A rant and a positive note to finish

 Wednesday, March 19th

It had been planned for weeks, head down the canal with locking buddies Jenn and Jim on boat Dire Straits to Sandiacre. The Pie and Pea weekend was happening, long awaited because since Covid, no one had taken on the responsibilities of organising such an event. But chairman's wife Shirley stepped up to the mark and took over the job...thank you, Shirley. Anyway, as good as the planning process was, Jenn could not have foreseen what would happen to her while away visiting friends in Harrogate. Unfortunately, she woke one morning with only partial sight in one eye. Turned out she had a displaced retina, and a phone call to the doctors instructed her to see the eye clinic in A&E ASAP. Long story short, she will require an operation to fix it, which is to go ahead this Friday. That, of course, meant we had lost our locking partner. Two more boats were due to leave the Mill today, but they had already arranged to 'buddy' up, so we were on our own! 

9.15am and we entered Langley Bridge Lock. Yesterday we had the foresight to come off of our mooring at the swing bridge, wind, and tie up outside the facilities. All that remained this morning was to fill with water and empty the loo. 

I would like to say the journey down went without a hitch, but when is it for us ever free of incident! All went well until our arrival at Greens lock. Those that read this blog will remember the awful job we had in this lock back in August 2024(Click here)

Ian then had reported the problem of silt behind the top gates and an open ground paddle making the lock almost non-operational, and surely, 7 months later one would expect something to have been done, but no... Anyway, for those that have no idea what I am talking about, it's about top gates not opening, being pinned to the side because the amount of water flowing through the open paddle and being unable to move the bottom gates because water could not be equalised.

So on arrival, I again had to squeeze through the middle of the lock because of the build up of silt behind the gates, it was definitely a 'breath in' moment as neither of the gates would open fully.

I usually try to keep FS towpath side but as soon as Ian lifted the bottom paddles and the water started draining, the force of water from the open ground paddle took hold of FS, and not gently either! Nothing could be done but go with the flow, and plates rattled as we hit the opposite side!

It is the ground sluice which is open not the gate sluices, although they leak also

Down we went, but again trying to exit the lock was impossible. Ian couldn't open the gate! I was hard against the side unable to move and the only way we could get the gate open was for me to climb up the ladder and add my weight to the gate! Easier said than done, especially with my bulk! Squeezing along the side of FS to the ladder would have had any onlookers in stitches. It must have been an ungainly sight! Somehow I got one foot on the bottom rung and found out, nearly to my cost, just how slippery it was. But to get out of the lock there was no choice but to climb that ladder, and climb it I did! Then, between us straining for all our worth, we got that gate open. Somehow, I had to get back down to FS.  I tried but chickened out and 'my man that can' came to my aid by saying he would do the honourable thing and climb down instead.

You can see the amount of effort he put in to try and shift the gate

 

And so it happened that at Gallows Inn lock, two CRT guys were busy greasing paddles. I bet they wished themselves further when I started ranting on about how bad Greens lock was and why hadn't something been done about it. I'm afraid to say I let them have it with all guns blazing, and all credit to them for taking it on the chin. What I will say is these two were equally unhappy about the situation. They had tried to sort out that paddle by poking a long pole down the shaft to try to get it to close, but to no avail. A stoppage will have to be organised and sympathised, saying it was up to the engineers within the organisation to decide when it will be done. Unfortunately, their hands are tied.  On our departure he mentioned that the boaters survey this year had brought up how dissatisfied boaters were with CRT and in light of their comments, all repairs to any failing locks were to be carried out within two weeks. Well, if that is true, how wonderful would that be!

The Erewash has many sunken plastic boats, could this become the cruiser's graveyard? One was almost in the middle of the channel, we had been warned by a chap walking his dog and thank goodness he did because, what with the sun in our eyes and the boat fully submerged apart from one fender above water, we would have run into it.

Can you see it?

The others were either burnt out or had been deliberately sunk by brain-dead youths! And very surprised to see the boat by the M1 bridge, which we had been assured had been removed, to be still there! 

