Uneventful up to Burton.

We had another early start, well for us before 10:00 is early! We passed the lengthsman’s house and workshop at Swarkestone at 09:15.


It was dull and cool first thing, and didn’t improve a great deal through the day. Just the odd shaft of sunshine spearing the overcast, but never enough to warm the air.

We had an hour to cruise before Stenson Lock, the last of the broad locks heading in this direction, passing the Ragley Boat Stop. I’ve heard good things about the quality of the food here, but we’ve never stopped.


Approaching Stenson Lock I was a bit confused to see the bottom gates open and a lot of water coming down through the paddles.
It turned out that there were two lockies on and they were flushing the vegetation out of the sluices and the chamber. They told me to stay onboard while they very gently brought us up. I had been hoping for a locking companion to share this one, it’s over 12’ deep and tends to bounce you about a bit. The usual trick of springing against the side with a rope led back to a bollard doesn’t work on very deep locks.

Halfway up…


We cruised past Mercia Marina with it’s fine display of daffs and the peaks of the latest development, through Willington and onward towards Burton on Trent.

Mercia Marina entrance.

Crossing the River Dove
The stone bridge that used to carry the Derby Road is still there, but the new dual carriageway just a few yards upstream goes over a modern concrete structure.

We stopped on the edge of town so I could pick up some bits and pieces I’d ordered for my latest project, had lunch then carried on, arriving behind another boat at Dallow Lock. He was a single hander so I helped him on his way, then we were in and up like a dose of salts. The joy of being back on narrow locks! We did our last one when we left Middlewich last May! Since then we’ve been negotiating broad locks, with precious little chance to share them after we left Skipton.

Dallow Lock


That was about it, another quarter-mile and we pulled in on the offside moorings at Shobnall Fields.

Lots more daffodils here!

Alrewas tomorrow, I guess. A stop at Shobnall Marina for diesel and gas first, though.

Locks 2, miles 10