Friday 31 October 2014

Lovely weather for cruising

Thursday 30th October

This morning we moved over to the services and emptied the cassette & got rid of our rubbish and then I walked to the lock whilst Kev brought R&R to the lock, a Canaltime hire boat which had been moored behind us had set off first so we were following them and as there were no boats coming up into the lock I had to fill it for Kev to go in. It was another lovely morning and quite warm especially as it is almost November! The hire boat was in the next lock as we came out of the previous one and so I went to help them as it seemed to be a man on his own with a lad about 9 years old working the locks so I told the man and the lad to get on board their boat and I would shut the gates. We followed them through several locks with either myself or Kev helping them as the small lad seemed to be struggling with the gates while his dad was on the boat, mind you I bloody struggle too at times so I can't imagine how this young lad could manage. Then when we got to Tatenhill Lock we were behind them again and the lad was at the lock so I went to help him and his dad brought the boat into the lock but as he was coming 2 teenagers appeared at the stern with him! I thought that they would get off to help me close the gate but they stayed on the boat while I did it!! The man got off in the lock to help empty the lock and the teenagers took the boat to of the lock then picked the young lad up & the father too! I wasn't very happy and told Kev we would not be helping them anymore, it is only courteous to help other people I think but these were taking the....! Anyway I am not getting at hire boaters as there are plenty of lovely people on hire boats. Anyway we decided we were going to moor at The Bridge pub  near the Branston Water Park as we wanted to give the food there a try as it is now an Italian and so later on we got ready and had a walk there and very nice it was too.

Friday 31st October

Another lovely morning again and still warm & it was a really warm night too and I have to admit that the duvet was on and off all night! That I am sure is unusual for this time of year as the heating is usually on, we have had a good year weatherise as I am sure plenty of people will agree but I just hope that it doesn't mean a bad winter! Just as we were about to leave the mooring we saw a boat leaving their mooring not far behind so we waited while they passed before we left but I walked to the lock (Branston Lock) and Kev once again stayed aboard R&R. We had a lovely cruise and stopped for a late cooked breakfast just passed the entrance of Mercia marina Willington, and once we had eaten Kev did the washing up while I popped Buster for a walk and then we both had a walk over the footbridge to Midland Chandlers in Mercia Marina for some bits and pieces and had a look at the new boardwalk they are doing there. We got back on board R&R and then left the mooring there and set off to Stenson Lock where a boat was waiting to go down so that was good for us as we could share the lock with them, and then we got as far as Swarkestone where we moored up for the day through bridge 15. We took Buster for a walk down to the Crew & Harpur Arms pub for a pint, it is close to river Trent and we sat outside in the beer garden looking onto the river, there are some lovely properties here and quite old ones too it was worth the walk which only took about 5-10 minutes and the pub does food too if anybody fancies it. We will probably give it a try at some point but not today. I am going to carry on reading Lynda Bellingham's book "There's Something I've Been Dying To Tell You" which I downloaded from ibooks yesterday, I am not a reader usually  but I saw Lynda on Loose women before she sadly died recently and she was talking about her book so I though I would like to read it & so far it is very good.

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