Langley Mill - Canal Festival
w/e 04 June 2023
All of this week's pictures were taken with a Nikon D3300
The Great Northern Canal Festival at Langley Mill was held over
the Bank Holiday weekend from Friday 26th May until Monday the
29th. Here's a taster of the event with just a few images from
Bank Holiday Monday.
The Festival was held at the junction of the Erewash, Cromford
and Nottingham Canals but all of the visiting boats would have
arrived via the Erewash, the only one that is navigable to other
water routes. So many boaters arrived that some had to be moored
on the Erewash Canal just short of the Festival site.
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The Erewash and Cromford Canals meet at Lock No. 14 and the Nottingham
joins the Cromford just beyond the lock. The short spur of the
Nottingham leads only to the Great Northern Basin next to a pub
of the same name. The Basin was so packed with boats that it
was almost impossible to see any water at all.
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The spur is crossed by a swingbridge, the Basin being immediately
on the right in this view.
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Seen from the swingbridge these two boats were moored side by
side with more vessels visible on the Cromford Canal beyond.
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One of those boats on the Cromford Canal was the Evanthia but
beyond that a number of stalls had been set up as part of a Craft
Fair. There was also a marquee packed with people enjoying some
liquid refreshments.
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There were also stalls on the opposite side of the canal and
many were trading from the boats too. The Chesterfield Canal
Trust had a number of books and leaflets for sale and they were
also advertising their own Festival which will take place later
in the month.
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Goods on offer were wide and varied. For example, colourful embroidered
cushions, sweets and decorative heart shaped slates with animal
pictures on them were being sold from the boats whilst the static
stalls also had a mixture of goods such as painted and varnished
rocks and boulders and bonsai trees.
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Boat owners looking to replace or upgrade their motors would
have been interested in this selection near the sign pointing
to the dry dock.
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There were also several other displays that appealed to the wider
public like this selection of steam engines.
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And "Woodie's Wings" had brought along a selection
of birds of prey and parrots that appealed to all age groups
but especially the children. All in all, I'm sure that if these
birds could talk, they wouuld have a lot to say about how the
fine weather and the huge number of people that attended, that
the Canal Festival had once again been a great success.
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