At Last We Are On Our Way Again!

Sunday 24th to Tuesday 26th June 2018 from Aston Marina to Weston.
Drove up to the Marina from home on Sunday expecting the traffic to be light as everyone would be watching England play football. Unfortunately it seems that everyone had the same idea, so the traffic was awful!
On Monday morning, we drove to the huge M&S in Stoke-on-Trent and bought all sorts of provisions for MM. In the evening, our friends Mel and Peter arrived in the car park in a large camper van on their way back from a trip to the Lake District. They stayed in the car park overnight and on Tuesday morning we all had breakfast together in No.26, the Marina's restaurant. What a joy it was to be able to sit outside on the terrace in the sunshine!
Finally, we set off from the Marina on the dot of midday to start our delayed summer cruise. The sun continued to shine and there was a welcome breeze as we passed under the Marina bridge.

Sandon Lock is the first and last lock of the season if we travel south, as we are doing this year. So, it is now a familiar friend.

We moored up at our special mooring alongside the garden of Jubilee Cottage, the lovely home of our friends Bridgett and Peter.

They came on board for a cup of tea in the afternoon.  In the evening, we had supper together. M provided the food and they provided the beautiful garden setting as we sat and watched the sun go down.

As ever, it was a super evening with them. Their garden is a wonder and M took this picture of the rose arbour framing their house perfectly. Peter is a brilliant artist and M thought that he might like to paint this view.

We had done one short trip earlier in June down to Great Haywood and back, so in 2018 we had already done 16 miles, 6 locks and 7.9 hours.
Today: 5 miles, 1 lock and 2.0 hours.
2018 to date: 21 miles, 7 locks and 9.9 hours.