Friday 19/6 Wychnor, Bridge 44 to Mercia Marina, Willington

Tim and Mike produced bacon and eggs for our breakfast, checking the use by dates on all the ingredients after finding some some out of date ham in the fridge, fussy buggers, it was only from the end of May! Disparaging comments about my fridge keeping aside, they whipped up a yummy breakfast. We left our mooring at 10.00am and pootled very slowly and reluctantly toward Willington and Mercia Marina.

I had a lock free last day as Tim and Mike took over responsibility of getting us safely through the locks. I have have to mention that these were the easiest locks in our journey; paddle mechanisms were easy to wind, no huge water surges and the gates swung easily - a piece of cake. Barton Turn Lock

The water has been let out and the gates begin to open as Tim and Mike lean into the balance beams

Groan, I thought these narrow bridges were only on the Stratford Canal

Approaching Tatenhill Lock and Lock House where we stayed for two nights prior to getting the boat. Peter and Julia's old working boat - restoration in progress. Note the height of the bow, nearly as high as our roof. When these boats were fully laden back back in the old days, they had only about 3-6" freeboard.

Lawrence urged me to knock on Lock House door as Tim and Mile worked the lock. I am so pleased we did. Julia was very welcoming and urged us to have a coffee so she could here about our travels.

The fellas joined us after taking Aqua Life down through the lock and we had coffee in Julia's private sitting room. You will never guess what was taking up wall space, in pride of place - a beautifully restored penny farthing. As you can imagine canal travels took a back seat to the stories of the bicycles.

Coffee finished we bade a reluctant farewell; the fellas had left Aqua Life on the lock landing (very bad form) and we still had quite a few miles to go. Julia walking back up the towpath after waving us off.

The view from our lunch time mooring looking out over the National Forest of Needwood! Once one of the largest Royal hunting grounds.  Tim and Mike whipped us up a surprisingly nice lunch from the fridge remnants that weren't out of date.

Tim, his mind not on the job at Branston Lock

Tim, his mind now back on the job

Lovely countryside

The obligatory canal photo

Dallow Lock, our last on this trip and the last of the narrow locks on the Trent and Mersey Canals journey to Shardlow.

We have watched, from the canal, the change of seasons. Pasture is now starting to go to seed

The Elderflowers are in full bloom, the blackberries are about to burst into flower, the yellow iris are nearly done and the hawthorns are starting to set berries

Aqueduct over the River Dove which started life in the Peak District and here is less than a mile from its meeting with the River Trent

And finally, the last miles done at 'tick over', we could no longer delay the inevitable. Having come full circle we moored up for the final time,  at Aqua Life's home berth about 5.30pm having completed 386 1/2 miles, 295 locks and 14 swing bridges at a scorching average of 2.77mph (not counting lock time).

Mercia Marina and the restaurant across from our mooring where we enjoyed a last supper together.

Today's journey 13 miles, 5 locks, 6 hours.

That's all folks. Tomorrow we are off to Grassington in the Yorkshire Dales for a few days before flying out on Wednesday.

PS. we still love each other and we still love narrowboating