64.2
miles - Ferry Boat Inn left, Stoke Bardolph
Easy
landing. Just beyond the Inn is the slipway left of the old Bardolph
ferry, now disused. The right bank slipway is now heavily overgrown.
People camp on the grass around the inn, presumably with
permission.
Outflow
from Stoke Bardolph sewage treatment works about 50 yards below the inn.
This
privatised Severn Trent Water owned plant deals with all of Nottingham.
They retrieve methane for electricity generation and recycle the sludge
via undergound pipes into local fields.
Environmentally friendly but smelly in summer!
Shelford
Manor right
There
is also rough camping on the right back. Land on the gravel bank just
after the old ferry slipway. Or walk up the ferry track for about a mile
into Shelford for a proper campsite. Shelford Nurseries Caravan Park. The Hill, Shelford, Radcliffe-on-Trent,
NG12 1ED Tel. 0115 933 3433 This is a Camping and Caravanning Club
site.
RAF
Newton is about two miles back from the river here.
"Robot Wars" was filmed there.
More recently the site of a controversial asylum centre.
67.5
miles - Gunthorpe Bridge. 1927. A6097
Access
via slipway 50 yards after bridge left.
The
Unicorn hotel charges for parking in the summer.
Water ski club.
Camping
at Riverdale Leisure Park. Gunthorpe Bridge, Gunthorpe NG14 7EY Tel. 01332 810818
Old
Toll House and abutment of Old Gunthorpe Bridge left.
The other buttress is just visible among trees on opposite bank.
Old
Gunthorpe toll bridge J
was built on the site of a ford and ferry that had existed since Roman times.
The Gunthorpe Bridge Co. raised £7,500 in £10 shares, laid the
foundation stone in 1873 and completed the largely iron structure in 1875.
The tolls were horse and carriage 1/-, horse and wagon 6d, horse alone
3d, people and passengers 1d, motorcycles 3d, cars 1/- and lorries 2/6, when
the 1925 the Gunthorpe Bridge Act empowered the council to buy the owners out,
demolish the bridge and replace it with the present one.
L
According to the sign this was the first toll bridge in the country to
be replaced by a free one. Hard to believe, but perhaps previous councils had just built new
free bridges and let the private ones decay.
67.9
miles - Gunthorpe weir. Lock cut
left.
Land
right, just beyond the marina and immediately above the right end of the orange
warning buoys, or paddle past the buoys to land just above the weir at the top
of the white railings. Easy portage (or use boat rollers) and launch from
gravel bank at the foot of cliff.
This
is an even better section of the Triassic mudstone than that at Radcliffe.
This must be why the village of Gunthorpe gives its name to the extensive
formation of red Triassic mudstone that forms so many of the hills either side
of the Trent here. The white stripes are gypsum bands. The
Gunthorpe formation mustones are mined for both clay and gypsum at various
quarries around Nottinghamshire.
The
English Queen Boudicca allegedly defeated the Roman IX legion near here in the
1st century AD. Click here
to read UA Fanthorpe's poem "At Gunthorp, November
2000."
Camping
at Barn Farm Cottage, Kneeton Road, East Bridgford, NG13 8PH Tel. 01949 20196
71
miles - Hoveringham left
Look
out for the clapper gates along the river bank path. Found only on the
Trent, they were devised to allow horses towing barges to pass while keeping
livestock within their allotted fields.
73.2 - Riverside Park caravan site left
Followed immediately by landing stages and the
Hazleford ferry, summer weekends only. 50
yards beyond the ferry is a slipway left for ski boats and Hazleford Residential
Home. Previously the Star and
Garter Inn. Bleasby
village is half a mile up the road. Waggon
and Horses pub.
Camping
at Boat Lane, Bleasby, NG14 7FT. Mr. Toplis Tel. 01636 830676
Syerston
airfield is behind Flintham Wood, the wooded hill on the right. Look out
for gliders and flocks of cormorants; the latter a good sign for the number
offish in the river.
Level
with the slipway ferry the river divides around a large island, the Nabbs.
The
main boat channel goes left and leads after half a mile to an interesting L
shaped weir and the lock channel. The
best route for canoeists passes to the right of the island.
75.5
miles - Fiskerton wharf
left.
Land
left for Bromley
Arms
Land
on the right bank opposite the pub and walk 1.5 miles to East Stoke village.
Said to be the site of the battle of Stoke Field the final battle of the
Wars of the Roses. The Ordnance Survey places the battlefield in the
adjacent village of Elston, a mile away.
78.5
miles - Farndon right
Path
on left bank ends at the old boatyard on the left bank. Site of
Farndon ferry.
78.7
miles - entrance to Farndon marina right
79.2
miles - Staythorpe power station left.
Only
the wharves and water inlet plant remain. Look
out for the sculpture “Power in Trust” by Norman H. Sillman (click here). Power
in Trust was the motto of the old Central Electricity Generating Board, which
commissioned the piece in 1961. It
stood between the old Staythorpe A power station built immediately after the
Second World War, and Staythorpe B which opened in 1962.
Both stations were coal fired and among the most efficient of their day.
They each produced 350 Mw output. National
Power is currently preparing to build a 1,500 MW gas-powered station here.
At
the end of the concrete walls the river divides. Averham weir at the
entrance to the
left arm. Orange marker buoys
protect the left end of
the weir.
The
whole river used to flow through Newark, and a separate small stream flowed
through Averham, Kelham and Muskham, and joined the Trent at Crinkle
Point. In 1558 a channel was cut by the Suttons of Kelham to join the
Trent to the stream near Averham. This diverted the river along the course of
the stream, leaving Newark with insufficient water to drive its mills. The weir
was constructed to ensure enough water for Newark.
79.4
miles - Averham weir
83.1
miles - Bridge A1
85
miles - North Muskham left
Land at the Muskham ferry pub.
The last road access before Cromwell weir.
85.2
miles - Holme right
Holme
village is now set back behind a flood barrier on the right (east) bank. Until 1600 when the river changed course during floods it was a west
bank village. No easy landing.
87
miles - Cromwell weir
The largest on
the river. Marks the tidal limit.
Portage left. Land on a floating pontoon before the main boat
moorings and relaunch below the lock. It's a longish carry but don't be
tempted to try to portage right - a high fence blocks the path at the right end
of the weir.
Most
touring canoeists will stop here, or more likely gave up at Newark.
For those iGreens who go on there is at least one happy landmark to look out
for.
97
miles Dunham - Toll Bridge A57
Car toll 25p.
Here it is in a 1907 postcard and here it is
today, with current charges
This
pipe bridge is 50 yards up stream of the toll bridge
