Paddled entire Chesterfield Canal

Published: Friday, 17 June 2011

INTREPID canoeists, Andy Robinson, James Woods and Chris Capon have just taken their canoe the full 46 miles of the Chesterfield Canal from Chesterfield to West Stockwith on the  Trent.

They carried it, full of kit, round 52 locks and wheeled it on a special trolley on the unrestored section between Staveley and Kiveton Park. They camped overnight by the waterway.

First end-to-end passage

Rod Auton of the Chesterfield Canal Trust tells us he believes that this may be the first end-to-end passage of the Chesterfield Canal by a boat since the Norwood Tunnel collapsed in 1907.

They set out from Andy's home in Chesterfield at about 7.20 am on Friday 10th June. Having paddled four miles and carried the canoe round four locks, the first stop was Nona's Coffee Shop at Hollingwood Hub. Here they had a Full English Breakfast on the house.

After another mile, they came to the unrestored section. This required the canoe to be pushed and pulled on its trolley for nine long miles. Arriving at Kiveton Park meant more paddling, now in the pouring rain, but also carrying it round a further 15 locks in the three mile stretch to Turnerwood. Here they met Andy's family and camped overnight having had a barbecue courtesy of Diane Gleeson who runs the Ice Cream stall at Turnerwood.

Andy's account

"After leaving Turnerwood we trolleyed to the bottom lock and then paddled into Shireoaks. We stopped for lunch at the Lock Keeper and replenished supplies at the local Sainsbury's before paddling on through Worksop.

"We had a nice steady day; we couldn't be anything other than steady with the boat loaded to capacity. We 'wild camped' at bridge 52 and enjoyed a very pleasant evening with our disposable barbecue and a few beers.

"We'd left a lot of distance to cover on Sunday (19 miles). We were off by 7.30am, and it was nice to have fewer locks to port around. The day started warm and sunny and we were determined to cover as much distance as possible before the weather changed. As we encountered our first narrowboat travelling towards us, to my horror the boys took my instruction to pass left-to-left as go left which meant they tried to veer across in front of several tons of oncoming steel! We quickly put ourselves right—lesson learned.

"It appeared to me that everyone was on the move until midday when it started to rain. If you were steering a narrowboat on Sunday and you passed three men in a canoe, my thanks to you. Everyone slowed down while we passed!

"Oh boy did it rain and it never stopped. At Drakeholes we found ourselves in a pub trying to warm up and drinking tea! Three hours later, after a difficult port around the final lock, we turned onto the home straight. Wet and cold, but elated, we charged down the last half mile like men possessed. Joanne, my wife, was waiting by the final bridge jumping up and down with excitement. Finally we came into West Stockwith Basin at 5.15pm, and performed a lap of honour just for ourselves.

"So we did it. The first boat in over 100 years to traverse the whole canal? I would like to think so."

Walked 46 miles in 15 hours

Incidentally, as a warm up, James and Andy walked from West Stockwith to Chesterfield three weeks ago. They did the 46 miles in 15 hours!

Surely this titanic effort deserves your support. Please sponsor them.

They did this for fun, as a challenge and to raise money—half will go to Fairplay and half to the Chesterfield Canal Trust. To donate, go to http://www.justgiving.com/sponsored-canal-dawdle or send a cheque to Andy Robinson, Hollingwood Hub, 22 Works Road, Hollingwood, Chesterfield, S43 2PF.