After making the most of the Canal & River Trust Service facilities at Trent Lock on the Erewash Canal we proceeded through Trent Lock under the gaze of gongoozlers. A gongoozler is a person who enjoys watching activity on the canals of the United Kingdom. The term is also used more generally to describe those who harbour an interest in canals and canal life, but do not actively participate.
We swung a left turn onto the wide River Trent which was awesome after the narrow confines of the canal. The high river banks were barriers to mooring and Hilary began to fret about us not having the anchor ready to hand in case of difficulties.
At the first lock there was no need for a windlass as each paddle had one welded on. This was the same as for the next one.
After our third lock of the day we came off the River Trent, passing through a forth lock onto the Beeston and Nottingham Canal and we chugged into the heart of the city where Hilary had lived from 1990 until 2012 when we moved to Watchet.
We passed Castle Marina and moored up near Sainsbury’s where we stocked up our drinks cabinet. Annie and Ian came for a cup of tea on the stern and took Vera for a sleepover while Hilary and Steve walked pass The Olde Trip to Jerusalem pub and up Maid Marion Way to the Premier Inn. We booked the hotel room as we really, really wanted to have a proper shower and most of all, a bath!
We had an exotic bath with Sanctuary Spa Liquid Gold Bath Elixir (Hilary didn’t realise it was £12 a pop when she picked it up in Sainsbury’s)!
And an evening of fine dining courtesy of Tesco Metro. We had these sandwiches followed by a fresh berry mix of strawberries, blueberries and raspberries and coconut pieces. We watched Dragon’s Den and started to watch The Girl in the Spider’s Web on film4 before retiring for an early night.
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