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In 1977 we hired our first narrowboat from Anglo Welsh at Market Harborough.From that moment our destiny was set. In 2006 we finally purchased our own brand new 57' narrowboat which we named 'Free Spirit'. Our aim is to travel the length and breadth of all the navigable rivers and canals of the UK. This will be our story as it unfolds.

Friday 14 November 2008

River Trent in flood


As we made our way back to our home in Sandiacre we knew we had to travel part of the way along the river Trent. On the Sunday we arrived at Derwent Lock to enter the River and noticed it was up slightly. By this time it had been raining for ages and I was a bit concerned that we wouldn't make Trent lock before the flood gates went on. We got to Sawley and to say we were drenched is an understatement. Ian wanted to stop at Sawley overnight but I had this feeling that the river was going to rise rapidly and persuaded him to continue along the last mile and get to the Erewash Canal that night. When we entered the river we were swept along by the fast current and did the mile in record time. We turned the boat against the flow to enter the canal when Ian noticed that the lock landing which had steps going up to the bank, was already underwater. This meant I would have to somehow get him off the boat before entering the canal and while we were still on the river. I managed to get near enough to the bank for Ian to jump of with the windlass and then with a final push of the throttle sailed the boat into the lock.
After we had moored and got dried of, we made our way back to the river to see if it had come up any more. These pictures show the lock and just how much water was flowing when we got there.
We stayed at Trent lock on the Monday and set of for our moorings on Tuesday morning. I still cant believe how quickly these 6 months have gone but now we look forward to spending Christmas with the family and most of all our new grandson Oscar.
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