Monday 17th September 2018



We went into Derby today. Neither of us wanted to really, but better that than hanging around the boat all day. Neither of us wanted to be marina dwellers and, hanging around waiting for people is what you become. It is frustrating, annoying, and it grinds you down.

We walked up into Long Eaton. A long walk it turned out, over a mile, but along a busy road, the footpath kept changing sides. The world is not set up for people walking.

Once at Long Eaton we couldn’t find the bus stop. The internet said it was adjacent to the train station but we could only find the stop coming into Long Eaton. So we caught the train instead. The train service we should have boarded was cancelled and we had to wait a further 30 minutes.

More frustration.

It was quite a hike from the train station into Derby city centre but at least it was a nice walk. Then we could not get into the first two shopping malls, ituDerby or the Eagle Market, because we had the dog. Despite all, we both kind of enjoyed Derby as a city. It is not big, it has a well spread out centre, lots of pedestrianised areas and altogether.  

We walked past the Derby Ram sculpture on East Street. Derby is associated with the ram which was first mentioned in The Ballads and Songs of Derbyshire of 1867, although was the song was alluded to for well over a century before. The city centre had a lovely feel to it. Lots of nice architecture with older buildings interspersed between them. However, the cathedral was pretty plain and uninspiring, a Georgian building only being built in 1725.



   


                                                                                             The Derby Ram                                                                           
                                                                                             Library and Museum
 

                                                                                        

                           Derby Cathedral from Irongate






                                                                               Guildhall and Market Hall behind



 We had fish and chips in the old fish market and bought pairs of matching leather boots for the winter before returning to the station and getting the train back, followed by the walk of course.

I tried to order a new water pump from the chandlery here as it is possible it could have been damaged, or it’s life reduced due to the electrical troubles. Without a pump there is no water on board. However, they cannot guarantee delivery before Friday. Hopefully we won’t be here.







We sat in the front cratch with a beer watching the world and our next door neighbour’s lodger,

before starting on Game of Thrones Series 3.



We covered 6½ miles today according to Brenda’s Fitbit. With no locks, tunnels or engine hours.



We



  






Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Image
Thursday 22 nd November 2018 We were awake during the night and watched a lovely, bright, full moon in a clear sky with a thick ground mist. When we woke this morning the world was white after a hard frost. Apparently it got down to -4 ˚ overnight. The stove has remained light since its first lighting on 19 th October. This morning was no exception and the boat was cold but not overly so, the stove having been damped down overnight. However, we did turn the heating on for ½ hour to warm the boat up while the stove was heating up. We haven’t had the heating on for some time but the times we have, has been when the boat has become cold. We still haven’t yet mastered the regulating of the heating. If it is left on too long, the boat becomes oppressively hot and remains so for a long time.   We went for a walk to the nearest village, Stockton. The walk was along a main road to begin with and was not pleasant with all the traffic and narrow verges to walk on. We w...
Read more
Image
Sunday 14 th July 2019 We went for a walk around Avoncliffe before a slow cruise covering the 1 ½ miles back into Bradford and were, yet again, lucky enough to find a place on the 48 hour moorings. Avoncliffe is a tiny, delightful place and a very popular stop for walkers and cyclists. Around the Cross Guns pub are a few cottages, all staggered towards the river bank and dominated by the Aqueduct. However, looking at signs from the past, it had once been a thriving small-scale industrial centre with water mills and factory mills concerned with the cloth industry. The up-market Avoncliffe Villa apartments bely their past as, first the Bradford Workhouse, then a convalescence hospital for injured First World War troops and later a hotel. Right our Bradford moorings, down a small embankment, is Barton Farm. The farm buildings are all Medieval and consist of a Manor House, a Granary, one of the best examples of a Tithe Barn and several other buildings. Today, the Tithe Barn ...
Read more
Image
Monday 30 th July 2018 We ambled about in the morning. Brenda did some housework and I walked up into Winsford for some shopping. The day was not good, a lot of cloud and threatening rain. Matt brought Manny and Eva out to us at 3pm. Just as they turned up the heavens opened with heavy rain. It was great to see them both, they are here for a week, so hopefully we won’t get sick of them and make them swim home. Once Matt had gone we waited a short while for the rain to stop and then set off. We passed under the two bridges that make up the roundabout at the bottom end of Winsford which we have travelled over countless times by car. As soon as you pass under the first bridge you are off Canal and River Trust waters. We winded at the entrance to the marina being careful not to venture too far into the flash because of the danger of shifting, shallow sandbanks and then started to retrace our route. This now put us right at the start of the Weaver Navigation and by th...
Read more