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 Friday 25th June 2021 at Send

The weather was positive as we started off back to MM at the Cartbridge Marina. A very straightforward journey starting with the bus from outside our house to Guildford, then another bus to Send and a short walk to the marina. We were carrying very little as we had driven down to the marina the previous day with all the "stuff", including groceries from Waitrose, clean laundry, a new vacuum cleaner (the old one died) and a spare throttle cable.

Cartbridge Marina is small and very peaceful but the facilities are very limited. It seemed that there was never anyone in authority around. Eventually, we discovered that the owner was away this week and had switched off his phone so there was no way of contacting him. Luckily we found someone else who actually works there and so we were able to pay for our mooring, get a pumpout and fill with water. Unusually, the mooring fee went to a local canal charity called "Swingbridge" and so our mooring fee and pumpout fee went straight into their collection box! We approved!

Around teatime, we set off in lovely sunshine. In the photo, it looks as if we are heading for the bank but actually it is the exit, a bit narrow and obscured by vegetation.

By now, it was hot and quite late in the day, so we decided to moor just a few hundred yards upstream where we had moored with "Inkling" on the way down. We call the mooring "Sticky Tree Bridge", as there are poplar trees overhead which drop a sticky secretion - a bit like lime trees do. We moored just out of their reach!

Then it was a question of getting all the "stuff" organised and put away neatly.

While M was watering the geraniums, a passing cyclist asked M for assistance. It seemed the pedal had come off his very expensive new bicycle and he still had another 14 miles to ride. Did we, by any chance, have an allen key he could use? Of course we did - R's tool box is a veritable Treasure Trove of such items!!

R to the rescue and Mark pedalled away a happy man. We hope that he managed to complete his journey without further incident.

Today: 0 miles, 0 locks and 0.2 hours.

Trip: 231 miles, 114 locks and 102.4 hours.