Locks on the Trent

[davidk65]

Starting at Gunthorpe Lock we shall be going on (is it upstream) to Nottingham and on down the Trent Mersey to Hardings Wood. A couple of questions for the more experienced boater.

 

Q1. Gunthorpe has a lock keeper but how many other locks to Nottingham are also manned, and what is the routine for using them?

 

Q2. In those none lock keeper parts, how difficult/heavy are the locks to operate, accepting that the river Trent section and the Trent and Mersey change from a wide water way to narrow at Burton on Trent.

Are the locks on this section (to Burton-on Trent) of the journey simalar to the Locks on the Leeds Liverpool i.e. wide and very heavy?

 

Q3. what other problems might an inexperienced boater have to deal with.

 

All comments welcome.

[Paul Evans]

I can't speak with authority about the locks on the Trent but my (old) copy of Nicholson's has telephone numbers for Gunthorpe, Stoke Bardolph, Holme and Meadow Lane Locks so I assume they are manned. The lock keeper at Gunthorpe will be able to give you up to date information about them.

 

Castle, Beeston and Cranfleet Locks do not have telephone numbers, so my guess is they are boater operated. None are particularly deep, so you should be able to operate them as you would any broad lock.

 

There is a lock keeper at Sawley Locks some of the time but you can operate the locks yourself. You will need the BW Watermate key. Above Sawley all of the locks are boater operated. Derwent Mouth and Shardlow Locks are normal broad locks.

 

You need to watch your boat at Aston, Weston, Swarkestone and Stenson when going up. The paddle sluices empty further down the lock than usual and will sweep the boat across the lock and then forward against the cill unless you are controlling it with ropes (I speak from personal experience!) Stenson is over 12' deep so you will need ropes at least 40' long to pass them round bollards and return them to the boat. Open the paddles carefully! The bottom gates at Weston, Swarkestone and Stenson are fairly heavy - not surprising given their depth.

 

Above Stenson, you are in narrow lock country.

 

Enjoy the trip and let us know how you get on.

[Billypownall]

Starting at Gunthorpe Lock we shall be going on (is it upstream) to Nottingham and on down the Trent Mersey to Hardings Wood. A couple of questions for the more experienced boater.

 

Q1. Gunthorpe has a lock keeper but how many other locks to Nottingham are also manned, and what is the routine for using them?

 

Q2. In those none lock keeper parts, how difficult/heavy are the locks to operate, accepting that the river Trent section and the Trent and Mersey change from a wide water way to narrow at Burton on Trent.

Are the locks on this section (to Burton-on Trent) of the journey simalar to the Locks on the Leeds Liverpool i.e. wide and very heavy?

 

Q3. what other problems might an inexperienced boater have to deal with.

 

All comments welcome.

20688[/snapback]

 

You will have no trouble with the locks David. Gunthorpe,Stoke Bardolph and Holme locks are always manned. Meadow Lane lock leading into the Nottingham Canal is manned at busy times but is easy to operate anyway with an excellent waiting pontoon on the river. Back on River above Beeston Cranfleet lock is usually manned as is Sawley.The broad beam locks up to Burton-on-Trent can be a bit on the heavy side particularly Stenson but will not be a problem.

[roger]

You will have no trouble with the locks David. Gunthorpe,Stoke Bardolph and Holme locks are always manned. Meadow Lane lock leading into the Nottingham Canal is manned at busy times but is easy to operate anyway with an excellent waiting pontoon on the river. Back on River above Beeston Cranfleet lock is usually manned as is Sawley.The broad beam locks up to Burton-on-Trent can be a bit on the heavy side particularly Stenson but will not be a problem.

21026[/snapback]

 

 

I think the Trent lock info is out of date - a while ago on the Narrow Boat World website it was being reported that all locks above Newark no longer had lock keepers - they had been withdrawn - so these locks are now boater operated.

[davidk65]

I think the Trent lock info is out of date - a while ago on the Narrow Boat World website it was being reported that all locks above Newark no longer had lock keepers - they had been withdrawn - so these locks are now boater operated.

21038[/snapback]

 

Many thanks to those who supplied me with "Lock Info".

 

Having checked; after Gunthorpe, Stoke Lock & Holme Lock have lock keepers. Sawley has a keeper uptill 6 pm. All other locks are boater operated.

 

We hope to make passage from Doncaster to Nottingham starting on Monday 13th June (good job it's not a Friday). My captain tells me it's a neep tide so it wont be as fast as it can be, hoping to arrive Nottingham on the Friday.

At Nottingham we have a change of crew and then off we go on the Trent and Mersey. If we leave early on the Saturday, I hope to be somewhere near to Rugeley on the Monday evening. At this time the Nottingham crew "sign off" and I hope to make it the rest of the way to Macclesfield single handed. My wife is not too happy about this, but Liverpool won the cup and I think I can do it my way!

[John Orentas]

That's a lot of locks single handed, 18 on the T & M plus Bosley !