Wednesday 17th July 2019 at Sawley.
M was up early at 5:30 with a pretty sunrise.
Our neighbours were up and breakfasting already while keeping an eye on us.
We had planned to set off by 8:00am but half an hour before that a boat passed us and we elected to go with them to share the locks, even though it meant finishing our porridge rather hurriedly! These large river locks are so much easier with two boats.
The boat was nb "Aqua Life", a brand new hire boat from Barton Turn. The couple on board, Adrian and Elvira, were delightful. He said that he had been boating since he was five but for Elvira it was her first trip - and she was clearly enjoying it and helming like she was born to it.
For the first part of our trip, we were under the approach path for East Midlands Airport.
At Ratcliffe lock, M was unable to open the bottom gate. It turned out that a large log was jammed behind the gate. R to the rescue - he used the long pole to move it out of the way.
Ratcliffe-on-Soar power station dominated the landscape as we approached the confluence with the Trent.
As we moved on to the Trent, we reluctantly had to part company with Adrian and Elvira. They turned down the Trent towards Nottingham while we turned up the Trent towards Sawley. We stopped together and hovered in the middle of the Trent.
Adrian is hoping to have his own boat when he retires and so they both came on MM to have a quick look round to get ideas while R held the two boats side by side.
Finally, we set off again and bade them farewell. We wish them well with their narrowboating dream.
The first lock on the Trent resembles those on the Thames.
The lock is fully automated and operated with a key and a series of push buttons.
We moored up opposite Sawley marina where we will take MM tomorrow.
As M got one of the fenders out, the knot holding it on came undone and it fell into the water. Luckily, R was able to use the hook to snag the rope attached to the fender - so we got it back!
Due to the very early start, we were moored up by 11:00am and so we walked into Sawley marina to introduce ourselves and found that they had an excellent café; naturally lunch there was a must!
The marina is huge with excellent facilities but M said she would not like to moor there long term because of the unrelenting roar of the M1 just a quarter of a mile away.
Tomorrow, we will put MM into the marina and catch a bus and two trains to Exeter. Not exactly the shortest way home but there is a very special concert there tomorrow evening - as a result, we will be home on Friday and back on MM next Wednesday - so, please watch this space!
Today: 7 miles, 6 locks and 3.2 hours.
Trip: 181 miles, 97 locks and 110.6 hours.
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