Tuesday 2nd April

Today we decided to see how efficient Canals and River Rescue are this year!  We were all ready to go but when Richard tried to start the engine the starter battery was completely flat.  It had been a bit reluctant on Sunday but was fine yesterday.  Still it was seven years old and the original battery.  The C&RR said that they would be with us sometime today which wasn’t very helpful so Richard walked to Midway Boats and was able to get a new, though expensive, battery from them. It didn’t take long for Richard to fit it and we were off – though in the wrong direction due to our deviation to Church Minshull yesterday – so a quick hop back to Hurleston Junction and we were facing the right way again.

Beeston Castle

The water point at Barbridge wasn’t working so we stopped at Calveley for water and to empty the loo.

The afternoon was all locks – six of them – and Muffin is now very proficient at supervising the operation.  I’ve stopped worrying about him now as he just loves to mooch around and see what he can find which isn’t very much usually.  The canal was quite busy but we did the first five locks on our own only catching up with another boat for the last one.

Sunset over the Shady Oak

We stopped for the night at the Shady Oak but as we had eaten out twice recently I reluctantly cooked!  It is a lovely spot right under Beeston Castle, which was made even better by there being snow on the hill.  There was also a wonderful sunset over the Shady Oak – one of those sunsets that you really only get over water.