The Erewash Canal.

There is a slight flow of water down the Erewash into the River Trent, so the water keeps beautifully clear. When we fed a few crumbs to the fishes they quickly made their way through the yellow water lily stems and we could see them grabbing mouthfuls of food. We think they were Dace and Rainbow Trout and they varied in size from an inch to about nine.

Two old working boats Perch and Threefellows Carrying Ltd  ( a Woolwich) came down into the locks this morning.

Hyde and butty Hereford seem to be moored permanently alongside the boatyard by Trent lock with their noses being tickled by the reeds.

 

We popped into the Lock House Tea Rooms for a snack lunch and the interior has fine displays of ‘canalia’ and other items of interest. Apparently  in the rooms below at the back there was a Blacksmiths and accommodation for workboat crews staying overnight.  There was also a cell where anyone caught thieving could be held. As we enjoyed our delicious meals we soaked up the atmosphere of it all. It tipped with rain while we were inside, but soon dried out again when the sun shone through.

 

So afterwards we decided to move on passing by various houseboats of all sizes, this one was the biggest.

  

There were some more red brick chimneys to admire and some of the bridges were rather low, good job we don’t have anything on the roof! Some of the old mills were still being used and some had been cleared, as in the picture on the right. This remaining chimney had been put to good use with transmitter aerials all around it. Most of the locks need a ‘conservation key’ to operate them which slowed up the proceedings.

We met six BW personnel doing an annual inspection, well they will have a lot of work to do, paddle gear missing, ‘conservation key’ locks u/s.