Back on the Canals again.

Tuesday 10th September 2019 in Shardlow.
The sunrise at Sawley cast a golden light all down the river, contrasting with the cooling towers of the power station, which were lost in the mist.

At this point, we are still on a branch of the River Trent, so the first lock is a flood lock and, if river levels are normal, it is left open.

Under the M1, the deafening roar of which can be heard for miles around.

An interesting confluence of rivers. The Trent comes in from 90 degrees on the left while the Derwent comes in from 90 degrees on the right. The very narrow entrance to the Trent & Mersey Canal is straight ahead. When R did this on his own three years ago, both rivers were orange boarded and running fast. Trying to aim for the narrow canal entrance (the little white board in the centre) was interesting, as the currents from each side competed with each other!

This time, however, the rivers are very quiet, but MM was still pushed left and right as we approached the canal.

"Hooray! Back on the canals again", said M.
The appropriately named Derwent Mouth Lock is lock number one on the Trent & Mersey Canal. Aston (our home marina) is beside lock 26 - so 25 locks to go. Next to the lock is a signpost for the start of a 55 mile footpath that goes all the way to Ladybower Reservoir.

Bridge number one - only 88 more bridges and 46 miles before we reach Aston!

R spotted a 7in guage railway in the garden of this house. You can just see the little trucks lined up.

We wanted to moor up in Shardlow but all the C&RT visitor moorings were full. Luckily, R spotted that there were visitor moorings under the willow trees for "Patrons Only" of the Clock Warehouse.

Sharlow was originally an "inland port" where cargo was transferred from wide river barges to narrowboats that could navigate the Trent & Mersey Canal. The arch at the front of the warehouse used to allow narrowboats and barges to load and unload in the dry.

The Warehouse is now an excellent pub and restaurant so we moored up under the willow trees and went inside for coffee. After looking at the menu, we booked for an early dinner!

Double gins were on special offer, so we had one each.  The ketchup that came with M's fish'n'chips was a special EdChup edition that Heinz has produced with Ed Sheeran (who seems to have been a lifelong fan) to celebrate Heinz's 150th anniversary.

R's dessert was huge! But delicious!

We strolled back to MM feeling very full!
Today: 2 miles, 1 lock and 1.2 hours.
Trip: 396 miles, 150 locks and 192.3 hours.