Getting ready to go

It's been a bustling about day, followed by a fairly long walk by Willington Walking Group standards. We got up in good time, and found that the weather was so mild that I could let the stove go out. This meant in turn that I could sweep the flue before putting the brush away in the lower bow locker.

This done, Sheila set out to wash the roof whilst I sorted all the stuff that's accumulated in the well deck over the winter, and stowed most of it in the locker. Then I went to the shop for the paper and also bought another bag of Superheat. The coal was emptied into the coal box before that was replaced in the newly swept well deck.

The roof being washed, we had a coffee, then I rinsed off the bits that needed rinsing. The buckets could now join everything else in the locker. Sheila had had a wash load running whilst we were doing all this, and I collected it from the laundry where it had been tumbling dry.

By now, it was lunchtime, so we ate sandwiches and drank a mug of soup apiece before walking down into the village to join the walking group. I should say that the weather continued to be superb. We walked to Bridge 20, crossed the canal there and went through the nature reserve to the edge of Findern village. Here we were shown a footpath that skirts the edge of the village to the end of the bridge over the A50. Back along the road we went, crossing the field by the Cattery to Potlocks Bridge and thus back to the Green Man for soft drinks.

It made a total of around five miles in two hours, so a pleasant walk in the very mild and sunny conditions.

Tomorrow, we'll go across to the service wharf, pump out and fill with diesel, as well as buying a new gas cylinder. I plan to pick up a couple of bags of coal from Midland Chandlers whilst we're there; I noticed that they had Homefire when we were in there the other day. Then we'll go out onto the towpath in Willington for the night, making an early start for Branston Water Park on Saturday morning.

All in all, a tiring but satisfying day, with the prospect of some serious boating over the next two weeks. Mind you, the T&M is stopped above Shade House Lock at the moment for police reasons, so we may be hanging around Fradley for longer than planned.