A novel day out with a literary legend

Apart from loving being on the canals and living a fairly simple life with few possessions, it's amazing to be able to discover fascinating information that you never knew before, about people and places.  If you'd asked me previously to tell you about D.H. Lawrence, I could only have said that he wrote Sons and Lovers and Lady Chatterley's Lover.  Until Tuesday I hadn't realised what an amazing life he led, in just 44 years, and the enormity of his literary prowess. 

Just a small selection of the thousands of works of D.H.Lawrence

We visited the Birthplace Museum and Heritage Centre, all for one admission price of £2.50 each.  The ladies in the museum were awesome - they obviously love D.H. Lawrence and were a mine of information, enthusiastically imparted to all visitors.  He was born at home and lived at 8a Victoria Street, Eastwood, for the first two years of his life.  The house hasn't been substantially altered since those days in the late nineteenth century, and they've attempted to furnish it authentically and done a marvellous job.

D.H.Lawrence's birthplace - Barry forgot to take one of the front of the house!

'Bert' had been a sickly child and his mother didn't expect him to reach infancy.  He managed to survive against the odds, and his mother doted on him, the fourth of five children and youngest of three sons.  Most children in that era (he was born in 1885) were sent to the coal mines from the age of 13 or younger, but Bert gained a scholarship to Nottingham High School hence continued his education subsequently training as a teacher.

A predominantly coal-mining town, terraced houses were built for the workers in rows and squares

At a meeting with one of his professors, Lawrence was introduced to his wife, Frieda, and they were instantly attracted to each other, so much so that she left her husband and three young children and returned to her native Germany where Lawrence joined her and they eventually married in England in 1914.  They had a passionate and fulfilling relationship, despite the pain that would've been caused due to abandoning her children.

He wrote thousands of letters, poems, short stories, novels and plays, and even painted some fabulous pictures which are on display at his birthplace.  Of his most famous works, 'Sons and lovers' is semi-autobiographical and 'Lady Chatterley's lover' was self-published 2 years before he died in 1930 at the age of 44, and he made around £1,000 from this.  Having been extremely poor for most of their lives together (albeit with rich and generous friends), this was an enormous sum of money.  The novel was banned from Britain and America and only published here following a court case in 1960!  Such puritans!  Due to this he's been known as the man who wrote 'dirty books', but he was so much more than that.  He was way ahead of his time, believing that love and sex were more important than intellectual and industrial concerns, and he travelled widely in a time when most of his peers didn't even leave the town they were born, living in places such as Germany, Australia, New Mexico and Italy.

 

 

D.H.Lawrence's headstone, now in the Heritage Museum - he died and was buried in Vence in France, but subsequently his wife Frieda wanted to take him to their home in New Mexico to keep him with her, so she had his body exhumed and the ashes put into a cask and asked her new lover to bring them with him when he came - he states that he threw the ashes away before leaving, but no-one knows for sure.

The sign of the Phoenix was Lawrence's symbol; maybe he felt that he'd 'risen from the ashes' of Eastwood?

 

 

I did succumb to purchasing a copy of each of his most famous works, but as they were only £1.99 each I didn't feel too outrageous!  Having been to his hometown and learnt more about him and the novels, I hope to get more out of them.

The Heritage Centre continues the story of Lawrence and is also worth a visit, but it's definitely not as friendly, informative and welcoming as the Birthplace is.

The Heritage Centre

Some whacky mirrors in the Heritage Centre - talk about thunder thighs!

Following a late lunch and a drink at 'The Sun' pub, we strolled back down the hill to the Basin and had a relaxing evening in another warm summer's day, deciding to stay another night before retracing our steps. 

The sign of the phoenix is apparent everywhere - on gates and showing the way on footpaths

Eastwood church - the only original part is this tower

   Eastwood High Street

A very old van passed by, must've lost its suspension

The youths who'd been hanging around the lock on Monday night were back again and the local Bobby's paid them a visit - we're not sure why they arrived but it may have had something to do the 'litterbug' issues!  As the youths left the area later on, one of them returned for some reason, probably just to show he was 'tough', and overturned the litter bin.  The police swiftly came back and gave chase, but left the litter lying on the ground.  Ah well, most of the youngsters we've met along this stretch have been fine, and they weren't aggressive at all, just normal bored teenagers with nothing better to do, pretty harmless really.

'Ello, 'ello, what's going on ere then?  The youth on the right was the one who tipped over the bin officer!

The countryside D.H.Lawrence loved so much

  Eastwood on the hill

Thanks for pointing out my error Eddie - the England match is on Wednesday at 3pm UK time and the NZ one Thursday at 3pm!  So by the end of the week both countries could be out of the running ...

On Wednesday we're going back down the Erewash, heading out of the midlands, and beginning our descent south, so we're unlikely to catch the match.

Lovely Lupins

The longest day and the Erewash summit is reached! It's all downhill from now on ...

