Day 23 - Kegworth and Loughborough

Thursday 25th August

Queens Park and Great Paul cast

Walkd the half mile or so to Kegworth where we caught the bus to Loughborough. Market on and the town was quite lively. After having coffee we walked to Queens Park with its beautiful gardens and impressive war memorial in the form of a carrillon housing 47 bells. The museum wasn't open until 1.00pm. Went to the excellent Charnwood museum and had lunch in the park cafe.

War Memorial and Carrillon bell tower

Ladybird displays in the Loughborough museum

Casting a bell

Walked across town to the J. Taylor bell foundry where we joined a bus tour from Taunton who were there to see four of their church bells being cast. Interesting history and amazing to see the metal being pured into the casts.

The Carrillon

Back to the carrillon museum which was now open. Climbed to the top seeing the bells and the clavicle and three rooms of military history along the way.

View from the top of the war memorial

Got back to bus stop to see the 4.20 disappear around the corner so had to wait an hour.

Walked into Kegworth with its interesting square and large church, sampled a couple of the pubs before eating in the Jee Ja Jee restaurant - this means brother-in-law which the owner and manager are.

Day 24 - Kegworth to Trent Lock

Friday 26th August

2.5 miles, 2 locks

Another bright and sunny morning a bit cooler due to the breeze following overnight rain. Got to Kegworth deep lock with another boat only to find a lock keeper there. Told him we had moored around the bend for 48 hours, he asked if the planes kept us awake. I replied that we were awoken by a succession of planes around 4.00am even though no flights were scheduled. He said there was a lot of freight that went in at night.

The Nottingham Road

Cruised to Trent Lock passing the huge power station on our old road route to Nottingham with Rob and turned towards Nottingham. Not very nice moorings so decided to stay for lunch and then move on. Before lunch we wandered to the lock itself only to find some very nice pontoon visitor moorings outside the Trent Lock Inn. Paul rushed back to get the boat and we settled in.

... and power station

Trent Lock

Our mooring at Trent Lock

Evening sun on the power station

After lunch and a read we walked to Long Eaton which is a market town - interesting buildings especially housing the micro pub a Dutch designed black and white building with bright blue and yellow tiles at the top of the frontage.

Tried both the Trent Lock Inn and the Steam Packet before returning to the boat for dinner.

Day 25 - Trent Lock and Derby

Saturday 27th August

Rained not long after we got up quite heavily - soon stopped and we walked along the Erewash canal towpath to Long Eaton station where we caught the train to Derby.

Derby Cathedral

Wandered to the Cathedral only to find that it was the bell ringers open day - for £4 each we could climb to the top of the tower, see the bells and carillon, have a talk about bellringing and have a ring!

Ringing in Derby Cathedral

View from the roof with Ratcliffe power station in the distance

The cathedral

The cathedral itself had a modern feel very light and housed the tomb of Bess of Hardwicke.

Did a bit of shopping in the intu Derby shopping centre. Rain started as we went into the shopping centre stopped while we walked to the station and poured when we got to Long Eaton so grabbed a taxi back to Trent Lock.

Day 26 - Trent Lock to Trent Bridge

Sunday 28th August

9 miles, 4 locks

Passing Thrumpton Weir as we leave Trent \Lock

A brighter day just the occasional couple of spots of rain here and there.

Rachael rang to say they were coming to visit. Set off from Trent Lock along the very wide River Trent, not catching a glimpse of the Attenborough nature reserve which runs alongside due to the height of the river banks.

Trent Bridge

After two locks we were back on the canal the Beeston cut joining the Nottingham canal at Lenton Chain. Rachael, Ross and Anna joined us saying the moorings where we had planned to stop were not very salubrious - they were right, they weren't, so we carried on down a further two locks to rejoin the river turning right to moor on the county hall steps.

Moored near Trent Bridge

After an hour or so feeding the swans, geese and ducks with the duck food remaining from Bridge 61 at Foxton, enjoying a cup of tea and cake and blowing bubbles our visitors set off home.

Visitors

Feeding the swans

There were a lot of floral tributes round a tree and on googling found they were for a 39 year old who went missing last Sunday early hours and was dragged out of the river on Wednesday- very sad.

War Memorial

Walked the loop, saw huge war memorial and gardens on the opposite bank and then strolled to the Embankment pub which was originally Boots number 2 store. The bar was called the Dispensary. Paul had a pint of Choc Ice Cream craft beer at 6.2% and £8.50!

Our mooring from the war memorial

An interesting pint!

Day 27 - Trent Bridge to Holme Lock and return

Monday 29th August

5 miles

Trent Bridge

A beautiful morning. Strolled to co-op for a small shop before heading off on the Trent.

Nottingham Forest

Black swan at Holme Lock

Stopped for lunch at the national water sports centre, watched people paddling/fighting with the slalom course.

The canoe slalom course

The rowing course

A cozy evening

Decided to go back to Trent Bridge to moor for the night and make our way to Newark in one go tomorrow.

Called at the Embankment again Paul sampling milk stout reminding us of Ena Sharples and Minnie Caldwell of Coronation Street fame.

Caryn text from the moorings we have three more liveaboards moving in!

