Beginning 2012 back in Nottingham

We are moored in Nottingham, near Castle Marina and Sainsburys, having arrived late on Monday. We were on the move on New Year's Day through Shardlow, which was full of moored boats and reached the flood lock with a red warning light on display for the River Trent. We went no further stopping just before Derwent Mouth.

The following morning, Monday 2nd January, the water level had gone down to amber; proceed with caution. We and another boat shared the lock and set out onto the river. We were going at quite a speed and there were severe eddies and flows. We had set the anchor in place and kept alert. At Sawley the flood gates were closed but we managed to get through after barge-poling some lage logs and reeds out the way. As we began to exit the lock we thought something was wrapped round the prop because with as much throttle Leigh gave, we weren't moving anywhere. We began to crawl forward with some almighty scraping and grinding noises to discover that we were going over an entire tree in the water. This is a huge problem with the first flood of the season as all loose detrius drifts into the canals and rivers.

We left Sawley and cruised to Trent Lock and on through Cranfleet. After leaving the lock there was such a fast flowing current that we were at Beeston in record time. At Beeston, we went though the lock and within an hour we were moored up.

It's good being in Nottingham. The job is going really well and we are looking forward to pay day! From our mooring, it is a short walk into town and today I looked round the Klaus Weber exhibition at Nottingham Contemporary which had some interesting pieces.

Today I've completed the DIY project of our bed using four pallets and the wood left over is being used to keep us warm!

As the night has drawn in we tend to the fire, hunker down with DVD entertainment and enjoy a delicious homemade stew by Master Chef Le Leigh.