Description: Looking south from Narrow Bridge towards Trentlock with Mills Boatyard on the right and the chimneys and cooling towers of Ratcliffe on Soar Power Station in the background.
The nearest narrowboat is named 'Nemesis' and the sailing boat beyond may be the 'Jonty' - this characterful little vessel was hand-built by the late Roy Marsden in a large shed on a hillside at Little Eaton in Derbyshire in the 1950s. Can anyone confirm the boat's identity?
The Erewash Canal runs for 12 miles (19 km) from the River Trent via Long Eaton, Sandiacre and Ilkeston to Langley Mill and includes 14 locks. The Canal was engineered by John Varley and opened in 1779 at a cost of £21,000. Serving the industrialised Erewash Valley with its many coal mines, iron works and factories, it remained a useful transport artery well into the 20th century and it was only after World War Two that it began to fall into disuse. The section north of Gallows Inn at Ilkeston up to Langley Mill was declared unnavigable in 1962 and closure was proposed. The Erewash Canal Preservation and Development Association was formed in 1968 and after much restoration work the Canal was reopened throughout. In the 1980s it was duly upgraded from a 'remainder' waterway to 'cruiseway' status.