Outside Mercia Marina (Trent & Mersey Canal) – Monday 19th August

We woke up to a beautiful morning - long may this last!  It was an exciting day as I was expecting my very first Tesco order to the boat.  We have been summer cruising for four years and yet was my very first time!  Well I won’t count the time in New Islington when I got the wrong postcode for Sainsburys and the order had to be cancelled!

 

Richard was concerned that there would be a queue at the first lock and was itching to get away.  Needless to say we were the only people waiting!

 

Dove Aqueduct

I was down below blogging when I realised we were coming into Burton-upon-Trent – I could smell the hops!  I’m not sure if I would like to live with the smell but I guess you could get used to it.  We also passed a boat with a chap playing the mouth organ – he played it extremely well.

 

We moored up in Willington but as our cupboards were bare we went to the Dragon for lunch and then sat back and waited for Mr. Tesco.  He was due between 3pm and 4pm and arrived about 3.15pm.  He said he had delivered to boats at Willington before so had parked in the car park.  It all worked very well – I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to find homes for everything but there didn’t seem to be that much.

 

Willington

After we had stowed all the shopping we moved up the canal and moored outside Mercia Marina as we are meeting up with old friends and a new friend tomorrow.

 

Richard cooked a BBQ on the towpath which was quite busy – he got all sorts of comments!

 

 

Branston Water Park to Mercia Marina

7.72 miles

2 locks