england #14- walking to long eaton

SO. We decided that our first Marina Day would be easy. And stress-free. We’d just hang out on the boat, take a little walk perhaps, chill out. Watch the DVD about Canal Boat Operation and determine whether setting off in the boat would be lots of fun or completely insane. We had gone non-stop while in London, walking like 12-15 miles a day, cramming all we could cram into each 24 hour period, so we were a little ready for some relaxation.

This is what I woke up to that morning, after a nice sleeping-in:

 

England is like Swan World!! They are EVERYWHERE. Including right outside my bedroom window on the boat. “Oh hai! About time you got up!”

This is where I slept:

There was also a pull-out bed in the dining area, and we were going to switch off but Kim kept insisting I get the real bed. First because I managed to catch the Perpetual London Cold while there and still wasn’t quite recovered when we got to Sawley — then because she felt I should have a reward for doing all the driving. She insisted the pull-out thing was quite comfortable. I chose to believe her. This bed was HUGE- I guess king-sized. And very comfortable.There was no storage space at all beyond two tiny closets, so I shared the bed with my luggage, all piled up on the right-hand side. (Kim’s is on the left- we just stored everything there when we weren’t asleep)  I didn’t even know I was sleeping with luggage, that’s how much room I had. Kim unpacked Suitcase From Hell and put it in the trunk of the car for the week, so that helped too.

This is looking back towards the bedroom –

Yay, wine! This was later in the week, hence the supplies.

And this is looking towards the front of the boat. Kim’s sleeping area was on the right.

It’s a nifty little boat, like an RV on the water. There were tables that you could set up, and the couch (which I apparently didn’t get a picture of) was an L shape and very comfortable. It was on the other side of the counter space there, right over the tea kettle. We had a tea kettle, but, horrifyingly, there was NO COFFEE POT!!! Those wacky British! You know what is shockingly good, though? Starbucks Instant – Via, I think it’s called. Yeah, I know – how could INSTANT coffee be even drinkable, let alone GOOD? I was beyond astonished. I honestly would have never guessed that was instant coffee. Unlike what our hosts served in London, which was painfully and nastily obviously instant. And which I drank gratefully anyhow, of course, because, hello, CAFFEINE.

The bathroom was fine too although you had to run a pump to drain the shower because it was below the level of the water in the canal.

Out the door:

 

Sign below the door:

 

No. Kidding. Seriously, it was Concussionville with that doorway. You had to double up to get in and out.

The other boats are REAL close.

It was very cozy, and VERY warm. Which was fortunate, as it was quite chilly outside. This boat was a good size for two people, but is actually a 2-4 person boat. I would not want to be spending much time on it with more than one other person. It is a teeny, tiny boat.

SO. We slept late, we lounged around, and we decided to go for a walk. The town of Sawley is quite close, but there’s not much there. Long Eaton is a little further away. Our packet of useful information told us there were shops about twenty minutes walk away, and we needed to make a grocery run so we headed off.

It is absolutely gorgeous in Sawley and Long Eaton. It was also kind of shocking, being out in the country after a week in London.

This is the River Trent, where we’d be boating. Should we decide to boat.

The smoke stacks were not quite so lovely, but they WERE a very handy point of reference. Later in the day. You could see them from all over the place. I think it’s a power plant, near Nottingham. We drove pretty close to them on our Nottingham Day.

We didn’t ever explore this old church, which looked very interesting. You could see it from the marina, which was another handy reference point as we kept getting lost just trying to navigate the marina. On foot.

Sawley does have a bunch of pubs. This is the one we kept going to — the Harrington Arms.

It’s the one the nice little old boating-tutorial man recommended to us that first night. I have a suspicion that it was a chain pub too — it had fancy menus like you’d see in, oh, Ruby Tuesdays here, and as we discovered a few nights later when we were trying to find our way back from our Wiltshire Trip, there were several Harringon Arms Pubs around, including one in Long Eaton. But the food was great and it was reasonably priced. And it was very authentic-looking inside, at least. And appeared to have lots of locals eating and drinking there.

Well, not in THIS picture – this was an off time of the day, apparently. There was a bar area too that was quite crowded pretty much every time we visited.

I liked the Nag’s Head’s sign-

Sawley just kind of runs into Long Eaton, at least when you’re walking there. It was only a couple of miles between the marina and Long Eaton Proper. The Erewash Canal runs through Long Eaton, so we strolled along that canal to see what we’d see if we did indeed decide to go boating.

 

 

I was taking a picture of this canal boat, because it was like floating art — and had what at first appeared to be a live heron standing on top-

 

that actually wasn’t a real bird but sure looked like one-

When this guy appeared at the window and said, “Want to take a picture of me??” And I said, “Uh… sure!” and he said, “Let me get my boy here!” and he called his friend over so I of course took their picture –

And the younger guy and I had a nice chat about cameras. I love England!!!!

I’ve just now noticed that there’s a sign in the window of the bird picture that says Broken Down. Well, it certainly was a nice spot to break down in.

Here’s one of the locks we would be operating and maneuvering the boat through. If we decided to, in fact, boat.

 

 

And some really neat old buildings-

 

I can not believe how long this is taking me. Well, looks like you will just have to wait till tomorrow for Long Eaton City Center and the answers to all your burning questions: Did they find groceries? Why were the smoke stacks so useful?? And most importantly, will they be brave and daring and try operating the canal boat??? Tune in next time! Actually, I probably gave the “did they operate the canal boat??” one away ages ago, but maybe you’re as inattentive as I am and don’t remember.

It probably really WILL be tomorrow, since we are quite slow at work this week and ALREADY all caught  up till classes start again. Maybe I’ll finish this one day – hahahahhahahahaha!!!!