Day 28 - Trent Bridge to Gunthorpe

Tuesday 30th August

10 miles, 2 locks

Paul up to Trent Bridge for 9.00 am in the hope of getting tickets for the ODI against Pakistan but no luck.

The River Trent

Beautiful warm sunny day. Cruised down the wide Trent via Holme and Stoke locks, alll huge and manned. Saw grebe, white egret and all the usual water fowl.

Stoke Lock

Approaching Gunthorpe

Moored above Gunthorpe lock on pontoon moorings. Only 3 boats including ours when we arrived but within 40 minutes we were surrounded and the pontoon full. Mostly cruisers that dwarfed us! The cruiser next to us had a cage full of lovebirds tweeting merrily. We later learnt that one had escaped in Newark.

Walked along the river, surprised to find a couple of bars an Indian restaurant and a bistro as well as the two pubs in the village itself. There were loads of people strolling about eating ice creams. It was like being at the seaside especially as the river had a couple of small gravelly beaches alongside it with children and dogs paddling.

Sampled the pub before returning to our boat for a candlelit dinner on the pontoon.

Day 29 - Gunthorpe to Newark

Wednesday 31st August

12 miles, 3 locks

Leaving Gunthorpe Lock

Another lovely day. Cruised from Gunthorpe to Newark the guidebook claiming that this was the most beautiful stretch of the river and it was lovely.

Newark Town Lock

Just managed to moor on the end of the pontoon visitor moorings having cruised past  the remains of the castle that dominates as you enter Newark.

Moorings had water and electricity so able to charge battery and fill water tank at our leisure. Also stopped at Farndon Marina for diesel and pump out so all services tip top.

Newark

Walked into the town which has a huge market square (the stall holders were packing up) with lots of small alleyways off it. Some expensive shops, some cheap shops, the obligatory charity shops and quite a few empty shops. Had a stroll around the castle gardens.

Newark pump and bear baiting post

Newark Castle

Did a shop in Waitrose and decided to satisfy Paul's craving for pizza with dinner in Zizzi's - it was housed in a beautiful building and very busy for a Wednesday.

Our mooring

Day 30 - Newark to Torksey Lock

Thursday 1st September

20 miles, 3 locks

A very exciting day for Paul and another glorious one weather wise.

Set off before 9.00 to Nether lock. Paul about to operate it himself when the lock keeper arrived.

Leaving Cromwell Lock on the tidal stretch

After an hour or so cruise to Cromwell lock we had a 30 minute wait for the tide. Went down with two cruisers who sped away ahead of us.

Obviously didn't meet many boats as all cruises are controlled by the tide times. After less than three hours we arrived at Torksey lock and the Fossdyke navigation where the lock keeper was ready with enough water to get us up on to the navigation. Moored for the night on visitor moorings.

Moored above Torksey Lock

Wandered both to Torksey Lock village and Torksey itself - got a distant view of the ruins of Torksey Castle which is unusual as the lower half was built of stone and the upper of red brick.

Visited the Torksey Lock cafe - strange but lovely sold second hand books, puzzles, teddies and crafts as well as yummy cakes!

Torksey Lock

Day 31 - Torksey Lock to Lincoln

Friday 2nd September

11 miles

Set off soon after 9.00am along the Fossdyke canal. Very wide and very straight built by the Romans. We did a 2 mile straight at one point. Passed a few boats, the cruisers looked massive on the canal rather than the river.

In less than three hours we approached Brayford Pool and the mooring we had booked. It was under a road bridge with a building site on one side and a demolition site on the other and they wanted to charge £10 a night! We moved back to visitor moorings which didn't feel right either. After lunch we strolled along through Brayfor Pool to the River Witham where there were much nicer moorings - quick rewind to fetch the boat though. Went through the glory hole

The Fossdyke Navigation

First view of Lincoln Cathedral

Brayford Pool

The Glory Hole

Steep Street

The Cathedral bathed in evening sunlight

Day 32 - Lincoln

Saturday 3rd September

Magic painting

A big day today celebrating Paul's 60th! Quick clean of boat and M&S food shop for picnic lunch. Got a phone call to say Rach, Ross and Anna had arrived. Paul went off to meet them so I hastily put banners, bunting and balloons on the boat.

Shame it started raining as they arrived, had a stroll, watched some children dancing and some morris sides.

Opening birthday presents

The honeymooners arrived and we enjoyed lunch and presents Paul particularly liking his sticker picture from Anna and his Thomas the Tank Engine rucksack! We also got presents from Rob and Claire from Canada and a frame for a wedding photo.

The poppy wave at Lincoln Castle

Walked up to the cathedral and castle which were very impressive, especially the magna carta for those who had not seen it before. Also lucky enough to see the wave of poppies - a touring installation of some of the poppies that were in London last year.

Lincoln Castle in the rain

Birthday meal

After a swift change we headed for Chimichangas for dinner. Anna was excellent lasting two hours. We all enjoyed our meals, the service, the dimming of lights as the birthday cake came out, the singing, the whole retaurant clapping and the complimentary tequilla that the manager brought over for Paul.

The Whittakers headed home and the rest of us called in for a drink in the William IV before we all headed home too.

... and cake