Category: 2014

The last morning on the boat sees Kathy and Steve make a clear run, pretty much so, back to Mintball’s home mooring and they even manage to avoid all the chaos in the middle of Tyrley locks.

After a few miles of wibbly wobbly canal Kathy and Steve make it back to the Shroppie and its railway era style engineering and make their way slowly north on the last full day of their holiday.

A long but steady day sees Kathy and Steve finally escape the Trent Valley and they also escape from the Sow Valley too before stopping for the night near an important but largely unnoticed canal junction.

Boats, Boats, Boats…. lots of them and lots of them actually on the move for a change. One last short visit to the Trent and more locks as Mintball continues up the Trent Valley and stops for the night only a hundred or so yards from a famous murderer’s residence.

Shardlow to Burton doesn’t take that long by road but the big locks make it feel like a long long day by canal. Oddly enough its almost the same distance by road as it is by canal.

A moderately easy day sees the back of the Trent (for now) and also to Nottingham as Mintball returns to the regular canal network

Another day on the Trent going through nowhere – with only a few locks and so much water it can actually be remarkably boring

Doing the Tidal Trent within a few days of last doing it is rather like being forced to watch a dull movie twice. But unlike a dull movie you can’t walk out half way through

It’s an easy trip from Saxilby to Lincoln and there are plenty of moorings if you know where to look, and Steep Hill doesn’t need to be as scary as it’s name suggests.

A lot of distance with relatively little to see takes Kathy and Steve out on to the tideway and then onto some Roman canal before stopping for the night in a village with a Viking history.