Shireoaks

Most of today was dry and grey but a couple of heavy showers arrived mid-afternoon to be followed by warm sunshine and fluffy clouds. We set off from our isolated overnight moorings in good time.

The bridges on this canal are - as with most canals - distinctive. In this case they have a clear angular profile to the parapet.

A dog out for a walk with its owner decided to swim across the canal to take a closer look at these donkeys and pony. However, it quickly thought better of it and responded to a call to swim back again.

There are several different security mechanisms of the Chesterfield locks but at out first lock today - Kilton Lock - we found a one-off, and quite clumsy to manipulate.

Bracebridge Pumping Station

As we neared Worksop, the Bracebridge Pumping Station and distinctive chimney came into view and remained with us as we passed over a narrow aqueduct. Underneath runs an ancient feeder channel

Straddle Workshop

By now we were right into Worksop and passing under the Straddle Workshop close to the main Town Lock. Here, Christine went off to find a bank and the shops - discovering one of the largest street markets she has seen.

Worksop Market

Meanwhile, Mike quickly used the sani-station - the smallest he has ever seen, barely room to stand upright - before taking the boat up the lock. One of the bottom gate balance beams only just fits around the expanded road bridge. Whilst waiting for Christine to return he started to upload yesterday's blog photos but did not complete this by the time she returned.

Worksop Town Lock - Bottom Gates

As we set off, Christine realised she had forgotten to buy a birthday card and returned to the new shopping centre whilst Mike continued to the next lock - with an unusual accommodation bridge design. The bridge seemed to be popular with walkers to the nearby open space and small lake.

Morse Lock

Stret Lock is especially narrow - the warning sign says a maximum of 6ft 10 inches. Although we have been through similarly restricted locks before, having heard that another boat earlier in the day had to call for assistance after becoming stuck, we took it very cautiously. So much so that we forgot to take any photos!

Deep Lock

On a canal with so many quite shallow locks, Deep Lock inevitably gained this name. In reality, there are many much deeper locks on the system and very many more that are deeper than this one!

Most of the locks on this stretch have a particular type of pawl-less mechanism with a high gearing to make them easy to operate, even though they do need to be unlocked each time.

Shireoaks Marina Entrance

Below Shireoaks locks we stopped on a lock landing to have lunch - having only seen one other boat moving today we thought that it was unlikely we would cause a problem. Just above the bridge is the entrance to Shireoaks marine, with a reminder that it was built from a disused coal mine basin.

After lunch and ascending the three Shireoaks locks we pulled into the Shireoaks Marina for water and rubbish disposal. We were surprised by the extent of visitor moorings - the marina seems to be unstaffed and wholly operated by Waterways (CaRT). The water tank took some time to fill and by then we were beginning to wonder whether to move - this was our planned target for today even though it was still early afternoon.

From here on the map shows very little opportunity for mooring as there are 22 more locks over under a mile and a half. We opted to walk up a few locks to see what there might be - the sun was shining now - and concluded that staying put was probably the sensible option.

Shireoaks Church

This gave us time to take a little look at Shireoaks, which seems to be a mid nineteenth century mining village. First stop was the convenience store for an ice cream! The church appears to have been built at this time and Nicholsons suggests that it was part funded by the local landowner. Alas, the church was locked so we could not check out the description of the interior.

Shireoaks Marina

Back to the marina and a lazy afternoon with only an intermittent mobile signal. Not sure at the time of writing whether we will upload today or not!

4.6 mile - 11 locks