5oth Anniversary Erewash Canal Preservation & Development Association

When i looked out of my bedroom window at 05:15 this morning i could see a beautiful sun just rising from across the valley and thought its going to be a nice day.We found out that the Erewash Canal Preservation & Development Association were having a 50th anniversary party down at the Langley Mill Basin so 3 of us headed down there at 06:00 this morning. Me, Rob & Ike was driving, we parked up quite early about 06:30 ish its not far from Belper and virtually no traffic on the roads. Where we parked near The Great Northern pub there was one car and it was chocker when we got back. Booted up and straight down to the canal where there was a bit of activity, people just setting up and getting ready for the public coming in at 10:00. We decided to have a couple of miles walking along the Erewash canal and come back along part of the route of the old Nottingham canal. We found a spot for our breakfast where we had been once before just beside the Shipley Boat pub then we headed up the track and joined the Nottingham Canal then back towards Langley Mill

Brickwork on the pump house roof.

It was a glorious morning in fact the boys started stripping off it was that warm. On our rambles today we found some great characters to talk to and saw nature in the wild. Why the water hens were fighting god knows but it was pretty fierce and we had a front seat. Rob spotted this thing crawling across the footpath and it was a dragonfly in its previous state before hatching out. The pump house was open and we learned a lot about barge building.

See you next week