We’d decided that heading up the 12 broad locks to the end of the Erewash Canal then coming back again, or flogging up through the Cranfleet Cut past Boots factories to Nottingham was best saved for another trip. Still, before setting off down the River Soar for Loughborough and Leicester we thought a wander might be in order.

Trent Junction cum Trent Lock is the kind of place where you want to make sure where you’re going, particularly with big and small canal boats, tupperware cruisers, sailing dinghies and rowers coming at you from all directions. It was reassuring to see that the Cranfleet Cut Flood Lock had been chained open, so no serious water level issues were expected.

There’s no decent vehicular access to the Scout Camp on the other side of the river, so everything is ferried across in a small bathtub with an outboard motor.

Heading up the Erewash, there are loads of houseboats, but we were puzzled by the Trinity establishment. We weren’t sure whether the ramshackle car port / conservatory had been built around the boat’s stern, or if there’d been a nasty accident reversing into the mooring.

We were somewhat puzzled by the huge tree growing between these two sheds, too.

I suppose if you’re going down the houseboat route, you might as well do it properly!

Finally, returning to Trent Lock, a boat coming down said the Erewash was “lovely” and not the hard work we though, but we decided to be lazy and stick with plan A, and retired to the caff for a snack. We opted for coffee and cake rather than the canine menu.