Sawley to Shardlow

Leaving Sawley Marina

Ratcliffe on Soar Power Station

We set off at 7 am....an unearthly hour saying we are on holiday. This means we got a good head start and managed to leapfrog some hireboats. It was a sunny day but windy.

We went through Shardlow and saw the pub which is a converted warehouse.

Passed the entrance to the as yet unrestored Derby Canal.

For the first few hours it was very quiet. We saw some calves with their mother.

We didn't stop for lunch but called briefly at Willington water point.

Sappho always likes to go to bed with a good book. For reference, Thackeray's Vanity Fair.

We ran out of petrol unexpectedly after Dalton Lock.

We then got caught behind a geologically slow hire boat, with a huge crew but clueless at doing locks efficiently. We followed them up to Fradley Junction, where we turned on to the Coventry Canal. We moored for the night as soon as there was a space.

On the boat

Last year we wanted to do the Warwickshire ring in June. However the floods in the UK put pay to that. So we are going to try again this year.

We're a bit late starting as we had to watch the German GP. And it was worth it as Lewis Hamilton did a sublime drive, despite his team messing up on the tactics.

It is very windy here at Sawley Marina, but hopefully the weather will improve tomorrow. This blog will not be as exciting as our Chile one, but the idea of mobile blogging is utterly tantalising.

Battery is flat on the boat, but we hope to charge it up so we can keep this up!