We have made it onto the rivers and water is again moving below our hull. To be honest, it couldn’t have been shallower where we had been moored after lock and water control issues left boats and businesses high and dry.
It isn’t just about the statistics of distances and locks but the richness of the journey to get us to deeper water this British Shallow Time, so let’s get the numbers out of the way. Six days, 128 miles and 78 locks taking us from Cheshire, to Shropshire, the West Midlands, Staffordshire, Derbyshire and Leicestershire.
It has been a journey of long days packed with things to see and do apart from just steering a boat and working locks. In the last few days alone we encountered a wasps nest under the metal plate of a lock which led to me disappearing in a buzzing mass as the boat I helped up through the lock before we could come down tapped the top gates upsetting the tiny residents. I tackled it very tentatively when we came down…
From wasps we manoeuvred round a fallen willow tree just making it through, and further on came to the remnants of a beech tree that fell onto a boat some weeks ago causing major damage. We met leaking locks (too many to mention), and dropping water levels helped identify shopping trollies no longer completely sunk – we can avoid them easily now.
In Staffordshire we encountered a pedalo powered by Will Coster. He and his two dogs (not small ones either) are making a mammoth effort to pedal from York to London raising funds for Dogs Trust on the waterways.
We then helped a working boat stuck on silt in shallow canal waters. These traditional boats are deeper drafted than us so sometimes we can help by disrupting the silt, other times we can tow or even push. Helping them and another elderly boater led to another injury for me – this time a painful beak bite on the bum from a stroppy cob swan!
Stress levels at this point were escalating every time a notification came through from Canal and River Trust.
In Derbyshire we rescued a distressed moorhen chick from Weston Lock, transferring it to safety (grandson’s fishing net back in play again!), and avoided a woman in the cut. She jumped in to save her cat which fell off a boat. Cat swam out but its owner was left floundering and minus a mobile phone. She was yanked out by her unimpressed partner just as we were gearing to help with a ladder loan.
We paired up with Unicorn skippered by artist Richard Bostock for all the final locks to the Trent. He and his sons were excellent company and we had the great fortune of good friends of ours coming out on their cruiser to join us and work locks for us so the final stages were so much easier for us thanks to everyone’s efforts.
Once on the river we towed Unicorn a short distance before waving farewell to them after Sawley Lock as they headed to explore Nottingham and we veered off to the River Soar.
Another handy boat pairing came our way as we nearer Ratcliffe Lock – an immense relief as these wide locks seem to have gained weight and awkwardness over time! We travelled together to Zouch.
Carrying on alone we encountered thick acrid smoke and fire debris wafting across the river from a tinder-dry maize field burning on the outskirts of Loughborough. My videos made the local news, but we were glad to pass safely.
Once in Loughborough life slowed right down, even for a narrowboat. Islands of invasive pennywort created dense mats to be avoided at all costs – they can bring a boat to a rapid halt when they tangle round the propellor – and 70 fishermen in a competition. Navigating 1.5 miles in Loughborough took over an hour! Gave time for some cheery conversations with competitors though, including with those eager to play chicken with massive rods across the canal, only lifting them at the very last second for the boat to pass.
For now we are almost where we hoped to be, and Canal and River Trust are trying to reduce boat movements through the locks that remain open to conserve water. As a result those of us on 14 day moorings have been told we can stay put until the end of August when the situation will be reviewed. We have we discovered that a lock further down is going out for work in early September so we need to travel through it before then and find somewhere to wait and hope for water, either from reservoirs or the sky, to help us on our way to our booking to be taken out of the water for necessary work in October.
This weekend we will be volunteers again for the unmissable Mountsorrel Revival.
Next week is forecast to be very hot again, so we are grateful to be moored in shade. We continue planning our great escape from next year’s BST (British Shallow Time), researching the many options for 3 months living off the boat for July, August and September. We aim to rest and get on with essentials like boat painting, and spending precious time with friends and family.
Pickingupducks 