Thursday 19th April

We woke up thewonderful smell of fresh bread cooking – Warburtons was just around the corner! It was raining at first but dried up and wehad a good trip back down the canal. However today we had water problems of a different type – the water thathad soaked us yesterday had filled the canal and it was too full! The water was pouring over the gates andmaking it difficult to empty the locks and the lock streams were causingcurrents both sides of the lock – I have to admit to doing a little bit ofdamage under a bridge coming out of a lock but the lock stream just took thebow away L Ilkeston seemed to go on for miles but Inoticed an M & S Simply Food so we stopped and I imbibed in a bit of luxuryfood shopping! I suggested that we stopat the bridge where we lost the chimney yesterday and have one last try atfinding it. As we walked to the spot wecould see it – so it was duly rescued and doesn’t seem any the worse for anight in the canal J We took a break at Gallows Lock to visit thelocal vet. We had noticed that Millie’sright eye wasn’t opening properly before we left home but hoped that it wouldget better of its own accord but, of course, it hasn’t. So today I managed to find a vet about half amile from the canal and booked her in. The vet couldn’t find anything wrong with the eye and has given us somedrops to put in twice a day – we’ll see how we go. We are now moored up just below Pasture Lockagain. It is a very pretty spot and we now have a lovely view of St. Giles Churchon the hillside.