Onto the River Soar

We spent last night at Shardlow but there was no internet signal, hence no blog.  Years ago, before we had our own boat, we used to spend a lot of time around this area with friends on their boat so we paid a return visit to the Malt Shovel pub where Roger and Richard passed many happy hours drinking Marston's Pedigree and eating corned beef pie.  Unfortunately the pub has been "done up" and ruined. There were 2 large screen TV's blaring out although no-one was watching them and they don't do proper food any more.

The weather continues to be nice and sunny and my flowers are still going strong.

First lock of the day was Derwent Lock which drops you down off the Trent and Mersey canal onto the river and has this large warning sign.  Today the river marker was well down in the green.

As you come out of the lock you really notice the difference between canals and rivers. It's really wide here with the River Derwent crossing over from left to right. (double click on the panoramic photo to get the full effect)

It's good to rev up the engine and cruise underneath all the traffic on the M1. Even on a Sunday it was really busy.

Just after the motorway bridge is the huge weir

and then the short stretch which takes you into Sawley Cut.

The river often floods and one New Year's Day we came by car to see that the flood lock was well under water and the river was about 2 feet over the banks.......scary!

To get down onto the River Trent you pass through Sawley Lock. The resident lock-keeper has long gone and now it's fully automated.

We always wear life jackets on big rivers. Although we can both swim, neither of us is strong enough to swim against the current and safely get to shore. It's different in canals. In the majority of them if you fall in you can stand up and walk to the side.

The boat really loves being in deep water and you go much faster at the same revs than on canals.

This is Ratcliffe power station which dominates the skyline

Today we were going onto the River Soar. I would have liked to detour up the Erewash Canal to see a friend of mine who lives at Long Eaton, but we just didn't have the time as we needed to be through Kegworth Deep Lock (now called Kegworth New) today as it's supposed to be being closed for maintenance tomorrow.

Isn't it just typical?  We haven't seen any moving boats today, except right at the junction with the River Soar when this narrowboat came round the bend just as we were about to turn right.

The green light shows that the River Soar is safe to navigate and Redhill Flood Locks were open. If the river goes into flood they are closed.

There are lots of wide beam boats moored along this stretch

This one was my favourite. If we ever sell Fizzi and "trade up" then this is what I'd like and maybe take it to France.

These chalets are all built on stilts to hopefully avoid being flooded.

Kegworth Shallow Lock is another flood lock that is currently kept open.

We moored up and went to The Anchor for lunch.

We'd had really good Sunday roasts in here years ago but recently we've been told that the pub had gone down-hill and should be avoided.  How wrong were they?  We were the only ones in the dining room but the meal was delicious and excellent value at £6.95 each.  The beer was good too, Five Bells from Shardlow Brewery.

After lunch we carried on to get through Kegworth Deep.

Despite the new baffles that have been fitted it's still quite fierce, but by roping onto the rail and taking it slowly it wasn't as bad as I expected.

This is the view looking back down onto the river.

and the weir which runs beside the lock

We're now moored just past The Otter pub, beside the newly cleared storm ditch and under the flight path to East Midlands airport. The planes are a bit noisy outside but don't bother us much indoors and they come in so low you get a really good view of them.

Tomorrow we're going into Loughborough to do a bit of Christmas shopping.