the various canals at Langley Mill.

We got to Langley Mill at about 1530. We'd been slightly delayed by having to remove rubbish from the prop at Eastwood Lock: a piece of rope and several pieces of carrier bag. At Langley Mill we went up the final lock on the Erewash Canal - which was actually, apparently, the first lock of the Cromford Canal - into Great Northern Basin. We progressed to the very end (something I have to do), winded with millimetres to spare between boats, and descended the lock to tie up by Lidl. There we got some supplies, and I went for a walk round the basin, seeing an end of the Nottingham Canal as well as a short isolated stretch of the Cromford Canal. It will be amazing when the whole of the Cromford is restored.

As I was walking back to Shadow the Cromford Canal's trip boat Birdswood was just exiting the lock. It is going to return to the Cromford end of the canal (by lorry) after some work. Sorry (again) for the lack of photos.

Our return down the Erewash Canal has (so far) been easier than our ascent yesterday, as most of the locks have been in our favour. At Gallows Inn Lock a wide hopper boat was adrift across the canal. One end had a rope still on the towpath, but not attached to anything, and I managed to pull it in just enough for me to reach the rope on the other end with a boat hook. With the hopper secure, I was able to turn the lock and continue.

We tied up shortly afterwards on the edge of Ilkeston by extensive playing fields at Trowell. It is very quiet - I can't even hear any trains - and I haven't been aware of anyone passing on the towpath. As for anyone passing on the canal, well, that's almost guaranteed not to happen. We saw just two other moving boats today: one was Jack Daniels on its way down from the top; the other was Birdswood as mentioned above.

In a change from eating out, Jan cooked a delicious chicken stew. This was ready shortly after we tied up. Just before Jan served up, I chopped some logs on the towpath. The logs themselves I had sawn from longer lengths found by the Trent and Mersey yesterday.

Tomorrow I'm planning on a reasonably early start so as to make up for our being about two miles and three locks short of our intended stop tonight. And then it's back to rivers, crossing the Trent onto the Soar, ready for more wide locks.

Swan up on the towpath in Nottingham

Walking along the Nottingham Canal recently I came across this swan. I took a few photos, creeping a little closer with each one, until he took to the water.


I have tried, and failed, to make something of the swan's proximity to the sign "DANGER Pump Intake".

A bit of relief on the Nottingham Canal

On the towpath near Nottingham Railway Station is an interesting low mural along what I presume must have been a cable factory.


Most of the high relief looked like a tangle of cable, but in places were what looked like cross-sections of seriously heavy duty conductors. Not the sort of stuff you dangle from pylons!

Some posts on the Nottingham Canal

One commemoration post and two mileposts, that is. The commemoration post is of cast iron, dated 1869, and indicates that Samuel Parr and J. G. Woodward were overseers, and T. Godfrey was an assistant overseer. But of what? According to Jim Shead's Waterways Information the Nottingham Canal (opened 1796) is abandoned and mostly unnavigable. That must be the section upstream of where I was, as everything looked fine to me. Perhaps Parr and co. oversaw improvements to the navigation. I discovered that a J. G. Woodward was Sheriff of Nottingham in 1870/71. (Perhaps messrs. Parr, Woodward and Godfrey had nothing to do with the canal, and the plaque relates to some other building.)

I photographed two more common cast iron posts: the first with the number of miles missing...


... and the second giving very clear information.


These mileposts look like the paddles which platform staff wave at trains, don't they?

Nottingham turnover bridge 2 and a cyclist

On my quick visit to Nottingham last week I stopped to photograph Station Street Bridge, a turnover/changeover bridge over the canal. (What do they call them in this region?)

As I readied myself to take the photo I hadn't noticed the cyclist just heading down the slope towards me. So I pressed the shutter and here's the result. And that's the difference (well, one of them!) between me and Andrew Denny. Andrew, I'm sure, would have waited a second until the cyclist was more prominent. There would have been a story to the picture - something happening - rather than another ordinary snapshot. Now, before you start telling me off again for being too modest, I'd like to point out that at least I have captured the cyclist, and the picture is more interesting as a result.

A couple of seconds later, as the cyclist whizzed past me, he apologised, presumably for getting in the way of my shot. Why do people do that? Like ducking if they think they're "in the way" of a TV camera. We might actually be wanting to film/photograph a scene with them in it, behaving naturally!

OK, there was a story to the picture, and I've just told it.

The opposite side of the bridge featured a smooth(ish) slope let into the steps for helping cyclists push their bikes up/down. I wonder how many try to ride down, and how many come to grief in the attempt?

British Waterways writ large in Nottingham

Having spotted the BW warehouse from the train it didn't take much detective work to find it.


It seems to be now converted to flats. The letters aren't merely painted on: they're made of individual white bricks (ceramic tiles?), some of which have been shaped to give more rounded edges.


At 16 bricks high is this the largest "British Waterways" lettering?

Setting foot in Nottingham

I was in Nottingham last week with a couple of hours to explore the Nottingham Canal while changing trains. I've driven through or past, but I don't recall having ever set foot in the city before.

As the train drew in to the station from the west I glanced up to see "BRITISH WATERWAYS" in huge white letters on the top of a warehouse. Ah. So that's where the canal is. Three minutes after disembarking (no, you probably can't "disembark" from a train, but I can't bring myself to say "detraining") I was on the towpath.


Heading west, back towards the BW warehouse, the towpath led over a junction bridge where an arm, now almost completely obliterated, turned off the main line. A few yards remain as a water feature beside the Magistrates' Court. I like the regular gently sloping setts of the bridge.


view from what remains of the arm towards the main line

the top photo is looking towards Wilford Street Footbridge