It was an absolutely stunning morning when I took Macc out for his early walk. We went down the towpath to the lock, and then as the sunrise was so spectacular we carried on past the weir.
We came back via the footpath across the field, and the bridge over the Trent.
After breakfast, Adrian popped into the village for a couple of things, and then we set off at about 9.15. Several boats had already gone past. Just round the corner there’s a ‘breathe in’ section, thanks to someone mooring their boat at the end of their garden.
I got off at the bridge and walked to Bagnall Lock, where I found a boat coming down.
This lock has very short balance beams on the bottom gates, and I had a devil of a job to get them closed. One in particular just didn’t want to move, but we got there eventually. At Common Moor Lock, there’s something in the water as you approach the lock landing, which we rode over quite dramatically. A single hander in a historic boat had just left ahead of us. When we got to Hunt’s Lock he was just going up. I’d walked from Common Moor, so went and set Keeper’s Lock for him, so he could go straight in.
It meant Hunt’s needed turning, but these locks empty quite quickly and we were soon up.
The single hander was just leaving Keeper’s, but after he’d closed the top gate he ran back and lifted a paddle, which was nice of him. We were keen to moor in this pound, between Keeper’s and Junction Locks, and fortunately there was a big sunny space available. It was only a little after 10.30, so once tied up we had tea and a treat that Adrian had got from the bakery in Alrewas, an apple and cinnamon pastry.
We hadn’t been here very long when loud music started. It was actually BBC 6Music, which I really don’t mind but I didn’t particularly want to hear it from someone else’s boat. We knew where it was coming from, because the same boat blared out music at Alrewas yesterday and Branston the day before. I went to ask the woman to turn it down; amazingly, she was in her boat with a speaker on the roof outside — and had the cheek to claim it wasn’t obtrusive. This was after she’d had to turn it off to hear what I was saying to her. She agreed to take the speaker inside.
This afternoon we’ve walked round the Fradley Pool nature reserve again (Macc knows where he’s going this time!) and I’ve been cooking as we have the Tidys coming for dinner later. When they arrived, Helen had made a cake as it’s Adrian’s birthday tomorrow. It’s covered with his favourite peanut butter cup sweets.
2 miles, 4 locks. (265 miles, 174 locks)