...then up through the university grounds to Woolaton Park, where Dave’s family used to come for picnics when he was little.
After that we walked into the city for lunch and were very tempted by Josephine’s Tea Rooms, but fabulous as it looked, £25 a head for a sandwich and a cuppa was a tad beyond us, so we went people watching in the Old Market Square with a sausage roll and a coffee from Greggs instead. Don’t judge us.
That evening we walked up the road to the highly recommended Victoria Hotel at the back of Beeston railway station for a celebratory meal, which was just as good as everyone had promised us it would be...
...and we finished the evening off with a game of cards with Bob and Mandy. A perfect day.
Anne drove Judith over to see us the next day. It was the first time that Dave, Judith and Anne had all been together since Kate’s funeral, so it was lovely to meet up again and have a hug in happier circumstances. England was in middle of the 2021 July heatwave; lunch was our usual fridge-contents-on-the-table affair in the shade of the well deck, followed by a gentle meander down the towpath towards the Attenborough nature reserve, and a visit to the lovely Heritage Centre garden for a sit down watching the weir.
All too soon Judith had to get her train home so we all walked up to the station to wave her off. We were so impressed with the Victoria Hotel that we booked a table for that night as well and took Anne with us. We had a table outside and can report that the food was just as good.
After breakfast the next morning Anne went home and we got the bikes out. We cycled the Big Track alongside the unnavigable bit of the Trent then rode along the canal towpath from Meadow Lane lock - where the navigation re-joins the river - into the city. We locked the bikes up outside the railway station and followed a very interesting walking trail round the Nottingham, discovering lots of history and no end of amazing buildings hidden away all over the city. Dave was stationed at RAF Newton in the 70’s, so he and his cronies came into Nottingham quite regularly. He remembered bits of it, but the world through the eyes of a 20 something and a 60 something are two entirely different places. It was as if someone had peeled back the veneer of shops fronts and pubs to show us the real Nottingham underneath.
We paused our trail for a cake and a cuppa in Saint Peter’s Church café before returning to the bikes and cycling back home along the towpath. Back at the boats we had an Al Fresco evening with Bob & Mandy with Lasagne and a hilarious game of Cranium, much to the amusement of the passers-by.
The next day was just as hot and the social whirl continued. We’d managed to persuade Ben & Georgie to come for lunch and although we’d seen them both at Georgie’s party, we hadn’t had much chance to talk, so it was lovely to spend a bit of time with them and hear about their plans. We took them down to the tea room at the Heritage Centre which was fast becoming our favourite place, and they brought our post from Karen’s which included some new poppers for the cratch cover and some rubber beading for sealing the final window.
Dawn & Graham brought NB Countess Rose II to moor in front of us and it felt very cosy to have our friends at either end of our boat. As the sun dropped behind the trees and there was some respite from the heat, we lit the barbecue for dinner with Matilda Blue. Later on Dawn and Graham came over to join us for a balmy evening chatting on the towpath till it got dark. As we are constantly reminded by dog walkers, cyclists, fishermen and joggers, this really is the life.
Boat maintenance got some attention on the Cranfleet cut. We got the windows on the starboard side out and dismantled while the weather was good...
...then cleaned up and refitted...
...again with little plastic blocks under the glass panes to stop them dropping in the frames and covering the drainage holes.
Dave gave the Squirrel stove its (supposedly) annual coat of Stovax paint...
...and put the new door glass in. It looks as good as new now, and with the fixing upgrade to stainless steel hex head bolts, it should be a lot easier to change the glass next time.
We got a new flexible hose and regulator for our gas bottle; we’d put a new hose on when we bought the boat, so that was ten years old and due for a change and we had no idea how old the regulator was. There isn’t a specified life expectancy for a regulator, but they’re only about tenner so it makes sense to get a new one when the hose is changed. While we're on the subject of gas; wefound a novel way of transporting the bottle when it needs exchanging.
Steve and Les were regular visitors while we were in their manor; they took us to their favourite places and gave us a Local’s cycling tour of Nottingham...
