Friday 11 July 2008

Robin Hood Country.

0 Locks 3 Miles. Now moored by Sainsbury's Supermarket, Nottingham.

It was time to say Au Revoir to Derek and Christina upon N/b Kalimera as they plan to stay on at Beeston to be able to attend their son's graduation at Nottingham University. As for us we had to go into Nottingham to pick up Tracey from the railway station as she is staying with us for 5 days. On the outskirts of the city we saw sign's of the homeless with a couple of tents and piles of rubbish hidden away in some tree's. We moored up outside Sainsbury's supermarket and walked the 1/2 mile into town.

As we had time to spare we walked as far as the winding hole prior to the last lock which puts you back on the river Trent. We have seen the Fellows, Clayton & Morton building which is a museum which we will visit later, the refurbished BW building still emblazoned with BRITISH WATERWAYS. The trams were also of interest now running on part of the old Great Central railway, they certainly look very smart. At one of the bridge's below Castle lock we saw a black steel box against the bridge abutment with it's door ajar. Upon further investigation it turned out to be a water point which is not shown on any map book. The lock on the door had been smashed but the tap was dripping so presumably operational.


Old British Waterways Building

Down at the winding hole we saw a couple of drug addict's hiding in a corner on the opposite bank but they were not as secluded as they would have liked because we could see them quite plainly as they prepared to inject themselves with something or other.

The station was easy to find and Tracey's train was on time but she exited the station from a different entrance from where we were waiting but after a couple of phone calls we eventually met up.


Fellow Morton and Clayton Canal Museum

Tram running on the Great Central Railway line

This evening while doing a little bit of fishing off the back of the boat a Chinese couple and their son came over and spoke to me as they were very interested in the boat. They asked if they could have a look through the boat but I declined as I knew Dot was busy preparing dinner and wouldn't approve of the invasion. The husband was studying at the University and his wife and son and only been in the country for 2 days. In the end they settled for a photo of the wife and son with me on the back of the boat.

1301 locks, 1875½ miles, 43 Tunnels, 42 swing bridges and 19 lift bridges since Nov 2006

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