Don navigation and Sheffield

[NBDensie]

We plan to do the tidal Trent and the nearby canals this summer. One option is to take the Don up to Sheffield. Anyone done it? Any views as to whether its worth the effort? Are there reasonable moorings in Sheffield near the city centre? Any info much appreciated.

[Guest]

We plan to do the tidal Trent and the nearby canals this summer. One option is to take the Don up to Sheffield. Anyone done it? Any views as to whether its worth the effort? Are there reasonable moorings in Sheffield near the city centre? Any info much appreciated.

 

Yes - the S&SYN is just brilliant - we can only claim to have got as far as Mexbrough (???SP) and it was well worth the trip.

 

The 'what you missed thread'

 

There is a basin in Sheffield which we were advised on here is well worth getting to...

Edited April 24, 2012 by MJG

[DeanS]

I can help

 

Doncaster to Sheffield is an enjoyable trip. It's very different to the stretch from Castleford to Doncaster, which if you look on a map is a perfectly straight line/(navigation)....I ended up strapping the tiller with a stretchy elastic thing, and gave it a nudge every minute. A few swing bridges.....arriving in Doncaster is a relief after that....and there's a 72hr mooring at Doncaster...with a shopping centre and Tesco just down the road. Then it's onto the large automated locks ...all the way to the Tinsley flight...which you need to book for...and which eventually takes you into the Sheffield basin....which is near the city centre. Sheffield is a decent city....seems to be built on a slope The trip to Sheffield should be done simply because it takes you through Sprotbrough.....a beautiful place to moor...no shops and no tv signal though....but picturesque. One reason to go to Sheffield, is that it's a city on a hill, and is not enroute to anywhere else...meaning you have to turn around and do it all again to get back again. It's an experience, and if you have lots of time..you should do it. If your time is limited...it might be a long haul there and back for you...you can get diesel and gas etc at Thorne....which is a left turn at the end of the navigation.......hope that helps ...if you want to stay in Sheffield for a longer period, you can speak to CVMarine, who have elec bollards, showers, toilets etc available...

[The Bagdad Boatman (waits)]

Certainly go to Sheffield visit the Mexbouro concertina club for a good night out and spend some time in Sheffield basin visit Kelam Island steel museum

[Athy]

visit Kelam Island steel museum

Sounds interesting - much more so than a concertina club! Is this a museum of Sheffield's steel industry? It's just a shame that the city's steel-making belongs largely in a museum nowadays. When I grew up there, it was thriving. I wish I had known that one of the steelworks operated a fleet of steam lorries until the 1970s, though.

[Hairy-Neil]

I was thinking more of the Kelham Island Brewery....

 

CLICKY

[Hairy-Neil]

Snip... I wish I had known that one of the steelworks operated a fleet of steam lorries until the 1970s, though.

 

I remember well the haulier, Sid Harrison and Sons, running a fleet of ancient bonneted Scammels in the late 1980s, long after the rest of the industry consigned them to history/the scrap yard....

[Naughty Cal]

Sounds interesting - much more so than a concertina club! Is this a museum of Sheffield's steel industry? It's just a shame that the city's steel-making belongs largely in a museum nowadays. When I grew up there, it was thriving. I wish I had known that one of the steelworks operated a fleet of steam lorries until the 1970s, though.

 

Kelham Island Industrial Mueseum is well worthy of a visit and the brewery of course.

 

Also worthy of a visit to a bus ride away from the basin are the Abbeydale Industrial Hamlet and Weston Park Museum. The winter gardens in the city centre are nice but if plants and nice scenery are your thing hop on a bus and visit the botanical gardens.

 

We have yet to do this stretch of water (Bramwith to Sheffield) in our boat as we live here but it is on the list for next years Easter cruise or this years Spring Bank week long cruise if the weather is grim and we cant make it to the coast.

[Athy]

Neil, those would be the so-called "mechanical horses" of tyhe type used by British Railways in the 1960s, I guess?

Phylis, I am convinced! Kelham Island sounds like a good venue for a day out - and Sheffield's shops are close enough to keep Mrs. Athy happy whilst I wallow in industrial archeology. I were brought up in Sheffield (Gleadless), went to school in Glossop Road and well remember the factories and foundries, though of course I never went inside them. Ithe downside of course was the accumulation of smoke from all those factories: I really thought as a boy that much of Sheffield was built from black bricks. When they cleaned the Midland Station circa late 1960s it was a revelation; I had thought it was naturally black, but it turned out to be sandstone.

[Naughty Cal]

Neil, those would be the so-called "mechanical horses" of tyhe type used by British Railways in the 1960s, I guess?

Phylis, I am convinced! Kelham Island sounds like a good venue for a day out - and Sheffield's shops are close enough to keep Mrs. Athy happy whilst I wallow in industrial archeology. I were brought up in Sheffield (Gleadless), went to school in Glossop Road and well remember the factories and foundries, though of course I never went inside them. Ithe downside of course was the accumulation of smoke from all those factories: I really thought as a boy that much of Sheffield was built from black bricks. When they cleaned the Midland Station circa late 1960s it was a revelation; I had thought it was naturally black, but it turned out to be sandstone.

 

A lot of the stone built buildings in Sheffield are still black with the remnants of the cities industrial heritage. I quite like it but the current trend does seem to be to get them sand blasted and reveal the golden sandstone beneath.

[Athy]

I should have clarified that what I call the Midland Station is now just called "Sheffield". When I was a boy there was also the Victoria station, and I and my happy little band of train-spotting pals used to shuttle back and forth from one to the other, Ian Allan Locomotive books in hand. Yes, I probably did wear an anorak at that time.

The Victoria station closed down in the late 1960s, not sure if its remains are still there. From vague memory, it was somewhere near the Wicker (a street, not a man).

[Hairy-Neil]

Neil, those would be the so-called "mechanical horses" of tyhe type used by British Railways in the 1960s, I guess?

 

 

You guess wrong. These were four wheeled tractor units, used on long distance haulage. Lots of pictures of Harrisons here.... CLICKY

 

This was taken 1985, not 1965 as you'd expect....

[Athy]

Ah, lovely! Yes, I know that type now I have seen your picture. Remained popular with fairground operators I think, and some had (have) Gardner engines.

[Hairy-Neil]

Harrisons had a large fleet of these vehicles in daily use into the late 1980s. The company was very much 'old school'....