Bridgett and Peter.

 Friday 12th June 2026 in Weston-upon-Trent.

The day began with breakfast at the Canalside Cafe close to our overnight mooring at Great Haywood. This Cafe has been the site of "many meetings" with local friends. Coincidentally, our friends Mel and Peter, who live only 5 miles from here, were at that moment 5 miles from our house in Meadvale on their way to Gatwick. Very poor planning!

 

 Last night we came through Haywood Lock in the rain, knowing that it would be closed this morning for repairs to the ground paddle. So, for the second time in three days, we watched a C&RT team put in stop planks and drain the lock to fix a broken paddle.

Soon after, we set off past the junction with the Staffs & Worcs Canal which eventually goes down to the River Severn, but that was not our route today and we continued on the Trent & Mersey going north.

 The first lock north of Great Haywood is Hoo Mill Lock; it was "against" us so R quickly moored up to a convenient post and went up to set the lock. Walking back to MM, he saw a small notice on the other side of  the post. We always joke that "No Mooring" notices often present very sturdy posts for mooring. How true!

We continued on to Weston-upon-Trent and moored up outside the beautiful house and garden of our good friends Bridgett and Peter. 

 When they saw that we had arrived, they joined us on board for tea and then very kindly invited us to join them for dinner. But first we had a tour of their lovely garden. Fairies abound there!

As always, had a splendid evening with them and opened a very special bottle of red wine which had been a gift at the launch party we held in Guildford in the autumn of 2011; we had been saving it for an occasion which warranted opening it and this was that occasion.  The conversation flowed so easily that it was way past M's bedtime when we crossed their garden back to the boat. Yet it was still quite light; we are very close to Midsummer's Day now. Yes, a late night for us but it was definitely worth it to spend time in the company of such special friends.

Today: 3 Miles, 2 Locks and 1.6 Hours.

Trip: 143 Miles, 88 Locks and 67.8 Hours.