Saturday 3/9 Mercia Marina to Weston Lock

I had a moment of panic yesterday when I rang Enterprise Car Hire to arrange for them to take us to the marina after returning the car. Rebecca said they no longer provide this service to the Willington area and that The Derby branch does and we could return the car there. After I asked where is Derby, Rebecca took pity on an addled Aussie and said she would not only take us to the Marina but would also pick us up at the end of our boat trip on 22 October. So with my faith in humanity temporarily restored, Rebecca dropped us, our luggage and numerous overflowing supermarket bags at Aqua Narrowboats.

Justin greeted us like long lost friends - I can hear the cynics among you saying 'well of course he would, he's making a small fortune out you'. Well yes he is, but Justin has gone above and beyond in fulfilling all our requests, not to mention negotiating with his insurers to allow us to go down the tidal Trent and for getting into the poo with his wife, knicking her stressless chair for Lawrence to use and removing some of the saloon furniture get it on board (pic pending when I catch L. snoozing in it).

After a quick lunch at the marina cafe we returned to Aqua to find all our gear on board Aqua Life. We were given 10 mins to get the food stowed before Dave appeared to give us our handover session after which we were free to depart.

We reversed off the mooring at 2.25pm. With big grins on our faces, despite the drizzle, we made a right turn out of the marina onto the Trent and Mersey Canal. Our first bridge

Soon the bucolic countryside came into view

Narrowboat and bridge - I can't resist. The drizzle stopped about 5.00pm

Only two locks today, but they were broad locks (as they will continue to be for the next couple of weeks at least). With nobody to share the locks they were hard work, with stiff winding gear and huge heavy gates. But we are going down through the locks which makes it a little easier.

 

We moored up at 5.30pm just above Weston Lock.

71/2 miles  2 locks in 3 hours