It was a glorious morning and we were soon off to Sawley Lock. We now knew that we had to use the key and power, unlike the first time we were here. There was a boat waiting to go in the lock with one of the crew at the controls. Helen went to help and she seemed glad as they were nervous about using the lock. She was also relieved when we said that we would close up and she could get aboard before we lowered the lock as she was also worried about getting back aboard. We were only going round the corner to fill up with water and dump the rubbish so no problem.
Looking back through SAawley Cut with the Marina and Boat Club on the left.
We met 'Blue Moon' on the facilities mooring and exchanged information before they moved off. We were soon finished too and set off towards Trent Lock. There were several boats on the move but quietened down as we approached the junction.
The sailing club between the Cranfleet Cut and Thrumpton Weir.
The railway viaduct over the weir of the Trent.
As soon as you enter the River Soar it has an identity of of it's own. The first part has lots of marinas and permanent moorings which forces you to go slowly and watch the world go by.
Redhill Flood Lock that is usually open from March to October.
Ratcliffe Lock. The concrete lined present Lock was built to replace the one that can be seen on the right of the picture.
The river is in gentle mood at the moment and this adds to the bucolic nature of the river.
Kegworth Marina.
After mooring up by the Kegworth Shallow Lock, which is a flood lock at this time of the year, we went for a walk into the village to check out the little museum there. We knew it was closed today but had read it opened on Wednesday, but not now; Sunday's only! There are some nice houses and obviously the place had a good trade from the river and the road (A6) at one time. We bought a pork pie and some scones but decided against a drink in the Red Lion as it was so early. It started to spit with rain, and after we were back aboard it came down quite heavily. That save me watering the pots today.
We are off to London eventually so it is nice to know how far it is. Mind you a stage coach would still beat us for speed.
I'm not sure about you but I will always associate Kegworth with the air crash that occurred near here. It happened on 8th January 1989. It was a British Midland Boeing 737. It was on the Heathrow - Belfast shuttle service and had just left Heathrow on it's second run of the day with 126 aboard, including one baby. Soon after take off there were vibration, alarms and smoke and the plane was taken in hand by the pilot. The crew soon identified the problem and shut down the st'bd engine. This stopped the vibration ans smoke so they decided to shut the engine down and set an emergency message and a divert to East Midlands Airport for an emergency landing. The problem was that the problem was actually the port one and so as they made their approach with a damaged engine and the good one shut down. Unfortunately they never made it and hit the ground 900 metres short of the runway on the edge of the M1 Motorway embankment. Just whilst I have been looking this up to write about I have discovered that the first on the scene were actually a lifeboat crew. Not only that but they were from the Withernsea Inshore Lifeboat Crew which is very close to where we live. Just in case you wondered they were on their way back home after visiting the London Boat Show. Nobody knew and it wasn't until 2008 that their involvement was rewarded by the Irish Government. 47 lost their lives, 74 seriously injured and 5 with minor injuries. Later the motorway was widened. The soil where the plane lay was collected and place at the memorial that had been sited at the outskirts of the village.
The plane crashed on the side of the embankment of the M1 just short of the East Midlands runway.
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