Alrewas, such a nice place to be, so we stayed another day, didn’t do much, so no blog! We paid a visit to the King William IV – just to try their beers – Ringwood Red Boar, so so but at £4 for a pint and a half, pretty good value.
Next day, time to move on. Out onto the short bit of river then past Wychnor, through a few locks and then lunch stop at the Branston Water Park before mooring up for the day in Burton – opposite the Marston’s brewery.
The might river Trent enters here – nice & docile at the moment
And 50 yds later it exits – over a weir . . . nicely buoyed
Steve steers serenely through a narrow bridge arch and on to Wychnor lock
Here’s a piccie for Stephen & Lucia – a bridge 42!
A brief glimpse of the big Barton’s Turn Marina and no, they couldn’t help me with my bow thruster shear pins . . . . the search goes on
There are some very narrow squeezes on some canals – only an inch to spare
A brief pit stop for lunch and a walk around the water park for Toby
We moored up at the visitor moorings – opposite Marston’s brewery – a bit noisy but quite safe.
Brief visit to Shobnall marina & to thank Jeanette in the office for searching for shear pins for me but no luck here either . . .
A long walk into town, to find “The Alfred” – a reknown Burton Bridge Brewery pub, who, unbeknown to us, had just had a beer festival and there was beer left! Steve had a pint of Hopping Mad and Viv had some Shagweaver!
A really old-fashioned town pub, with even a space for the Dog . . .
No, Viv wasn’t happy with this photo – not sure why!??
After a noisy night we set off towards Willington, first, through Dallow lock
Beery murals of Burton
Ably assisted by Michael – a lovely lad who is just around to help boaters! He helped us at Branston lock yesterday. and this morning, at Dallow.
Past Horninglow wharf (note the RCR rescue team helping a boater)
Some greylag geese on a nest
Always a bit odd and unnerving when your boat which is in a water channel, goes over another water channel – this time it’s the famous river Dove.
And after a pleasant morning’s cruise, we stop at Willington . . . outside a pub of course.
This is the famous Dragon – quite a posh & splendid establishment, serving beers from the Boot Brewery of Repton.
We were impressed by the Clod Hopper and Tuffler’s Old – both very full of flavour. Quite a compact village – with a good Co-op, Indian, Chinese and a chippy! Plus a tea room. A recommended stop but boaters be warned – adjacent to the railway!
After a stroll along the towpath to Mercia marina – no, again, no help from Midland Chandlers or Aqua boats re shear pins! But quite an eye-opening marina. Very helpful staff. Nice flower beds and excellent, clean facilities!
On arriving back at our boat, we had been joined by the narrowboat The Oak, from Ilkeston. I was chatting away when I noticed that in the back of his boat, he had a BCS control panel for a bow thruster, so I idly mentioned . . Oh, do you have any shear pins and he said “Yes!”. What’s more he had spares and within minutes had laid his hands on them – he freely gave me one of his four spares! I was over the moon! A shear pin and one that was actually meant for my thruster.
An hour or so later, I had taken all the junk off the boards and had got down to the thruster compartment, taken off the motor and fitted the new pin . . . switch on and Voila! It works – we have thrust in the bow! Viv replied – I’ll happily drive again . . . success. Thanks to The Oak!
Saturday morning and The Oak is off early – they decided to keep going as they need to get back to visit family. We were supping our morning tea & coffee, so got up to wave them goodbye (0700) – thanks John for the very vital, shear pin and for reinforcing my belief in the altruistic behaviour of the boating community! I hope we can pass it on.
Hope we meet up again, later this year.
