Sunday 1st September
Yesterday we stayed at Branston and went to Burton on the bus (Midland Classic £2-80 return). We did the usual – bacon roll stall, fishing tackle shop, other shopping, Wetherspoon’s and then back to the boat. In the evening we had fish and chips from the chippy near the Blacksmith’s Arms and they were very good.
Today we unintentionally made an early start (not sure how that happened) and were in Branston Lock by 8 am! The trip of 6.5 miles and 2 locks, from Branston to Willington took exactly 3 hours and this included a water filling and loo emptying stop at Horninglow.
On arrival at Willington we found a mooring just beyond the winding hole, opposite the sanitary station. There was a space near the bridge but it looked a bit tight and we didn’t want to be outside the pub anyway. Firstly we walked up to the marina to get the £200 deposit back which we left for a winter mooring this year. We are definitely going down to Saul Junction this winter. After the marina we went to the Coop for a couple of things and ended up with 2 bags full of stuff and a box of Budweisers. We had to take the shopping back to the boat before we went to The Green Man.
Both The Green Man and The Rising Sun have been refurbished since we left in March. This following the refurbishment of The Dragon last year means there are 3 good pubs here now. I say 3 we haven’t actually been in The Rising Sun but it looks nice from the outside and has a Thai restaurant attached. We were very impressed with The Green Man, it has been opened out and redecorated nicely. There was a good selection of beers including Bass and Spitfire. They also had a bonus with Wadsworth’s 6 x at only £2-90 a pint.
It has been busy here this afternoon with loads of boats passing through, using the sanitary station and turning round. We still managed to have a little kip though!
Tomorrow we are off to Ragley to join Mick and Cathy.
