Meetings and Greetings.

We got the second coat of paint on the cabin side of Corbiere on Thursday. We had to move the boat to under the railway bridge just 100 yards down, not to avoid rain but the bright sunshine. In the sun the cabin was far too warm to paint; the brushes would have just stuck to it! The finish isn’t brilliant, but we’re amateurs, after all. It’s certainly better than a lot of boats knocking about on the cut.

Carol reversing back to moor up after the painting.
Yesterday we didn’t do so much, just odd jobs around the boat. In the evening Carol and her brother Phillip and sister in law Dawn arrived. P & D stayed overnight and brought Corbiere down to Sawley with us today.

It’s been a beautiful day again, blue skies and no wind. Where was this weather in the summer? Still at least we’ve the opportunity to take advantage of it now. I feel for those people who booked boating holidays and had to endure the lashing rain and winds we’ve had.

Cruising to Weston

Weston Lock
At Weston Lock we had a surprise, someone shouting from the opposite bank “Are you Seyella? We read your blog!” Thanks Sue and Mike, it’s great to meet people who read what we are up to. But I was admonished for not putting much on recently. So, in recompense, here’s a picture of you two. Have a good trip.
A queue of boats waiting to come up made the lower lock landing impossible to get on to, to pick up Dawn and I. I managed to hop on just against the lock bridge, but poor Dawn had to walk down to the next bridge to hitch a ride.

Waiting for CorbiereSuccessful collection
A lot of boats coming up the canal meant that we had an easy trip. Each lock (apart from Shardlow) was just being vacated as we arrived, and with boats waiting to come up, the crews were helping us through.

Well timed at Aston Lock
Shardlow was quieter than expected.
Near the flood lock there’s a chap with a miniature railway in his garden….
We said goodbye to the Trent and Mersey Canal at Derwent Mouth, crossed the Trent/Derwent river junction and arrived at Sawley at just after 14:00. Carol and Sonja were waiting to meet us, I think Carol just wanted to make sure that Phillip hadn’t scratched the new paint….
Give us another couple of fine days and we’ll get this cabin side done too.

I’ve put another blog link on the list on the left. NB Lucky Duck. Check it out, Amy and James are very entertaining writers, but unfortunately not as the lucky as the boat name implies…

Locks 4, miles 6½