...including the Avenues Market in Sneinton, which Dave immediately recognised as the old fruit and veg wholesale market. When he started HGV driving, the first job he had was with Spalding Haulage, transporting fresh produce from the Fenland fields to wholesale markets such as this all over the country. Nottingham was the first one he ever came to and was a baptism of fire. Trying to get a 38 tonne artic into the narrow alleyways with market traders and porters shouting and rushing about, then trying to get it unloaded to the right stalls and back out again nearly stopped his driving career in its tracks. Fortunately he didn’t have enough money in his pocket for the bus fare home, so he just had to buckle down and get on with it. He likes to think he emerged from the experience a better individual. It was rather strange for him to be sitting with his friends outside a lovely café, drinking delicious coffee and munching superb pastries in a place where, 30 years ago, he’d been absolutely miserable. It’s a funny old world.
The Local’s Cycle Tour also took us up to Green’s Windmill...
...a working mill on top of one of Nottingham’s hills. We climbed up to the top and marvelled at the views and the mill's inner workings...
...before buying some proper flour from locally grown wheat from the mill shop and a couple of little squashes and some gooseberries from the beautiful community garden.
Following in Matilda Blue’s and Countess Rose’s footsteps we moved Legend from Beeston to the city centre for one night behind the retail parks, (where the lovely Annette came for the afternoon)...
then along the rest of the Nottingham Canal...
...and down through Meadow Lane lock.
We turned upstream on the river, under the magnificent Trent Bridge with its fresh coat of paint...
...and moored up opposite the Memorial Gardens on the County Hall steps.
The Grantham canal used to depart from the river just below Trent Bridge, so we walked along the river, past the huge Nottingham Forest stadium and had a look. The lock is still there and the bit beyond it is still in water, complete with towpath.
It looks like it wouldn’t take a lot to restore it to a navigable condition. However, as it goes further into West Bridgeford the problems begin, not least of which is the main road and housing estate that now completely obliterate the line. The Grantham Canal Society has various plans about reconnecting its lovely waterway with the rest of the system, one of which is to bring it through the National Water Sports Centre at Holme Pierrepont.
We left the County Hall steps just after Trent Bridge cricket ground was emptying out after a “100s” match...
...so there were swarms of people all over the embankment and the bridge. A stag party dressed in Hawaiian beach wear were directly above us when we went under the arch, and one of them tossed a lei down to us. There was quite a breeze, but Ann-Marie hung off the side and did an expert catch to a round of applause from above. A perfect departure from a fabulous city!
A swift and incident free trip down the river brought us to Holme Pierrepont lock...
While we’d been having a nice lie-in, the contestants had been up at dawn and had already completed the 2.4 mile swim up and down the rowing lake. Most of them had also finished the 112 mile cycle ride round the surrounding countryside, and a good proportion had already gone through their second transition and were well into the full marathon. We spent an emotional afternoon watching, cheering and marvelling at the courage, determination and sheer guts of the contestants.
Steve and Les came back the next day and we took them for a lovely boat trip down through Holme and Stoke locks...
It was boating as it should be - friends on board pointing out the local land marks as we went along, lots of wildlife to look at on the riverbank and a lovely lunch on the mooring to finish it off. After they left we had a mini games night in Matilda’s well deck with Bob and Mandy. It won’t be long before we go our separate ways – they’ve got to get back to their mooring in Market Harborough for the winter and we’re heading for the Leeds and Liverpool canal, so we’re making the most of our time together.
The next morning we took the car to Newark for a reccé of moorings and parking, then drove down to Fiskerton where we left the car and walked back to Gunthorpe along the Trent Valley Way. There is a pontoon outside the Brewer’s Arms at Fiskerton, but even if there’s space for it, Legend won’t be stopping - it’s just a handy half-way point to leapfrog the car.
Our next move will be into Newark where we’ll stop for a few days while we catch up with medical and family stuff. We’re on a bit of a mission now; we’ve got flights booked to France in less than a fortnight and we need to have Legend off the river and onto a safe, unrestricted mooring before we go. Hopefully that will be Saxilby on the Fossdyke navigation. There’s the tidal section between Cromwell lock and Torksy to do before that, and we’re booked out on the ebb at 7am next Monday, so at the moment our dining table is the planning desk, there are lists everywhere and it’s all go.
1 comment:
I'm still traumatised by your last post, thank goodness you and Legend are safe and in one piece. We'll certainly keep a distance from the Roman wall the next time we pass.
Now please be careful when you go through Gunthorpe Lock as this is where I left the top of my right little finger six years ago. I do have a quick look to see if there is a clone of me growing in the murky depths of the lock, but so far I've not seen one.
Enjoy your trip down to Torksey, if the sun is out it's a rather nice cruise. The fish and chips in Saxilby are meant to be very good.
Pip
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