We first woke up very early and had a cup of tea planning to do the Everyman and Speedy crosswords in bed as is our usual Sunday morning routine, only to discover that the Guardian had stopped publishing them and they now were only available from the Observer and that was just not working. Definitely 'disgusted of a canal in the midlands!' So our solution to a late breakfast was then to go to the Mercia Marina which was just the other side of the canal from our boat. We have been struggling with a 1997 Nicholson's canal guide, which meant that we had no idea of this marina's existence until I looked up 'coffee shops in Willington' online, and then I found Mercia Marina. It is apparently the largest inland marina in Europe with space for 650 boats! It also has a number of lodges, and a fairly extensive shopping centre complete with jewellers, estate agents, beauty salon, art gallery, house decoration stores and of course restaurants and cafes.
The boats in the foreground are for sale and the ones in the distance amongst the islands and hidden corners are some of the 650 moored here. It is very much designed as a 'destination' with walks around the lakes, the potential for boat rides, and so on. I could see it being used as a place to meet up with friends, go for a walk and have a meal all without owning a boat.
It's clear that cars are expected to arrive and the building is certainly a statement! It's a very far cry from those of us who rejoice in the delights of the history of the canals.
This man was also making he statement - he must have done even worse things in a past life than me! He was collecting for the local food bank.
They have also attempted to liven up the natural area too.
I prefer the natural sort myself!
Anyway after a very satisfactory breakfast we set off to go through Willington and then on to Burton on Trent. In Willington we noticed that there was a travelling boat trader who made fenders of various sorts. We needed a new rear fender which goes over the rudder, and so we stopped in Willington to go and ask him about one. This we then purchased and Chris now has this as a project to install. It's great to be able to buy one from someone who really knows what he is doing in making it, so that was good. Leaving Willington we started to travel past areas that had lots of lakes and wetlands, and also had little rivers travelling from our right to left. That meant that we had to go over a lot of little aqueducts, often only 15 metres or so long, but sometimes bigger. This was the view of an old road bridge nearby that was crossing the same river as we were.
And this is the view in the other direction, down towards the Trent.
Not much further on we came to the start of Burton on Trent. The canal travels through the town's suburbs, missing the main town by about half a mile. The River Trent passes Burton on Trent another further half mile away to the east, and so the canal really does not come across any of the central area at all.
There are some stretches where it is incredibly straight - for about 3 miles with only the occasional slight curve. The towpath is very well made up and gets quite a lot of use, though you wouldn't think so from this picture.
This is where we stopped for lunch, and I loved the quality of light here. There were lots of things in the air too - pollen probably! That added to the magic effect. We saw our first gosling family of the season. Their parents didn't see over worried about their well-being....
We also passed this extraordinary little house - really tiny! It didn't seem to be at the bottom of anyone's garden!
We also had to navigate one or two really small bridges, usually just in front of locks, but this was in the middle of nowhere.
For quite a lot of the route we were directly adjacent to a main road - full of cars rushing along at 70mph. It was the route of Ryknild Street dating from Roman times. No wonder both it and the canal were so straight. But after several miles we were diverted away from the Roman Road to deal with the challenge of the Trent, and we joined that river for less than half a mile, but it was quite forceful even though we were assured it was at a low level. We left it at this lock, and are now moored in Alreswas which is a little village with a rather pretty church and some very nice houses. Apparently it's name comes from a marsh with alder trees. I'm glad we sorted that out!!
Here we are going up the lock away from the Trent and into the Alwesras area. And this is the marsh that we left behind! And even though the sun is shining and the canal water looks very calm, the river just beyond was quite fast flowing!
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