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DOING THE DERWENTSUNDAY 10th MARCH 2002
(All Photos by Neil Arlidge)
The weather wasn’t brilliant: dry but cold, but with very strong winds that were to give us a lot of trouble. They’d caused a mate of mine to have endless problems taking his unballasted shell up the Erewash - it got blown all over the place! If the trip hadn’t been arranged in advance I probably wouldn’t have bothered, but the TNC Scratch Crew of Neil Arlidge and Terry Streeter were on their way up from London as I set out for the Marina, with a rendevous time of 1000 agreed. At least, that was what I thought, until my mobile rang at just after 0900. It was Neil, saying they were already there....................
Brian & Terry
Once I arrived, a quick polish round and engine start saw us under way and off down the Soar soon after 0930. The first bit was easy, but once we got “round the corner” and started up the Trent, things became a little slower and we knew we were in for a battle. The wind blew us sideways (no problem here as there was plenty of room) and the engine had to go at more-or-less full chat to get us over the ground. Nevertheless, steady and unspectacular progress was made up-river to Sawley Lock: not Locks as one was having work done on it. For the first time ever, I actually worked this lock myself. I usually give that job to the crew or there’s a locky on duty, but today I was left to push the buttons myself. I picked up a Rumpus-sized gangplank from the flotsam on the lock side, too!
A pause at Sawley Marina enabled me to top Rumpus’s Diesel tank up for the first time this year with £7-12's-worth of fuel and Terry and Neil were happy to look around the chandlery before we began the serious business of the day. We had to work Sawley Flood Lock (not that there was a great difference in the levels) and then set off upstream, turning right into the Derwent opposite the junction with the Trent & Mersey.
Now it got more difficult. For a start, there is no guaranteed depth, so the rule about going round the outside of bends on a river applies even more than usual. However, this is where the current flows most strongly and it was still very fierce.................... Also, there are shallow patches even on the outside of bends and when we hit these, Rumpus slowed to a crawl over the ground. Thus our progress was marked by a series of dashes and pauses (in a relative sense) with the Boy Arlidge doing sterling work with the shaft, checking the water depth. We’d been going upstream for the best part of an hour when I noticed that we could still see the towpath bridge across the mouth of the Upper Trent - the river had described a massive meander and we were only a field or two away from where we started!
We went under the first bridge, waved at a passing motorist and was shouted at by a fisherman. "You’re not supposed to be here - you’re supposed to be on the Trent!" We said we knew exactly where we were........... Eventually, forward progress came to a complete halt as we drew abreast of the Firework Factory: we weren’t aground but could make no progress in the shallow water against the fierce current. A very gentle turn saw us start back down-river rather faster than we came up, with the engine still having to work hard: this time to give us enough speed through the water to make the rudder work!
At the Limit of Navigation: Note the Firework Factory's blast walls on the right hand side.
"Won't she go any further?"
"No, she won't go any further!" Note the newly-acquired gangplank.
"That bridge looks low................"
"Nah,plenty of room!"
Heading back down river - note the high untamed banks.
An unusual view of the towpath bridge over the Upper Trent.
After a much shorter time, we popped out of the mouth of the Derwent and shot straight across the Trent & Mersey into the Upper Trent, admiring the very early concrete towing path bridge which is at present closed and showing signs of its age. Built in 1932, it must be one of the earliest pre-cast concrete structures on the waterways (unless, of course, you know better). Another crawl up to Shardlow Marina followed: the only item of note was when my wooly hat blew off my head. Thanks to nifty tiller work by myself and nifty boathook work by the Boy Arlidge it was safely recovered. It was nice to be able to find a mooring in the marina in the lee of the buildings so we weren’t getting blown about as much as I prepared lunch.
Lunch was followed by a relatively untroubled trip downstream home: discussion ranged over cruising plans for 2002 and 2003 and the advisability of taking Rumpus on the tidal Trent: no great problem. Arrival back at Redhill was well before 1600, enabling for a reasonable journey back for the other two thirds of the TNC Scratch Crew and giving me time to tidy round before going home to get warm!
Rumpus in Sawley Flood Lock.
"Wind over Tide" made Sawley Marina distinctly choppy. At least WE had a cabin......
This shows the area - the arrow marks more-or-less where we got to.
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Created on June 2nd 2002