SAWLEY SUPPING – (3) THE TRENT LOCK

July 2026. Sawley. Derbyshire.

A really great day’s pubbing organised by Super Shawn of Leicester; half a dozen stops in suburban Derby close to the Trent.

The only issue is the anti-social inclinations of some pub crawlers surveyors. Folk who leave the main group to drink halves (ugh) off the main trail or, even worse, visit Grade I listed churches.

All Saints has the sort of “natural” garden* I appreciate,

and acoustics so good that folk travel from Maistone to sing there.

Talking of Maidstone, Kentish Richard was at that moment adding the nearby Railway Inn to his day’s ticks, while the railactual way line was stopping me from catching up with the main party as I had to wait eight (8) minutes for the freight to pass at the Lock Lane crossing. If there’s one thing I detest it’s standing still.

So they’d already left Pub 3 as I reached the Trent Lock, with its dramatic view of the old power stations near Ratcliffe-on-Soar, set for demolition by the end of the decade.

As someone once said, “When you have lost your last power station just off the M1, weep, for you will have lost the last of England“.

At least there are still turtle doves** in our wine gardens,

and black and white photos of “the good old days” in a Vintage Inn, my second in a fortnight after Apperley Bridge.

Where’s the promised Bass though ?

Oh well, a half of Citra*** will do. I suppose.

Actually, supped in about two minutes in a garden full of Madri drinkers, it was cool but a bit “meh”. But since CAMRA has yet to produce a cool but a bit “meh” rating, it’s a 3.

*It’s a designated wildlife area, like the garden at RM Towers

**Whatever

***At least, we thought it was Citra. How wrong we were

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Published by retiredmartin

Retired NHS, doing long walks around UK and the world to record the great bits. Focused on Good Beer Guide pubs and live music.

26 thoughts on “SAWLEY SUPPING – (3) THE TRENT LOCK”

  1. Hey Martin I’m surprised you can wall that far with that blasted gammy leg! Mavis says hi and wants to know what your second favourite omelette filling is by the way.

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  3. “Super Shawn” indeed. One of his best “day’s pubbing” was Richmond on Thames four months ago which gave me 46½ hours in a town that, despite family connections, I didn’t know.
    That was ample time to walk along Terrace Gardens where my great great great great great grandfather had a brewery, have a morning walking through Richmond Park which he got reopened to the public in 1758, buy a bottle opener from the Robert Dyas shop that used to be the Brown Bear kept by my great great great grandfather, go out for lunch with my brother ( from St Albans ) and a 97 year relative who has always lived in the town, have two nights in the heritage Dukes Head, not to mention getting round Shawn’s fine selection of Richmond pubs.

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  4. Martin, you were unlucky with that eight minute wait. It was during 2004 that my daughter and I went over that Lock Lane level crossing on a Uttoxeter to Skegness train but that direct route hasn’t been used much in recent decades with the Brunswick and the Alex confirming Derby as a must-stop-at railway station despite its slight reverse-direction delay.

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  5. I love standing still. It gives you a chance to take in all that’s going on around you. It was only the other morning I was standing outside the former Lloyds bank when these two well-to-do looking old ladies – all floral print dresses, large hats and strings of pearls – walked past and, as they passed, I caught a snippet of conversation as one said “oh, they’re knocking it down. I wonder what they’ll build there” to which the other replied “they’ll probably build more f**kin’ ‘ouses” in the voice of Pat Butcher, which was most unexpected. It made me smile. I’d have missed it if I hadn’t been standing still.

    Maybe sometimes it’s better to let the world come to you…

    Eight minutes at a level crossing? Perfect!

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      1. Bobby, but did you get a glimpse of their ankles ?
        Martin, there’s many a train enthusiast who would have been content for eight minutes jotting down details of all those containers.

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      3. “Bobby, but did you get a glimpse of their ankles ?”

        This is Godalming, one simply doesn’t glimpse a lady’s ankle. Not the done thing, old chap! I’m a loafer, not a voyeur!

        “there’s many a train enthusiast who would have been content for eight minutes jotting down details of all those containers.”

        A red one, a green one, a blue one, ooh, another red one…

        But is trainspotting really that far removed from any other ticking exercise, whether that be birds, pubs, buses, beers or Pokemon? I can see a version of myself taking up bird watching because it seems in tune with my slow pace of life 🙂

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      6. “Any activity that gets you out the house and not sitting down is worthwhile.”

        I don’t disagree; although paradoxically, one of my great pleasures is sitting in the garden with TMS, a good book, a pack of smokes and a procession of drinks. It’s not been unknown for me to do that for a whole five day test match!

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    1. Depends on which pub… although you’re more likely to find me in the beer garden as – at the risk of being branded a heretic – I’m more of a fan of cool breezes than bench seating, which I’ve always found most unsatisfactory. Who wants to be nose high to the bumholes of standees?

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      1. A French lady once observed to me that the English clearly don’t get Descartes, as they seem to stand up in pubs, even when there’s plenty of seating available.

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      2. Another French lady once stated… “One must, in one’s life, make a choice between boredom and suffering.”

        She should’ve gone to ‘spoons. She could have had both.

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      4. Bobby, nowadays “beers you’ve never heard of and people you won’t forget” can cause both boredom and suffering !

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