Wound up in Willington.

Rain fell in the early morning but I was hopeful that it would clear through by the time we wanted to be away.

As I was getting helen's tea these birds wandered past. They are bigger than you think when you are at eye level. Greylag geese.

We were ready to go at 09:00 and the weather seemed to play ball too, as the rain, though still falling, was very gentle and soon after we got away it stopped all together. Getting away early'ish also meant that we were ahead of the works boats Jellicoe and Monutbatten, moored just ahead of us.

As we approached the A38 we seemed to be travelling faster than the lorries and cars on the dual carriageway.

Shobnall Basin was the start of a connecting canal to the River Trent. The Trent was navigable from Roman times and after improvements a wharf was erected on the Trent at Bond End, where the people who served Burton Abbey, bonds men, lived. Warehouse were built and a good trade built up. In 1766 the canal started to be built and efforts to have the start of it at Bond End were not taken up. The canal through Burton was completed in 1770. The Burton Boat Company had decided to build a connecting canal of about 1 mile long and was finished 1769/70. The Grand Trunk Canal refused permission to join them and a bar was maintained and boats had to be loaded/unloaded until it was removed in 1794. The railways came and put paid to the traffic and it was closed and mainly infilled in 1874.

Just by Shobnall Basin is the bridge with the Marston's advert on. Pedigree has had a resurrection of late with a re-branding and now called an Amber ale. It is said to be the same recipe, but whether it tastes the same I'll leave to you to decide.

There were a pair of greylag geese by the last narrow lock on the Trent and Mersey. Apparently they are descended from captive geese of old and it is now hard to know which are feral and which are truelly wild. In Scotland most fly in from the other countries. Most photos seem to have them with dark eyes but the ones that I have been close to today seem to have blue eyes. Is this something to do with their mixed race?

This is one way to keep the boat clean. It would seem that they don't pop out for the odd day trip as it must be a bit of a pain to take off and then re parcel up the boat, especially on a windy day.

This is Monk's Bridge at Stretton over the River Dove. Records back to 1225 show that a John de Stretton built a bridge at his own expense. The arches on this bridge would not have been able to have been built at that time as they are too wide. It is thought that this bridge dates from the 15th Century.

The blackthorn trees are well in bloom now and make a great show. I wonder if there will be an abundance of sloes this year. The leaves are really coming through now, but the blackthorn blossoms before the leaves show.

We have stopped in Willington as there is a chance a friend will be able to come over to see us, and the sun has come out with just the hope of seeing them!