Friday 29th October
Today we have travelled 4.5 miles and 4 locks to Branston Water Park. This journey included a water stop and a rubbish stop and took about 3.5 hours!
First thing this morning I spent an amusing half hour watching the first boats of the day going down the lock. The thing which made this interesting was that late last night 2 boats (hire) came up the lock and moored on the lock approach. Now, there is nothing wrong with mooring on the lock approach if it’s late in the day, as long as you leave pretty sharpish in the morning before you start causing an obstruction! Unfortunately for the early lockers today, these moored boats were a bit slow off the mark. In fact one of them was still there when we left at 9!
Surprisingly, the boat behind us pulled out in to the melee, with a flourish of bow thruster! He could have waited until she had got the lock ready and then pulled out but I think he was afraid they would lose their place in the queue as there was another boat coming! There was a certain amount of chuntering and gesticulating going on anyway.
We waited until the fuss had died down before we decided to leave. Later on, at Tattenhall Lock, there was an apparently abandoned boat – moored on the lock approach!
On arrival at Branston we took George to the Bridge Inn and managed to find a seat out of the wind, which had got up significantly. After this we went to the shops in the village. I particularly wanted to go to the pet shop for some Naturediet but they didn’t have any. Apparently the factory has burnt down so it is in short supply. I had to get some Butcher’s Tripe instead but I don’t suppose himself will worry what it is as long as it’s food!
Tomorrow we are going to Burton for a bit more shopping (including maggots) then probably moving up to Willington.
