Cranfleet Cut Canal

It was my turn to drive and we had a 07:00am start straight down to Derby, Spondon and into Trent Lock and parking up in the free car park just beside the Trent Lock pub. This short walk was to finish a section of canal that stretched from the Cromford canal to the river Trent. We have covered all of it over the years and this piece was the final section. Its a small section called Cranfleet Cut and was built in 1797 so that 40 ton barges good bypass shallow and difficult parts of the river Trent. We just followed the footpath along the canal and then part of the river Trent. There were quite a few barges moored up and had a chat to one of the owners. There's a flood lock under one of the bridges and Cranfleet Lock No4 had a couple of boats pass through while we were on our way back, Rob & IIke even closed one of the lock gates. We saw a few birds, Cormorant, Heron, Egret and a Kestrel.

This weeks route on a nice level track and no mud

Ratcliffe Power Station reflected in the water.

Balance weight on one of the gates

The blue of the sky was reflected in the water.

Passing Heron

Nearly as many bikes on the path as there is on the roads

Ike & Rob looking at the flood lock

About the most elaborate style I've seen

Lovely stone canal bridge

Snowdrops

Rob & Ike

Geoff

Not sure how they launch this

Me, all rugged up for the winter

A few daffs

Entrance to Cranfleet Cut

Bit of frost on the ground

Egret

Another shot of the power station

Dont know what he was doing

Opening the lock gate to let the boats through

Follow the leader

Scary ? 

Trent Lock

Geoff getting some info from one of the canal volunteers

Trent Lock pub

 This was a lovely crisp morning, sunny but very chilly (-2). A nice 4 mile walk on lovely level ground and no mud to be seen anywhere. We passed quite a few other people today, dog walkers, joggers and bikers, some weeks we just don't see anyone.
Anyway get ready for the winter coming back in the next few days and see you next week.