Wow!  It was a beautiful sunny Monday for the longest day and our final part of the Erewash Canal taking us through the remaining five locks.  Of course the problem with routes where you have to turn around and retrace your steps, is that you're aware how tough the locks are going to be on the return journey!  Interestingly the temperature peaked at around 22 degrees, whilst in our home town of Gisborne, on the shortest day of the year, the temperature was 18 degrees - imagine that in the depths of winter?!

An unusual 'through the lock gate' swan shot

Such a pleasant canal with many pubs along the way

And believe it or not, even the fishermen that we've met have been friendly!  The 'Erewash Canal Preservation and Development Association' stock up the canals with fish annually

A lot a locks!

Sandra looks scared stuck in the large lock chamber!

Such a lovely sunny day, everything looks bright and cheerful

It was also World Humanist Day on Monday - Wikepedia says:

"According to the International Humanist and Ethical Union (IHEU), the day is a way of spreading awareness of Humanism as a philosophical life stance and means to effect change in the world."

So that's what I'm doing!  Today also marks the start of World Humanist week.  If you're not sure what 'Humanism' is all about, go to their web site where they'll inform you, and you may be surprised how many famous people ascribe to these pragmatic beliefs:

"Humanists......are atheists and agnostics who make sense of the world using reason, experience and shared human values. We take responsibility for our actions and base our ethics on the goals of human welfare, happiness and fulfilment. We seek to make the best of the one life we have by creating meaning and purpose for ourselves, individually and together."

Of course this encompasses our philosophy of life - we absolutely believe that we have to make the most of the one we're given because it's very likely to be the only one we're going to have!!  We had a Humanist wedding on board Northern Pride in September last year which was amazing.

Anyway, I digress, back to the Erewash - we passed only one other narrowboat travelling in the opposite direction - which was fabulous as it meant that all the locks were in our favour.  And unless someone ventures up and then returns in the next day or two, the first five at least could be our way on the return.

Langley Lock at The Great Northern Basin - lots of youths hanging around but not particularly menacingly, just enjoying the sunshine!

The Great Northern Basin is the end of the Erewash Canal, from there it turns into the non-navigable Cromford Canal and there are a number of boats moored securely behind a locked fence above the winding hole.  The Basin once formed the junction of the Erewash, Cromford and Nottingham canals.  Mining subsidence led to the Nottingham Canal closing so cannot be restored, but the Cromford Canal could be on the BW list for restoration in the future.

Langley Mill Boat Co and some of the permanent moorings

    More permanent moorings on a side arm, close to the 'Great Northern' pub - Northern Pride in the background

We're not sure how long we'll stay here, the basin is very peaceful despite being close to a main road.  In the afternoon we took a walk into Eastwood, up the steep hill (Eastwood Hill but no resemblance to the Arboretum that's in Gisborne!), to have a look around.  This is the birthplace of D.H. (David Herbert, known in school as 'Bert') Lawrence, he of 'Sons and Lovers' and 'Lady Chatterley's Lover' fame, but unfortunately his birthplace and the Heritage Museum are closed on Saturdays and Mondays so we'll be making the climb once more in the morning and I may just have to make a purchase as I'm pretty sure I haven't read either of his classics ...

Eastwood, built on a hill

Northern Pride moored in the basin 

 

 

Barry chills at the canalside in his Union Jack England chair - it came with the boat honest!

 

 

 

 

A spectacular sunset towards the end of the longest day

Night-shot of the side arm ...

and another night-time picture - water cascades over the gates of the filled lock

Monday's flower shot - a red hot poker

A trip away from 'the cut' for Fathers Day

My sisters and I had planned to surprise my dad by all converging from our respective residences for Fathers Day.  My eldest sister lives in Sutton Coldfield, next one down in Southampton and the youngest in Exeter!  Linda, from Southampton, had travelled on Friday to stay the weekend with my parents and had the task of keeping the secret and also keeping them at home until we all arrived - which was quite difficult as my dad had been eager to go out for the day!

We walked about 20 minutes into the centre of Ilkeston to find the bus stop - what an adorable place it looked, though it would be much improved if they had flowers in their collection of tubs in the square.  However, similar to our impression of the canal, it's well-kept with little rubbish around, which is refreshing.

 The deserted town square, early on a Sunday morning

Some tasteful architecture 

The bus 'The Ilkeston Flyer' took us to Derby Bus Station - then we caught another bus one stop to the train station!  We'd have walked but it was a convoluted route and we may have missed our train.  Unfortunately the train to Birmingham New Street was so crowded that we had to sit on the floor for the almost one hour journey - the earlier train had been cancelled for some reason.

 

We spotted a 'Westfield Mall' in Derby - Barry's daughter Jamie works for their head office in London 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fine looking building opposite the railway station in Derby

 

 

Arriving earlier than scheduled in Birmingham, we were collected by my daughter Kim and her partner Joe. We haven't seen them since the beginning of January so it was great to spend some time with them.  We got to my parents house just after 1230hrs and found my younger sister already there - my dad was further shocked to see us all troop in the front door!  My eldest sister, Kath (who lives the closest) arrived just before 1300hrs when the table was booked for, so met us at 'The Reindeer' pub at the end of the country road where my mum and dad live.

