Fluids

A very rainy night which I emerged from with a streaming cold. Not a good start. We moored outside Shrobnall Marina but opposite a transport depot of some sort, discreetly hidden behind scrub and trees, which did little to muffle the sounds of large lorries entering, loading and leaving again seemingly all night, accompanied by a very amorous pair of Canada geese on "our" stretch of the canal. The goose mating season obviously kicks off late in Burton. I wonder what's for dinner?

Our meeting with Gareth proved very informative. He answered all our questions  in plain English and basically we are doing OK, so we're far more relaxed about the boat situation and life in general. 

From Shrobnall we cruised in a strong breeze with showers to within sight of the disused cooling towers at Willington  where the wind force increased so we decided to moor and wait for a lull, in line with our policy of not setting cruising targets.

Waves on the Trent and Mersey canal near Willington.

In my experience large waves on a canal are very rare, but the strong winds blowing along, rather than across, the canal were the cause. Strong winds and narrowboats are not a good mix so only hire boats tend to venture out as they obviously have to get there and back in a limited time. We have no such targets or time constraints so can afford to "lay low" when necessary. In addition my eyes and nose are running and I have occasional fits of noisy sneezing. A classic case of man-flu ?

I always feel the Trent and Mersey is an understated canal, full of history but much of it now hidden or destroyed. The old wharfs and warehouses have been demolished and replaced with modern versions of no merit or imagination. Two years ago I asked the canal and river trust to consider trimming back the rampant undergrowth reducing the canal width. They said they planned to, but our present trip has confirmed nothing yet has been done, sadly.