A taste of the Trent

Leaving our mooring on the edge of Alrewas this morning, we dropped down Bagnall Lock, through the village, then Alrewas Lock, down onto the short river section.

Bagnall Lock, another beautiful morning.

The moorings are always busy through Alrewas, the village must do quite well from boaters, but then it does make us welcome.

Someone wanting water will have to shift this guy. Two water taps, and he’s right between them!

On the River Trent.

An awkward bridge to negotiate part way

The peace and quiet of this pleasant ½ mile interlude is soon shattered as we return to the canal at Wychnor.

Wychnor Lock.

The busy A38 runs right alongside.

With 35 minutes before Barton Lock there was time for elevenses…

Mug of tea and a bacon butty made with dry cured back bacon from the farm shop at Great Haywood. Lovely.

The jubilee clips on the neck of my aluminium windlass are so I can fish it out with a magnet should I lose it in the cut.

Barton Marina, our enforced winter domicile 2012-2013 while Mags recovered from her “bit of a do”.

We topped up with water below Barton Lock before swinging away from the road and negotiating Bridge 36. This is reckoned to be the narrowest stand-alone bridge on the network, just wide enough for a narrowboat.

We gave way to an approaching boat…

…before skittling through ourselves.

Tattenhill Lock was left open for us by a boat coming up, but we couldn’t return the favour, there was no-one waiting below.

Leaving Tattenhill Lock
Yes, the offside gate swung open as soon as I’d left it.

We did meet another boat a couple of minutes later, so they’d have had to open only one gate…

Magpie on wire

Moored just beyond Branston Bridge
There are moorings both side of the bridge, but these are more open, with a wider towpath.

That’s my girl!

She’s certainly caught the sun these last few days!

We’re going to have a day off tomorrow, you never know, maybe even Sunday. Next stop will be above Stenson Lock, all the narrow locks will be behind us, 6 broad locks ahead to take us down to the Trent at Shardlow.

I‘m getting to like the new camera. Leaving it on auto seems to work well, and it boots up just a bit faster than the old Samsung so you can catch snaps on the fly. The image stabilisation, important if you’re using zoom from the back of a moving boat, is excellent. And I’ve pretty well sorted out the colour balance, too. Finally I’ve rooted out a USB cable that fits the camera mini-D socket, so now I don’t have to remove the memory card to dump the pictures. Battery life seems to good, too. I’ve taken over a hundred pictures and it’s still showing well charged. After my initial reservations I’ve come round.
A good buy, especially at the discounted price. I don’t think I’d have paid the full list of £180, though.

Hi Lesley, Wozie. Yes Lesley, I'm really going to be careful with my comments about "The Doughnut Queen". Now's she's got an iPad she can check up on me...!
Wozie, thanks for the comment. Comparison shots with the old and new cameras show the difference. A worthwhile investment.

Locks 5, miles 5.