Branston to Willington (Trent & Mersey Canal)

We are moving on today to Willington and it was dry with sunny spells as we set off and abit windy.

Going into Branston Lock

Chugging past Shobnall Marina

We soon came to Branston Lock which is only 3ft deep so didn’t take long to get through there and on we went along the canal.  Under a few bridges and past Shobnall Marina where there are visitor moorings to go to the Marstons Brewery.  We chugged past Shobnall Fields which are in Burton-on-Trent and was the site of a IWA Festival a few years ago which we went to by car, its now nice to come here by boat.   We smelt the hops from the beer making as we chugged through. 

In Dallow Lock

Murial at Dallow Lock

We then came to Dallow Lock which is also a shallow lock and each side of the lock was a murial depicting beer barrels, barges, etc, it was really good and no graffiti on it, so that was good.

We stopped at Horninglow Basin to use the services.  It took an age to fill the tank with water as it piddled out, we could wee faster!!

Going over the River Dove

We then chugged on over several aqueducts, some small and one a bit bigger which was over the River Dove.

Another mile or so and then we were at Willington and we pulled in just under the bridge by the winding hole to moor.  A boat was just pulling out so we were going to have their space when they had gone.  An old chap on his boat using the services which were opposite to where we had pulled in shouted to me that we would fit in a space further up, I said we don’t want to go there and he said he indicated that we couldn’t moor by the winding hole as wide beamed boats often turned there, I said to him we were waiting for the boat to go behind us and then we would pull back into their space but what I wanted to say to him was “you concentrate on what you are doing, go back inside your boat and don’t interfere in what other people are doing”, but of course I didn’t as I am too polite for that!!

Broadwalk at Mercia Marina

We moored up, then went to find the Train Station which was just a short walk from where we were moored, then we walked up the road to Mercia Marina.  It was about a 10 to 15 minute walk.  We wanted to go and have a reccy as we are leaving the boat in Mercia Marina next week for a few days while we go to Ely to see our friends and then Kev and Geoff are off to Silverstone for the Grand Prix.

It is a nice marina and has a broadwalk with shops and a café and bar and also has lodges within the marina, but we didn’t think it had the same feel or was as nice as Barton Turn Marina which we visited recently.

We had a walk around and then went for a cup of tea in the café and sat on the terrace overlooking the marina.  We went into the office to find out what time we can bring the boat in and they said they are open at 8.30am so we said we will go in around 9am.

Black Swan

We walked back to the canal then went to the small shop near the Train Station.  We then had a walk along the towpath to see if there were any moorings near the entrance to the marina and there was so that was good.

Near where we are moored there is a black swan, it seems to live near the winding hole and it came right up to the boat when I fed it.  What an unusual sight to see a wild one as we have only ever seen black swans at Slimbridge, not in the wild before.  Apparently there used to be two but now there is only one, not sure what happened to the other one, but really lovely to see.

We are staying here tonight and also tomorrow as we are off to Derby on the train so looking forward to that.

Moored at Willington