 

And of course the one by Sandiacre lock is still there. Nearly a year now!

After 5 hours, we made it to Sandiacre. We now await the next two boats to arrive later and hopefully a few more tomorrow.

I must just finish on a positive note, this post sounds like the Erewash is a horrible canal to cruise. Well it isn't. In fact, it is a delightful canal, rural, interesting and filled with plenty of wildlife. If CRT pulled their fingers out and rectify the problems, this would be a 'must do' waterway. Please don't be put off cruising this canal, try it for yourselves. At Sandiacre, the lock cottage is open to view from 2pm on the third Sunday of every month and then instead of winding there, continue to the top to meet us up at Langley Mill where you can see a pump house, toll house and do a walk to see part of the Cromford canal that is being restored. 

 

How can I say so much about not a lot!

Monday 17th March

So what have I been doing these last few months. The honest answer is not a lot. I stopped myself from going stir-crazy by purchasing some Paint by Number kits, first a cottage scene and next a turtle, which eased the boredom somewhat. Also, many an hour was spent watching films on Amazon Prime and I binged watched Life on Mars, Ashes to Ashes, Downton Abbey and Father Brown. How sad am I???

  As for Ian, he has kept busy by getting the motorhome ready for our European tour in May, (more of that later) completely re-siliconing the shower, sink and toilet surrounds, polishing both sides of FS and with the weather improving earlier in February, taking the windows out, removing the rust surrounding the windows, treating with fertan, undercoating and finally replacing said windows with only the top coat of green to apply. (Temperatures have to rise sufficiently for that.)

Mid-February contractors to the Environment Agency arrived on their workboat. This email message arrived in my in box. 

Maltby Land Surveys Ltd on behalf of the Environment Agency will be surveying the full 18km length of the Erewash Canal starting from Trent Lock on Monday 17th February, finishing at Langley Mill Lock on Friday 21st March.

During this time contractors will enter the canal using a small inflatable craft.  Bankstaff will ensure that the towpath and navigation remain unrestricted.

Passing craft are asked to navigate the works location with caution and in single file.  Towpath visitors should be aware of this increased activity.

Being the nosey cow I am, I sent Ian out to have a chat. He returned a shade bemused when told the plumbing of the depths had revealed no problems at all. In other words, there was no issue with boats grounding or scraping the bottom. Well, they obviously hadn't taken boats drafts into consideration, and I do wonder what they think is sufficient! We often scrap the bottom, FS's draft is 2' 5" and the historic boats moored at Langley are even deeper! Anyway, Ian said as much, but I very much doubt any dredging will happen any time soon!    

                           

Watching the procedure was much better than watching TV, especially when the measuring pole slipped from the chap in the inflatable and disappeared into the depths. It took several attempts with a grabber, until eventually he successfully found what he was looking for.

 

With our European holiday coming up in May, the motorhome had to be in tip-top condition for the trip. This meant many a visit to a garage to check tyres, have its service, look at the timing belt, and make sure we are compliant with the emission laws. Then the MOT was due and all these tasks happened over several weeks. So I had to face my fear and get behind the wheel of our car to fetch Ian from the garage and follow him back to the storage yard. It was traumatic! He happened to book a time slot during the school run. OMG....talk about hair-raising! So glad to come out of that trip unscathed. Still, it did make it easier on the other driving occasions when the roads were quieter. I stupidly said that I may have a go driving the motorhome abroad seeing as the traffic is light and roads wider there, but then I remembered which side of the road Europeans drive on. Hmm...maybe I was a tad too hasty! Anyway, the motorhome sailed through its service and MOT. Tyres had an advisory on the rear, not because of the tread, but because they are 10 years old. The emissions have been checked and deemed okay and the timing belt was put on the back burner as to change it would mean the whole front of the vehicle would have to be removed. The mechanics at the garage said it would see us through another couple of years. Fingers crossed they are not just fobbing us off!

 

Today we left Langley Mill with FS for a jaunt down the Erewash. As my ramblings in this post is starting to be a bit like War and Peace, I will hold you all in suspense and continue with that tomorrow.