Nottingham to Atherstone

Day One.


We started off from Nottingham City centre at around 11am today. Saying farewell to the train station we moored up next to the old British Waterways building and waited for the lock ahead to be free.



During the wait, we checked the oil levels, all fine although the engine does give out alot of black smoke from the exhaust possibly from burning oil (we are currently looking into a liquid fuel to add to the oil to prevent this). As we lifted the boards back on to the deck there was a knock, roll and Whoops! the pot plant of salad leaves went overboard! The pot sank instantly and the lettuce leaves floated off toward a group of ducks who had a feast!



We shared the lock with a couple ahead of us, this is a usual bonding point for boaters sharing the odd fact or two. We left the lock last, our size and speed a factor in the decision and as I jumped on I wondered if I should've closed the top lock gates, but thought no, best to save water and leave the lock in favour of boats approaching from the North. We looked back to see a fellow boater from the lower end of the lock waving his arms in disbelief and anger at our actions and then started closing the gates himself. Oops! As Leigh suggests, there are two ways of doing everything. And as we turn a corner, there comes another boat who would've entered the lock and saved water as planned.

We passed Castle Marina and head to Lenton Lane Bridge where we did the big, final move aboard earlier this year.



We carried along the Nottingham canal passing Trevethick boat yard and some lovely looking boats.


Through another bridge for the ring road and on our way to Beeston, we spotted a sign,


3 miles from the Trent.

So far then we had sailed 2 miles from our start point. On route we had the backdrop of willow trees to hide industrial sites such as Boots. We passed a favourite mooring at Beeston, recalling days spent basking in the quite day of the sun. And today the sun was blessing us with its smile making the journey a delight!


We passed under a low bridge of cobble stones with a bollard marked from years of ropes chafing it's side as horses would've hauled boats along this stretch of canal.


We passed moored boats at a slow steady pace and pulled over just before the Beeston Lock leading onto the river. I opened the paddles to let the water level lower, then opened up the gates. Leigh drove in and after a tangle of ropes, winding open the paddles and opening the gates I bounded down the path and lept on the boat.


Beeston marina was left in our dust and we were setting down the majestic river.


On this stretch of river are some delightful and interesting human habitats...


And this is my favourite...


We were making great waves in our wake...


And the river was twinkling at us as we motored along...


We passed many other boats, with it being Bank Holiday Monday people seemed to be making the most of the weather. We stuck to the rules of passing other craft on the right...




Then we were on the approach to Cramfleet Lock and was it busy? Sure was! There were alot of shared smiles and shared locks and I was opening and closing most of the paddles and gates for a whole bunch of folk. By the end of it I was very tired and pleased to see the back of it!


Passing under the trainline bridge we spotted this waterway sign...


We were nearing Trent Lock and were taking the Trent and Mersey Canal. Heading through the open flood gate we opened out onto a huge stretch of water.


After another half an hour on the open stretch we came to Sawley Lock.


Delightfully it was electronically controlled so no need to heave-ho! I left Leigh steering the boat and enquired how to use these locks. It was very simple, with a British Waterways key


entered into a small machine and following the diagram, I pressed the buttons to 'raise' and open the paddles, releasing the water then, 'open' for the gates to, like magic open up. These were by far the easiest locks I've ever encountered.


After this lock we were finally in Sawley, passing moored boats in the Marina we found some British Waterways moorings opposite (free for us Continuous Cruisers) and pulled up for the night. It was about 6pm and we were both hungry and tired. After some great hot food we set to cleaning the roof of the boat as we are next to a water point and really needed to clear and tidy the roof for moving around. Now it is gleaming bright and alot better for the paintwork!

The fog has come down on to the canal and it looks glorious outside as the lights reflect upon the water. We are looking forward to tomorrow and need a good nights sleep so that's all for now!

A darkening night

As of late on The Kite Experiment, all ends are tied up, bon voyage's have taken place, we have provisions on board and have been looking into the route ahead for our narrow boat journey. Our first major destination is Atherstone in beautiful Warwickshire.

For those following the route in the Collins waterways guides, we commence our journey from WaterWays guide 6 - Nottingham, York and the North East, page 141. We will be leaving Nottingham from the City Centre, along the Nottingham Canal between Carrington Street Road Bridge (Bridge 7) and Bridge 6. This location is directly next to Nottingham train station and below the tram track, along with the fact that it is Saturday night, there is a lively atmosphere in the air!

