Another very, very hot day with almost no clouds until later afternoon. At times we were glad that we only had a couple of locks to work today as even they drained us of energy!
But first, an update on last night's soap opera of the two swans, a Canada Goose and two cygnets, After the noisy return of swan dad which led to the closing signature tune in our last blog, later we saw all five of them swimming contentedly together - a somewhat incongruous sight.
We set off from our overnight mooring along the long pound to Clayworth. If you look back to Monday's blog you will see that we promised to keep a better lookout for these two scarecrows as we returned. Promise kept!
At the Boat Club moorings we pulled in to use all of the services. We had quite long chat with the caretaker (we missed her when we left the boat at the end of the last trip an when we arrived this time) Her husband, Ian, also introduced us to Angie (a Clayworth moorer) who is also going down the Trent tomorrow on the same tide as we are booked for. She is a Waterways Chaplain and we heard more about her work over a cup of coffee. As she had never before navigated a tidal river kike the Trent, Ian has volunteered to accompany her on that part of her next journey.
We then pottered on for just over an hour before it was lunch time. We pulled in on the moorings at Drakeholes, managing to find a place just about in the shade.
Leaving Drakeholes Tunnel it was another pleasant cruise to the Gringley, the first of today's two locks. Of course, from Whitsunday Pie, the previous lock which we passed through yesterday, down to the Trent these are all wide locks.
We spotted a couple of farmers who were taking advantage of the weather to 'make hay whilst the sun shone'. Let's hope this one has air con in the tractor cab.
Then we had our second lock, Shaw Lock.
It was not much after four when we arrived at our planned mooring, in the countryside a bit before Misterton. Given that there was little alternative (even though this would in any event have been a good choice) we were somewhat relieved to see that the mooring was completely empty. Unlike some, this one has at least room for two, possibly three, boats. Nothing worse than arriving at a mooring that can only take one and seeing exactly the same locked-up boat we saw there three days earlier!
The shadow may look like an executioner's axe about to fall but actually it is the sign indicating that as a Visitor Mooring, stays are limited to 48 hours.
OK, so if we had moved a bit further along we might have come closer to the side, but here, we are in the shade and we did not feel especially in need of a close encounter with steel piling!
7.0 Miles - 2 Locks
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