There was a carvery on the menu and nothing else - which would be fine if they'd catered for the two vegetarians in our group!  Naively they didn't, but expected those with 'alternative' dietary requirements to let them know in advance.  Another lesson learnt!  Ah well, it was passable food, extremely soggy overcooked vegetables (and for the vegetarians even the gravy had bits of meat in it so they had to have theirs dry!), but fabulous company ...

 Joe, Kim, Linda, Harry, Viv, Ray, Kath, mum, dad, Sandra

 The Walshes!  Katherine, Sandra, Irene, Don, Linda & Viv

   And the extended Walsh family - Harry, Sandra, Barry, Kath, Linda, Irene, Don, Joe, Kim, Viv & Ray

We caught snippets of the New Zealand/Italy World Cup match - what a shame the ref gave a penalty that enabled them to score against us to give a 1-1 draw.  Fingers crossed for the last All Whites match (in this round hopefully!) on Wednesday at 3pm UK time.

 

 

 

 

 Mum and dad after a lovely Fathers Day outing

 

 

 

 

 

One of the few drawbacks of living on the canals is relying on public transport.  Altogether it took us over eight hours of travelling to be with my parents and family for five hours - but then a car's not necessarily swifter as it took my daughter six hours to return to Brighton on the roads due to the sheer volume of Sunday afternoon traffic!

Arriving back in Ilkeston late in the evening as the sun sets before the longest day on Monday 

The other end of the High Street

A sunflower to commemorate a sunny, happy day ...

Delightful, but damned hard work!

On Saturday, as we continued up the Erewash, we discovered that the Long Eaton carnival parade was taking place that afternoon.  We couldn't decide whether to stop and watch it or not, so carried on towards our destination of Ilkeston so that on Sunday, Fathers Day, we could get the bus to Derby for the train to Birmingham to then get to my mum and dad's near Droitwich for Fathers Day on Sunday. 

If only we'd chosen to stop for a while to watch the parade ...

 'The Barge Inn' along the way - great name for a pub by the canal! 

Just before the next lock we were accosted by an extremely old and decrepit boat and it's equally attired owner asking if we had any jump leads as his battery was flat.  Well as the law of karma goes, what goes round comes round and as we'd been so kindly assisted last year when our starter battery was dead we tried our best to help - well Barry did, I just held the bow rope in place while they used all sorts of different leads and wires to try and mend his ailing boat but to no avail.  After about an hour the task was abandoned and we moved along - hope he finds a solution bless him.

 Old mill chimneys apparent around here

To get to Saturday's destination we had eight locks to work and each one was a challenge - but we had plenty of time so it wasn't a big issue.  We did stop just above Long Eaton Lock and watched the carnival procession - Barry hasn't seen an English carnival before and said he'd wondered why they were holding it in June as they have one in Gisborne in December - of course it's due to the reversal of seasons in each hemisphere!

 Towards the end of the procession - with military precision

We also found the most humongous ASDA - I so forget how overwhelmed I get when I'm in these superstores - it took ages to do a few days grocery shopping as I walked each aisle in awe of the vast ranges of anything you can think of.  It was wonderful and frightening at the same time - people who use these places frequently probably couldn't imagine having only a couple of choices of brands of each thing as we do in Gisborne; and realistically that's all you need!  However, having so much choice has its advantages as there's so many bargains to be had - we had a trolley full of food and stocked up our cupboards and fridge but spent less than ninety pounds - amazing!  But I couldn't do it every week it'd drive me crazy that there's so much 'stuff' to choose from.

    En route to the supermarket - possibly the Council Chambers?

The locks on this canal (of which there are more than one for every mile), are backbreaking!  They're all double locks with very rickety old gate paddles - even Barry had trouble opening some of them when he came to my rescue!  Less fit people would have no chance of negotiating them, no wonder few people come up this way.  But what a shame, because it truly is an adorable journey with some very friendly people along the way, and all admirably clean and tidy.

 Steering in gently trying not to open the other gate ...

Sandiacre Lock where a sign on the cottage says 'E.C.P. & D.A.' - Erewash Canal Preservation & something or other (not sure)

Northern Pride alone in the lock - not a chance of waiting for another boat to join us and share the load 

 This could easily be a scene from a bygone era ...

and again

  The early evening sunlight dapples the meadow with a golden glow, and the outskirts of Sandiacre in the background

Stanton Lock - with some young and very helpful gongoozlers

Right next to Gallows Lock - Gallows Inn - you wouldn't want to hang around too long here! 

We reached Ilkeston late in the evening and moored up close to the road bridge that would lead us to the bus stop on Sunday morning.  Unfortunately we missed the opportunity to fill up with water whilst in Sawley and hadn't appreciated that the only place you can get water on the Erewash canal is right at the summit in Langley Mill - so we were getting a little desperate by now - we still have water but we're not sure how much and the drinking water is running low.  How on earth have we managed to be on the canals for so long and not realised the importance of forward planning such necessities - obviously we've just become much too laid back!

Have you ever seen a flower like this?  Any idea what it's called?  Looks like a firework exploding!  Awesome