From here we will be going through the lock at Wilford Street Bridge 10, heading West towards Beeston and the lovely willow trees along that stretch of the Nottingham Canal. Going by our previous calculations on journey times we should be doing about 10miles a day, that is all being well of course! We will be going to the major waterway junction, Trent Lock (see page 139 in guide 6 or page 99 in guide 3 - Birmingham and the heart of England) via Cramfleet and then going a new way for us, down the Sawley Cut. Sawley Marina appears to have some good facilities so that might be our first good stop over, we will see.

So, when do we go? Sunday or Monday.

This evening I have completed another curtain, just in time as the lights have gradually been dimming even though we ran the engine to charge the batteries. Now that is 4 completed curtains with 2 still to do and it looks like there will be excess material so I'm thinking of making a bag maybe (a bucket bag?!). On the battery front, we have three leisure batteries (one which is the engine starter) which all seem to be very inefficient and due for replacement but from the research done so far, it sounds like that will be a couple of hundred pounds to fork out so it will have to wait until work comes into fruition again.

Curtains to it!

My dear mother has been helping me to make some lovely curtains for the boat, winterising her as much as possible. I found some huge fabulous green velvet drapes in a second hand retro shop perfect for the job. They already had lining so just needed some good snipping and stitching up.


After trying to get my head round doing the curtains myself, I had to dash home to mother-bird for assistance, it just didn't make sense. I have never been much of a seamstress in my childhood and had little idea even now where to pin, stitch or anything else really.


After a day of female shenanegans, we set to working on making 6 curtains at 9pm! Note here I was aiming on driving back from the south to the midlands the next morning! With the measurements of the windows to hand, tape measures round our necks and the curtains stretched out we set about pinning along the lines to cut.


As it came together, it became clearer what we had to do. Cut one large curtain in half and this was enough for two windows in width allowing for some small ripples of material. It had heading tape already in place so we worked with this and just added in the seams either side and fixed the lining in place.

By midnight we had cut and pinned two out of six curtains.


So the next day, mum got up and was already sewing away before I had had my first cup of tea! And look what a wonderful sewing machine she was using...







Now that mum has shown me what to do, I have been sent to the floating home with Singer and the rest of the material to finish off. And they are coming along swimmingly! Already we have three windows hung looking very regal indeed.

With plans ahead of leaving our base this week we are tying up all lose ends and so the curtains will have to wait to be finished when we are on the move.

Stay linked to the kite project to see our move in text and colour!

Other dangerous activities...

Leigh has been hacking up some shelves to help us keep our belongings below the water line on the boat preventing any unfortunate boat-toppling-over on to our heads!

And I've been knitting circular style, some fancy leg warmers for the cold days in the winter time! It is quite an achievement as I thought I'd never know how to knit tubes like these!

Addition to the kitchen

For all those forgotten things, things to buy, things to do, we now have a home made black board! Horray!


And with all the recent rain, in summer (grumble, grumble) I have had to cheer the grey skies with offerings of blueberry muffins. Yum! ... and fortunately the tiny oven aboard works like a dream, mind you we don't think attempting a sunday roast is at all an option.

Whittling away the hours...

I have been finding lost twigs and giving them a new lease of life, whittling them, sculpting them, drilling and threading wool through to make key rings for all our many keys aboard. They look delightful and should the worst happen and the waterway goddess chose to call them inward, they should float!


In amongst this the baby swans have been floating along, tapping at the side of the boat to see if we are in and have been waggling their baby tails in anticipation of free foods!


They have since grown to near the size of mum, but still have all their grey fluff and a quater the size of wings!

Mushroom hunting

We discovered that an old tree had fallen and broken the security fence from the towpath into the back of Sainsburys and other industrial units. No we didn't do a Supermarket Sweep, even though it did cross my mind, the trees were professionally chopped up, though not into small enough pieces to make fire wood and left for dead. This dying wood and chipped wood was a hot bead for new growth, most interestingly insects and fungi.


So Delia and I set about a journey along the towpath to where said wood had fallen and set about sniffing out what sort of fungi we were actually looking at.


Even after studying the fungi book, I was unable to completely identify which species of fungi these little shrrroooms were part of, I decided they were best left alone.


And thus, Delia and I trundled home to a loving boat.