All good things come to an end.

We had a lovely last few days aboard as the weather improved, especially over the weekend. We made the short trip up to Branston on Friday having said goodbye to Luke and Annabelle and picking up a few bits from Midland Chandlers. We passed Nb Royden at the aqueduct over the River Dove She is owned by Guy, a good friend of Johns, as they coached Derbyshire County rugby together a few years ago. We gave Guy plenty of water as his boat is much deeper draughted at almost 3 feet and said a quick hello as we passed. We moored by the water park, before we were joined by a couple more friends, Karl and Gemma, who live nearby and their two young boys who were excited to be aboard. We had a lovely night and a good meal at The Bridge Inn, although sore heads were felt the following morning !!

Pre dinner beers on board.

A delayed start to Saturday as our toilet decided it didn't want to work !! We have a Vacuflush system which unfortunately is now discontinued. It is a fabulous system, but we have always had it in the back of our minds that it may one day decide to give up the ghost and we would have to find an alternative. Having checked it wasn't blocked and fiddling about for a couple of hours we decided the sun was too good to miss and headed off, trying to forget about the sanitary situation. We had a really enjoyable run up to Fradley which happened to be unusually quiet. Three volunteer lockies on duty and apparently we were the first boat to go up beyond Fradley Junction all afternoon and it was now gone 3pm !! Plenty of folks sitting about outside The Swan enjoying a beer or two - amazing what power the sun has.

The lovely setting at Tattenhill Lock

We had intended to head back to the marina at Kings Bromley, but the lure of one of our favourite spots at Ravenshaw Wood was too good to miss in the sun. We moored up and enjoyed the peace and quiet of the location with only two or three boats heading towards Fradley passing us. I was in the Scouts and Louise was in the Guides, so despite our lack of a working toilet, shall we just say, we managed!!

We woke to the sound of woodpeckers hammering at trees and had a good lie in on Sunday morning  before we reluctantly made the short trip back to Kings Bromley. What a shame the weather came a week late, but we still enjoyed the trip.

In the car on the way home we had a phone call from one of the couples who have a share in one of our old shared boats, Marbury. Peter and Sue were aboard and had passed a 'Blue Moon' moored on their way to Fradley earlier in the morning...."would it have been you" they asked. Of course, it was, and we were sorry to have missed them, but made up for it by meeting up with them on Monday night at The Waterfront at Barton Marina for a nice meal and catch up.

The toilet situation has improved after a phone call to Lee Sanitation who were very helpful and it would appear to be a sticking vacuum switch that has caused the problem - what a big relief.

Not wanting to wish my life away, but two years today I shall be retired. Now that really is a lovely thought.

Trip total 93.5 Miles  64 Locks