We got us a convoy ...

We left Willington at 0900 and continued our way down to the Trent. We managed to share all the remaining locks, initially with our friends Alan and Glenda on Tranquility and then with Keiwa. On the way I touched up paintwork on the wooden front doors.

On the Trent I was looking forward to opening up the throttle but there was a slow boat in front of the boat in front of us.

He waved us on after we'd passed through Sawley Flood Lock.

We almost flew between Sawley Lock and Trent Lock - and suddenly we were on the Erewash Canal. There were two volunteer lockies at Trent Lock. The older one evidently hadn't operated wide locks before. He raised the ground paddle on the opposite side to the boat, causing the bow to swing over across the lock. The younger volockie gently instructed the older one how to do it, and we ascended the lock with no further problems.

A boat was tied up at the water point meaning we had to use our long hose. It had been there all day, apparently, and the volockie phoned CRT to ask if they could move it out of the way. There will be a large number of boats wanting to top up there over the next few days on their way to the IWA festival at Ilkeston. The message came back to move it, so the volockies and another boater did so. I was staying well out of it.

At Long Eaton Lock I saw an iPhone abandoned on a bench. There was no-one around, so I took it. At the next bridge I cycled to the police station in order to hand it in, but the police station was shut. Outside was a yellow phone for contacting them, so I tried but there was no reply. As I was hanging on the iPhone rang. On the other end was the owner. We arranged a rendezvous; a few minutes later he turned up and was reunited with his phone. He was understandably grateful.

We made slow progress along the pound above Long Eaton Lock. At the next lock I removed a large amount of plastic sheeting and a fair amount of weed from the propeller. This made an appreciable difference to our speed.

Sandiacre Lock

We tied up in Sandiacre and I cycled back to Swarkestone to get the car. Tomorrow's leg is very short, we should be at the festival site with the car shuffle complete by lunchtime.