River Trent

Rising in the Stoke area, the Trent is overshadowed as a navigation by the Trent & Mersey Canal until it comes into its own at Shardlow. It soon meets the River Soar and the Erewash Canal before the navigation leaves the river to divert through Nottingham on the Beeston Cut. The city has regenerated its waterside and it is now a popular thriving area of clubs, pubs – and the law courts!

At Meadow Lane Lock the river is rejoined and remains the navigation all the way to the Humber. It gently meanders, boats passing through several large keeper-operated locks, to the delightful historic market town of Newark with its dominating waterside castle.

Cromwell Lock marks the beginning of the tidal river. This needs careful planning to navigate and to make the most of the tides, but it is an essential through-route to the Fossdyke & Witham at Torksey, the Chesterfield Canal at West Stockwith and the Yorkshire waterways at Keadby. En route, the historic town of Gainsborough, the setting for George Eliot’s The Mill on the Floss, offers just about the only mooring opportunity other than the adjoining navigations

Cruising Guides

Cruising Guide to the River Trent (from Shardlow to Keadby) is in Waterways World October 2023

River Trent forms part of the Leicester Ring, the Cruising Guide for which is in Waterways World July 2024