Sprotbrough to Swinton

Took what felt like a long journey of 3hrs and 3 locks to get here saving Dibble the drowning squirrel along the way!

Travelled under an arch of the magnificent Conisbrough Viaduct and spotted Consiburgh Castle through a break in the trees.

Fewer boats and more urban industrial as we head along this route to Rotherham and Sheffield. Stretches of the River Don are navigable so this is interspersed with artificially dug channels with locks to allow the safe passage of boats.

We spotted a pub brewing and selling Gorilla Ales and had a hell of a time trying to reverse Rainboat back up to it when we decided we wanted to visit. The proprietor watched our antics but only when we asked did he say they were closed for another 3hrs! He said we were welcome to wait but we wanted to get on to finish our journey.

Tied up to bollards on a swathe of grass and a wildflower bank dividing the cut from new housing estate. Diggers still working during the day but noise not bad. Railway engineers knocked to ask Will if he knew how they could get over the water to the railway as they needed to check a culvert. The nearest bridge was a fair distance, meaning they'd need to walk a long way along the tracks, so they ended up borrowing the canoe!

There is a huge cargo barge that uses this canal. It came past at a fair lick on afternoon and yanked the front mooring pin out before sucking Rainboat's bow into its path, bashing it twice but not bothering to stop. It scraped the blacking off and left paint scuffs but no real damage thank goodness.Read more