After months of one problem after another the time arrived for another cruise, this time on the waterways of England!
Last time we embarked on a similar venture we picked up a Narrowboat at Mercia Marina, Willington, Derbyshire and headed off west along the Trent and Mersey canal towards Shugborough. This time we went east and it was going to be a bit different: double width locks, two rivers and the threat of cold wet weather.
In addition to last time's crew of my wife and daughter my brother and his wife joined us on my birthday which unfortunately turned out out to be full of the wet weather we feared. All the same we made the best of it and ended up reaching the outskirts of Leicester where we turned around for the return journey. We left my brother at Barrow on Soar and carried on to Loughborough where there was a boat festival in full swing so we spent an hour or two there - enjoying the sunshine would you believe!
Yes we actually caught the sun because apart from that one day the weather was quite good to us. The double locks weren't a problem and both the rivers Soar and Trent were flowing very gently. All in all not too challenging at all. We enjoyed the venture, places to visit, the countryside and the wildlife. When the time came to return the boat we really didn't want to do it, still at least that means we can look forward to doing it again sometime.
