Basin and Bath

Day 8, Sandiacre to Langley Mill

This morning we shopped at the Co-op and polished the brass before setting off, as we had a date later with Dave and Izzy, owners of Bath and organisers of the sale of Chertsey. We met them as we approached the penultimate lock on our way up the Erewash, and they came with us all the way up to the Great Northern basin, where we are now tied up, looking very diminutive, to Bath. Dave and Izzy are longstanding stalwarts of the Erewash Canal Preservation and Development Association, and showed us many things that the Association has achieved over the years, including a restored Nottingham Canal Company toll office as well as lots more vital but less visible maintenance. Then they took us for a nice Indian meal, for which their inside knowledge of this town was greatly appreciated.

There was much excitement when Jim read in Nicholsons that the Association produces a plaque for those who have navigated to this point on the canal, and we are hoping that someone will appear in the morning to whom we can apply for one; also a guide - even post hoc, it should be very interesting. I have found this a fascinating and really enjoyable canal - so if you like the sort of things I like, it's highly recommended.

The trip so far has been a good physical workout, and I think I am starting to see results around the waistline; plus a goodly selection of insect bites. I wonder whether we don't have insects at home, or whether we do but they don't bite, or whether they do bite but I've become immune to them. Certainly I only seem to get bitten when I stray to foreign parts. I suppose here I should be reading Lawrence rather than Orwell... although in fact I haven't had much time for reading at all these last few days.

On Dave and Izzy's recommendation, we are going to visit the Chesterfield Canal before proceeding with the rest of our planned expedition. They have lent us a guide. They have also lent us (Jim?) a set of Trent charts. The necessity for this is making me quite nervous....