Alrewas

Before we could leave the marina there were a few things we needed to do first. After sorting ourselves out - the first morning is always a bit more difficult - Granny (Christine) with Alice and Jess walked to the office (to reclaim the deposit on the entry key) and the shop (for a few supplies! - we clearly did not bring enough with us!) whilst Grandad (Mike) and Uncle Andy took the boat over to the workshop. There was a sudden breeze which made turning out of the mooring finger a bit more of a challenge than had been expected!

At the workshop we eventually tracked down Justin who could return our keys - but no invoice yet - and also we emptied the elsan. 

After picking up the girls we set off, shortly re-joining the main line of the canal into Willington. It was an amazingly hot, sunny day, worthy of July but still the middle of Easter.

The journey was much as expected - we anticipated delays at the locks and in the middle of the day that was the case. The worst case was five boats in the queue as we arrived but at least most of the locks were quite shallow and easily worked. Any delays in a smooth working of turns was down to those crews that were rather slow of the mark! Some, indeed, seemed expect that others would work the locks for them!

Alice has begun to take an interest in reading maps and spent some time following the route on our maps, learning to relate the 'conventional symbols' to real items on the ground.

As we passed through Burton-on-Trent there were plenty of reminders about its most famous products! At Horninglow Wharf, the adjacent road viaduct has been well-decorated.

Turnover bridges must seem quite intimidating for newcomers.

We did not have to find a special place for lunch - we simply took turns whilst in one of the longer queues at Branston Lock!

The locks were closer together In the afternoon and both Alice and Jessica were very helpful in pushing gates - Alice managed to wind some of the paddles. By the end of the day they really knew what was happening!

Between Wychnor and Alrewas the canal shares water with the River Trent - at this time of the year the water level was well into the green zone and Alice could hardly believe that there are times when it is too dangerous to navigate this section.

Above Common Lock we could see along the next straight section the first the the three locks close to Fradley Junction and also that there were lots of moored boats - a boater coming down confirmed that it was as busy as expected around the junction so, seeing a reasonable mooring we pulled in and called a halt for the day.

The evening meal took little preparation - it was the pre-prepared cottage pie that we should have had last night except that it was still a frozen block!

After the meal the two girls made it quickly to bed - Alice enjoyed hearing another Horrid Henry story - she had heard the first one earlier in the afternoon.