How do you wait?

How do you wait – patiently, productively or frustratedly?

By the time you read this we hope the enforced hebetude of the past weeks will have left us and we will be on the move, making our way at last in the chill morning air across the misty River Trent onto the River Soar.

Every week we’ve been driving to the other side of the rivers and walking across the fields that border the Soar in the shadow of the former Ratcliffe Power Station. We have been to see how work is going to replace both sets of lock gates at Ratcliffe Locks, the initial stoppage started on 16 September and still preventing us from getting across to our winter mooring.

The lock was initially due to be open on 28 October, so taking that into account, we booked our first ever winter mooring on the Soar effective from 1 November. Our thoughts then were that the volatility of the Soar in terms of flooding might be the barrier stopping us getting there on time. Flooding did indeed happen, not directly but indirectly affecting our journey.  The working area for the team working on the lock was inindated and put repairs back.

By the time we cruised down the high and fast flowing Trent from the Trent and Mersey Canal, the work had been delayed by two weeks because of heavy rain and subsequent flooding. We thought we would use that waiting time productively with a leisurely cruise all the way up (and back down) the Erewash Canal. Covid had previously prevented us travelling the entire 11.5 miles and 14 locks of the canal. This time, we made it! All the way up to Langley Mill and back, and then we began the next stage of the wait. We had to come back down to the only full services area on the canal so we had access to empty the loo, fill with water, and dispose of our rubbish.

Every time we move from the boat, we can see towards the Soar, to where we want to be. We have waited, anxiously watching weather forecasts and hoping the dry weather will stay with us. Rain now would delay the lock repair, and if heavy, it would have the potential of pushing the Soar into flood once more and stopping our journey that way.

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We seem to have made it weatherwise and our walk this week had the team on lock repairs telling us that the lock would reopen at 4pm on Friday 15 November (I’m writing this listening for the ping of the CRT email with the news that it has opened). When we visited, the single remaining crane on site was being used to load equipment from around the lock onto workboats. They were actively moving that kit to the next winter stoppage point, and planning where they would be working next. Our stagnant wait has been a frantic time of activity for them, frustrated too by the enforced delay caused by flooding.

We have tried hard to use the time we have been here on the Erewash productively.  We have celebrated 4 family birthdays, walked in the Peak District, explored the local area finding new walks, met up with old friends, had some necessary welding done in preparation for new battery installation, begun new work projects, eaten way too much cake, become involved in a new community fundraiser, continued with existing work projects for clients, and crafted a great deal ready for Christmas Markets (if you’re in the area do come and find us at the MMC Mountsorrel on 1 December).

For the past two weeks, we have been static on a two day mooring (as have many other boats, although none are heading onto the Soar as we are). We have kept busy, but every day, multiple times a day, we wonder if we will ever get across to our planned mooring.


The “Ifs…” have come to the fore from time to time. If it rains, resulting in floods before the lock is open – what will we do, where should we go for the winter? We can’t go anywhere apart from up and down the Erewash in that instance because we couldn’t get across the river. We couldn’t go too far up the canal either as it has faced problems with vandalism over the past months, creating a major problem for navigation because of impassable water levels. If it looked like Ratcliffe Lock was going to be delayed further, should we try and get back up the Trent and onto the Trent and Mersey Canal? We ruled that one out as this week, the main lock from the T&M onto the River Trent was closed for repairs to leaking gates, lock ladder work, and repairs to the brickwork of the lock chamber. It’s feeling a little like a certain children’s story book – we can’t go back, we can’t go sideways up the Trent or down the Cranfleet cut because the latter would just lead us back onto the Trent and that’s a river we don’t want to have to spend the winter on. We now also know that even when we get through Ratcliffe Lock, there is another lock currently out of action between us and our destination, at Zouch. We’ve been told that might be fixed by Monday, so even if we get through Ratcliffe this weekend, we may have to pause on the Soar until we can get through that lock. More waiting…

So, we need to wait hopefully and patiently. It is often like this in the winter when weather and the winter stoppages for work on the canal and river network make moving something that doesn’t always go to plan. As with any uncertainty, purposeful distraction is essential. We need to stop worries about what we can’t change or know with certainty, taking over daily living. We don’t have any guarantee we are going to get across and get to our winter mooring, but then we don’t have any definitive proof that we aren’t going to, so when faced with uncertainty the most useful thing to do is to stay busy.

The swans swimming up and down and banging impatiently on the side of the boat for snacks remain apparently serene whatever they face in terms of water or weather. We can all benefit from being like them, and adopt Reinhild Niebuhr’s Serenity Prayer advice to “…accept the things we cannot change, the courage to change the things we can, and the wisdom to know the difference.”

The emails tonight tell me that another lock on the Soar beyond where we want to go still has problems and hasn’t reopened as expected, and that the Erewash remains closed beyond our mooring for the weekend. Hopefully, technology like webcams may help CRT identify the cause and culprits once water levels recover enough to reopen the navigation.

It’s now gone well past the time the office staff at CRT will have gone home for the weekend, and there’s still been no email telling us that Ratcliffe Lock is open for business. We’ve made the decision to leave here anyway and travel there in hope in the morning. If the lock is open, we will go through. If not, we will either turn round and come back or wait somewhere nearby. I’m not feeling particularly serene or philosophical.

So by the time you read this, the sun will have set on our time on the Erewash. Where we will have got to remains to be seen. Whether we will reach our final destination this coming week or merely shuffle a bit further on to wait somewhere new, we know we need to make the most of wherever we are. Like you, we can’t wish our lives away, but we can make the most of them. I’ll update our Instagram as we go in case you can’t wait until next week’s blog to hear the next instalment!