Busy morning, quiet afternoon

After a very broken night from a number of causes at once, we were a bit anxious about how today would work out, but in the event it all went very well. Elanor picked us up just after nine and the first port of call was the Trent Washlands where we exercised Sally. She really enjoys romping about there – it was very warm, so we threw sticks into the river for her to collect.

When Elanor first had Sally, the dog was reluctant even to get her tummy wet, but she now swims after sticks enthusiastically, so that she gets both serious exercise and cooled down. Next stop was the tip where we got rid of the used oil that's been hanging about since I did the end of season oil change last October. Finally, we got to Elanor's house.

Sheila got on with weeding the gravel borders to the lawn whilst Elanor with my assistance put fresh felt on the shed roof. She's inherited from me a heavy duty staple gun that made short work of fixing the felt down. The main challenge was finding our way into the little runnel across the back of her garden. This could only be accessed by walking down the Derby Road to a side road, into another bit of the estate along there and so between two houses to find this odd back passage.

We had to explore a little bit before we found exactly the right gap between the right houses, which, since I was carrying a pair of folding stepladders, must have looked a bit suspicious to say the least. No matter, we made it and secured those edges. Finally, we went next door to get at the side of the roof next to the boundary fence and all was done.

After lunching there and admiring the improved appearance of the house and garden as a result of all Elanor's work, we headed back to the boat, calling in at Morrisons on the way for some salad stuff and some prawns to go with it.

We've had a lazy afternoon on the bow since, drinking a drop of chilled white wine and being entertained by the entrants to the Four Counties Canoe Race who have been coming past from time to time. Apparently they were paddling from Wolseley Bridge to Colwick Marina, Nottingham in two days, having visited four counties (Staffs, Derbys, Leics, Notts) on the way. When we first saw their tee shirts, we thought it referred to the Four Counties Ring.

Sooner them than me, it looked cruel hard in this warm weather...

Tomorrow, we'll make an early start to beat the rush and press on to Alrewas. It looks like rain for some of the time, but we're going to have a heat wave later in the week, apparently.