Beeston Canal put-in (Beeston Rylands)
This slipway sits on the Beeston Canal, also called Beeston Cut, an artificial waterway completed by 1802 to bypass a difficult stretch of the River Trent through Nottingham. It runs from Lenton to Beeston Lock, where it rejoins the Trent, and the Canal and River Trust manages it today.
The put-in sits at Beeston Lock, in regular use by narrowboats. Immediately downstream, Beeston Weir and its adjoining hydro-electric plant span the Trent; built in 1999, it was the UK's largest run-of-river hydro-electric plant, with turbines taking up to 60 cubic metres of water a second at maximum flow.
A row of canal-workers' cottages built as part of the original Beeston Cut in the 1790s still stands beside the lock, now home to the Canalside Heritage Centre and its café.
Paddlers continuing downstream on the Trent head towards Attenborough Nature Reserve, part of the 226.6-hectare Attenborough Gravel Pits Site of Special Scientific Interest. Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust, which manages the reserve, records over 250 bird species there, including significant numbers of shoveler and diving ducks.
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Conditions to check
Beeston Lock sits right at the launch; carry craft around rather than staying aboard while it fills or empties.
SourceBeeston Weir and its hydro-electric intakes lie immediately downstream on the River Trent, just past the lock.
SourceThe canal carries powered narrowboat traffic through the lock, and Beeston Marina's moorings sit close by on the Trent.
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