From plane spotting to train spotting.

Yesterday was such a lovely day we decided to stay put. I took advantage of the dry weather to get the rest of the woodwork done. Just needs varnishing now.

Meg and I had a gentle stroll into Kegworth for some shopping. A fine village that could do with a bypass. The A6 running through the middle does it no favours.

Kegworth Church behind Harrison’s Cottage.
Our quiet mooring (apart from the aircraft!) became busy in the afternoon, with another 5 boats arriving and mooring either side of us. Out came the chairs and bottles of wine, I carried on with my circular saw….. I was here first!

Another visitor was this dragonfly, who got himself stuck between the curtain and the window. I extracted him with no harm done.
This morning we woke to rain, so hung on till lunchtime before getting off. It gave me the opportunity to re-lay the laminate floor at the front of the saloon. We were on our own again by the time we decided to move.
The afternoon improved as we headed towards Loughborough. We arrived at Zouch Lock just in time to join another boat, NB Jade. They pulled over to moor above the lock, so we carried on alone.

Elephant shaped ivy at Normanton
Another fortuitous arrival at Bishops Meadow meant that the departing boat left a gate open for us, then we pulled over above the lock for the facilities.

I had to empty and open Loughborough Lock all by myself, but by the time we’d come up another boat was heading our way, so at least I could leave it open.

Heading towards Loughborough Junction. The white building on the left is The Albion.
We made a quick stop just after the junction to the wharf so I could pop in to B&Q for the varnish. The checkouts were busy so I decided to use the self serve one. How hard could it be? Anyway, an assistant had to come and sort me out in the end, muttering about it being more trouble than it’s worth. I hope she was talking about the checkout, not the customer!

Out of Loughborough and the Millers Bridge moorings were busy, so we plodded on to moor just above Pillings Flood Lock. It would be a very nice spot, if it weren’t for the trains whizzing by. At least they’re a bit more infrequent, and lot quieter, than the planes.

Moored just above Pillings
Locks 3, miles 8