19th February 2016
Today, the John Varley ventured up from Tapton Lock, out through the floodgate and up the River Rother. This was a fact finding and demonstration run organised by Jim Bower, the Vice-Chair of the Trust, for the team working on the Chesterfield Waterside development.
After seeing our article about the John Varley replacement (click here), you may think that the current version was on its last legs – far from it.
On previous visits, John Varley had not been able to pass beyond the second bridge because of debris on the river bed. Today however she got through and proceeded without difficulty to the metal footbridge which marks the site of Chesterfield’s original eighteenth century canal basin. To our surprise, there was room for JV to turn and she backed up under the footbridge, proving there is both sufficient depth and headroom for a narrowboat. Mick Hodgetts can be seen with measuring staff in the photographs.
On the return, JV briefly got stuck on some rubbish on the canal bed, but was extricated by the skill of the boat crew. Our thanks to them for making this ‘African Queen’ style adventure possible. We now look forward to the Chesterfield Waterside team making boating here a regular occurrence as they open up their new basin on the former Trebor site.
Words and photos © John Lower.
On the map on the right, the red T at the top indicates Tapton Lock Visitor Centre, the red B at the bottom is just to the left of the iron footbridge.
This was the last time that JV ventured up to the Laver’s site in 2002, you can see the Crooked Spire. Note the JV was blue then.