One last push, and more problem weather

As planned, we set off at seven this morning, with the aim of doing the run from Alrewas to Mercia in one. Normally, we would take two days over this trip, typically stopping at Branston, so that we had two three hour days, but as we needed to be here first thing tomorrow, it was a case of making it a long day by our standards.

It all went just fine, with excellent weather for the most part. Highlight of the trip was a sign spotted by Sheila advertising "traditional free range eggs". What, she wondered, do modern free range eggs look like?

/hmm

By eleven, it became clear that we would be arriving at Mercia smack on my preferred lunch hour of twelve, with the tricky manoeuvring to do. So we stopped just beyond Egginton Moorings to eat and take a half hour break. This worked out well, and meant that we arrived at Mercia at around one o'clock. The wind had been freshening all the time, but we made the turn into the marina entrance without too much grief, though there's still some room for improvement.

We decided to leave the pump out until we leave, since we've only just reached the three quarter mark on the tank, and it's easier to get onto the service wharf going out.

I then made a bit of a mess of the turn onto our pontoon, caused partly by worrying too much about the effect of the wind, and partly by a just plain senior moment, in that I was aiming for G3, not G4 until a worried radio call from Sheila ("wrong side, wrong side!") made me realise my mistake.

It meant a bit of backing and filling and leaning on the stern of the boat alongside for a bit, but we got in OK in the end.

We're now all coupled up again, and enjoying the facility of power and water ad lib.

My sister Jane is due to arrive tomorrow; the original plan was to head back towards Alrewas over Saturday and Sunday, so that I will be able to get to my dental appointment on Monday. Unfortunately, the storm which is due to arrive overnight, and of which the freshening wind is a precursor, will not have blown out until Saturday afternoon at the earliest on current forecasts.

So we may turn Sunday into a repeat of today. That makes for complications with arranging for other bits of the family to come and see Jane, but I'm sure we can work something out…

/nobigdeal

(Note for Sarah: no paper today, but don't worry, we got a copy of Waterways World so I'm fine, just fine.

Honest.

/blur)