Sawley Marina

On the Trent & Mersey between Swarkestone and Weston Locks

  Another quiet but pleasant day although the weather is getting colder and windier.  We left Swarkestone at 10:20am and almost immediately descended the 10 foot Swarkestone Lock.  Both this and the following lock, Weston, were very hard work.  The stiff paddle gear necessitated the use of our long handled windlass and the very heavy double width gates took a lot of effort to open and close.  Fortunately there was a volunteer lock keeper at Aston Lock, the last of the really deep ones.  The scenery is particularly attractive in places, the canal being lined with trees in between which on the south side one could get good views across the Trent valley.

The M1 crosses the Trent below Shardlow

We passed through the old canal centre of Shardlow with its collection of canal warehouses, some in poor condition but others have been put to good use.  Beyond Shardlow the canal descends Derwent Mouth Lock to join the  Trent which by now has become a very wide river.  It passes beneath the M1 beyond which the navigation leaves the Trent above a weir and passes through Sawley Flood Lock which blocks flood water from the 1/3 mile stretch of sheltered moorings above Sawley Lock were we moored at 2:30.

Statistics: 8 miles,5 locks 4 hours cruising.