Thursday 30^th August 2018

We left our moorings at 9:30 for another slow cruise to Willington where we are meeting with Martin, Michelle and Abbey. We are not so much bridge hopping but are definitely village hopping.

Just outside of Burton-upon-Trent, the canal passes over the River Dove on an impressive 12-arch aqueduct. The River Dove has its source on Axe Edge to the west of Buxton and so flows a long way before entering the Trent just north of Burton. This also marks the boundary between Staffordshire and Derbyshire and it is guarded by a World War II pill-box. Is this to keep the Staffordshire lot in or the Derbyshire lot out?

There are actually many of these pill-boxes, and tank traps on bridges, around the canal system. During the Second World War, in case of invasion, the canals were to be used as lines of defence.

    

So at last we pass out of Staffordshire which we entered at Red Bull, Kidsgrove on 9^th August. It has taken us 3weeks to traverse a county. That is the life and pace we wanted.

The 12-arch aqueduct was next to a now unused 4-arch road viaduct which looked to be very old and was followed by at least 9 more small aqueducts in a few hundred yards. The ground surrounding this area did appear to be very wet with lots of sand and gravel pits.

Just before coming to Willington six large cooling towers came into view. Apparently these used to belong to a power station which has now gone but the towers still remain.

We moored at the first available spot in Willington but it wasn’t great. We were on a slight curve, on mooring stakes, and to bring the back end against the bank, the front was sticking out into the canal. We started a walk to the village and, passing under the bridge in front of us, there were empty moorings right outside the pub we had arranged to meet Martin and Shelly in so I quickly moved the boat up.

We got talking to a boater in distress who had broken down, had rung an engineer but his phone had run out of charge. We lent him one of our power packs. It gets me that boaters don’t take advantage of modern technology to make their lives easier. We have three of these power packs and keep them charged whenever we are on the move. We don’t then have to run the engine to charge the batteries so much, especially with the solar panels.

Martin, Michelle and Abbey duly turned up. It was great to see them and good that they made the effort to travel out to see us.

We had a lovely meal in the Dragon before having a walk around the village and then along the canal to Mercia Marina. Willington does have a nice feel to it although the traffic is constant and the village is cut in half by a railway on an embankment.

Mercia Marina has berths for 630 boats making it the largest inland marina in Europe. The place is huge. There are shops, cafes, restaurants, jewellers, beauticians and hairdressers. Oh yes, there is even a boat chandlery! The site also has many log cabin holiday homes.

Amazing that a place like this can grow up out of the canal. More amazing when you think that 20 or 30 years ago people would have shuddered at the thought of living anywhere near a canal.

Back in Willington we had another drink in the Dragon before Martin and Shelly left for home.

We then sat in the front cratch and watched a lovely sunset. It seems quite a while now since we have had one so good.

Weather: cold to start then a sunny day with hot spells.

Day Total: 0 lock; 3 miles; 0 Tunnels; 0 Boat Lift; engine running hours 1.9

Overall Total: 176 locks; 347 miles; 15 tunnels; 2 Boat Lifts; engine running hours 198.6

    Marti,

Just