Having gotten the train from Woking in Surrey, we met with Shell Bell at Stoke-on-Trent in the early afternoon. After a swift cup of tea & a tour of the boat for Claire, we were on our way, heading North towards the Harecastle Tunnel. Having never done a lock before, Claire was thrown in at […]
Today was quieter than yesterday, although we still had ten locks to do. Really working on the bingo wings. We followed a couple from Kings lynn on board there narrowboat Napton Lass down the locks and they gave us some good information about moorings on the Ouse. If we could find moorings there it would be […]
According to our schedule we were aiming for bridge number 83 today. At the beginning of our journey we passed through the new bridge where the Armitage tunnel used to run before it’s roof was removed in 1971 to combat the subsidence effects of coal being mined nearby. The notice says you must send a crew […]
A few statistics to begin the blog tonight. Today we have travelled twelve miles in ten hours and have worked eleven locks!!! This very busy day began at nine o’clock. We set off from Branston and our aim was to make up for the time we lost on Monday so that we can be at […]
As per usual it was very windy as we set off. We had to take the boat across to Aqua to have some fairleads put on. We were going to get the bus into Burton while this was being done but decided we would stop at Shobnall to go to Sainsburys. Having filled up with […]
It was after a long train and bus journey that we finally reached Willington at 6.15pm. We were so grateful that Stuart (who had been putting the central heating in Shell Bell) turned up at the station to pick us up. He took us back and showed us how the heating works. It looks very […]
We had a lazy start to the morning but then got busy stowing everything away and packing some items to take back home with us. We payed a visit to Justin at Aqua boats just to check everything was still ok for Shell Bell to have her bottom blacked on Monday a process that takes around […]
It was calm and sunny as we set off from Shardlow for Willington. Shell Bell is going to have her bottom blacked and new sacrificial anodes welded on the hull.(These help prevent corrosion) We are also having central heating installed. The journey would be 11 miles and five locks. At the first lock we went through with a nice couple from […]
Ratcliffe on Soar power station signs at trent lock junction We are now making our way back to Willington but are stopping at Kegworth and Shardwell on the way. On Wednesday the weather dominated our travels. We were lucky to get through the first lock just after a heavy shower but we got absolutely soaked […]
fantastic canal side garden Barrow upon Soar In order that Shell Bell is back in Willington for the weekend we needed to start thinking about turning round. However, we wanted to go to Barrow upon Soar so we decided to head there and get back to Loughborough for tonight. We had a plesant journey, very […]