Friday 21st
Today we went from Willington to Weston. We deliberately did a longer trip than we would usually have done because we planned to go to The Coopers Arms in Weston for a carvery to celebrate Ken getting his Old Age Pension (any excuse!).
We set off, not too early, and travelled 7 miles and 2 locks. The first lock, Stenson, was manned so I didn’t have to do anything there. We stopped at Swarkestone for water and then had quite a long wait at the lock for two boats to come up. One was a Canaltime and one was a private boat.
The bloke off the private one was definitely ‘in charge’ giving instructions and generally being officious. They took ages filling the lock by raising the paddles an inch at a time it was like pulling teeth! After they came out of the lock the Canaltime asked Ken where they could moor up. He said they could moor where they were and they did. I expect they were fed up with travelling with that pedantic old twat!
We carried on to Weston and moored up ourselves. We had a shower, a cup of tea (yes) and watched a bit of tv until it was time to go out. The Coopers Arms is open all day but they don’t start carvery again after lunchtime until 6pm.
We had a fabulous meal, couldn’t fault it.
Saturday 22nd
Today was just a shortish hop, 3 miles and 2 locks from Weston to Shardlow. We hadn’t actually intended mooring in Shardlow but as there was plenty of room and the boats which are usually moored just past Dobson’s boatyard had gone, making it not so claustrophobic along there we decided to stop.
However this proved to be not such a good move. Things started off ok with a walk to the shop and post office. On the way there we discovered a pub which was showing the football at lunchtime.
This pub was opposite a garage so we filled in a bit of time having a look at the cars while we were there. We are going to buy a car when we get back from Portsmouth next week.
We went in the pub (Shakespeare) and it was very pleasant, good beer and a huge tv with sound (sometimes pubs show football with no sound) and we were enjoying it. But about half time this old git came in and just wanted to talk to some one, any one.
He started off with the chap behind us who just wanted to do his crossword in peace. Then when he didn’t get any joy out of him he started with Ken. The first thing he said was ‘who do you support you bloody Southerner’ or words to that effect. Ken gave him the benefit of the doubt, thinking he was joking and had a civil conversation with him about West Ham and apparently this bloke who is not from London supports Arsenal.
He then got distracted by someone else and buggered off. But he returned and again wanted to discuss football with Ken but things got a bit out of hand and he started slagging West Ham off. Ken was very calm and said ‘To be perfectly honest mate I’m not in the least bit interested in your opinion of West Ham. I just want to watch the football.’ He tried to start again but again Ken told him he wanted to watch the football and eventually he got the hint and shut up.
We were glad when the football finished and we could go. We have become very sensitive lately to unsolicited interference by other people. It pisses us off no end. When we got back to the boat there was someone moored nearly in our cratch. However, in a place like Shardlow you expect it to be busy. In fact by the end of the day they were breasted up outside the New Inn and there was a wide beam moored in the winding hole at Dobson’s.
The bloke in front of us was quite nice but my God could he talk! Probably because he was on his own. Anyway we managed to get away from him when it rained and we went in.
There was a live band on at The Navigation that evening and as Ken was fishing the front of the boat was open so I had to turn the tv up so I could hear it! Apparently they got better as the evening went on.
6am Sunday morning a boat went past and woke us up then there was all this squawking and we discovered the boat behind had a parrot, aaaargh! We were going to stop in Shardlow until Monday but we decided to go to Sawley instead.
Sunday 23rd and Monday 24th
We left the chaos that was Shardlow and travelled 2 miles and 1 lock to Sawley. We were quite early and lucky to get in the only free space there was although several boats left after we got there. In fact we have had no one directly in front or behind for 2 days, hurrah!
Ken wanted to go to the tackle shop so we went to Long Eaton but it doesn’t open on Sundays so that was a bit of a waste of time but we did go to Tescos and get some booze in ready for when Tim and Emily come. And we did go to Long Eaton again today when the tackle shop was open. We also went in the Wetherspoons but had to leave after one drink because it had somehow turned into a Kindergarten, aaargh! We retreated to The Harrington where it is a lot more civilised.
They were supposed to come today (Monday) but the forecast was so bad I put them off until Tuesday. However, summing up the way things have been going lately, we didn’t actually get a drop of rain here until 6pm and then it only lasted a few minutes. So it would have been a good day for them to come, especially as the forecast for tomorrow is worse than it had been for today, aaaargh again!
Anyway we’ll just have to put up with what we get.
