It’s up early again after a rubbish nights sleep due to the hot weather and adopting the same plan as yesterday we cruise early to avoid the hot midday sun. I decided to email the marina and see if our space is free for another night as we have about 3.5 hr cruise to get there and then will end up mooring on the cut outside the marina anyway so we might as well go straight into the marina.
We wave goodbye to our neighbours as we cruise by on this misty morning and it’s another stunning morning cruise watching the dragonflies dart around and we spot the odd pike and other fish in the water. Yesterday I spotted a baby pike with a fish in its mouth! Something I’ve never seen before.
The first lock today is Swarkestone lock which I really like. It’s very easy to operate and it just has a pleasant feel about it even if it does take a while to fill. There is building work being done on a canal side building and if you like the sound of boats and locks then it would be a lovely place to live. We cruise past the water point as we headed into the lock having only filled with water that morning we decide to break our rule of stopping at every water point.
We receive an email to say our space is free in the marina so that has worked out well. As we are heading towards Stenson Bubble and a pretty ferocious lock we spot a couple we met last year who were visiting Kings Marina in Newark, we then saw them moored up not that far away last summer when we cruised. Either they haven’t got far or they are returning from their adventures. It’s lovely that we are staying to build a boating community and are seeing people we know on our travels. Although we are still pretty close to home as the crow flies so not surprising.
We tie up at the landing lock and I go to check out the situation with the lock. A stroke of luck as there are some guys volunteering, well it turns out they are with an historic boat which is on its way to the Shardlow boat festival so they have come ahead to set the lock but they very kindly offer to do it all, so I skipped ((come on now, you haven’t skipped since you were about 12!)) so I could enjoy the lock with Chris. As we are waiting for the gates to open another boat comes along which is great as it means we won’t get bashed about in the lock quite as much, although when I’m filming in the bow the boat ends up getting a bit of a wash when the power of the water pulls us forward despite the fact I can hear Chris reversing the boat.
It’s out the last lock and no more locks now before the turning in the Marina. It’s been another fabulous cruise and we are both grateful when we arrive into the marina. The visitor spot isn’t free so as the marina had already told us our pontoon for the week Chris executes the perfect reverse, which of course no-one sees! You could guarantee if he messed it up a tourist coach would have just turned up with camera’s flashing!
We wander over to the office to check in, get our fob for the security gate. Get a card topped up for electric and laundry. We have sort of decided that we might aim to have a night in a marina every few weeks to do bit loads of washing like towels, duvets etc and then we can use our little twin tub to keep us going. We’ve thought of using a launderette but generally the price does seem to be cheaper in a marina. The cost here is £3.50 for a wash and £1.20 for a dry and I’m sure the ones I’ve seen in a launderette can be anything from £7-£12. I know we have the cost of a nights mooring but it’s like a mini-holiday in a holiday and I might start sharing the facilities etc which might be useful to other boaters thinking of using a marina. ((I bet you thought up that excuse last minute so you could live the high life! Authors!))
The promised heat arrives so we don’t do too much more other than having a littler wander around the marina and commenting on the fact that this is where we bought The Plot from. It was strange as we cruised in as the last time our boat came to Mercia Marina, the owner brought it here to put her up for sale and now we are coming in as visitors having spent the last year and a few months renovating and decorating to make her our home. It seems the fitting place to really start our cruising adventure.
We are reaching the point where we have to decide where we are going to go next. Since we left Kings Marina on Wednesday 19th July we have been settling into our new life but also we have had places to be at a certain time and things to do. When Chris gets back from his holiday we then need to decide where to go with nowhere to be! Very exciting!
Until tomorrow. Xx
Miles/Distance: 6
Locks: 2
Tunnels: 0
Swing Bridges:0
C.L. Peache 