We leave Aston Marina and head for the Fens

Waiting to leave our mooring at Aston

Going through the marina

Entering Sandon Lock

 We are out again for our main cruise of the year which will take us from our temporary mooring at Aston Marina near Stone in Staffordshire across the country to our new base near Huntingdon.  It will be a 6-8week journey descending about 90m (300foot) through a wide variety of scenery from industrial cities to the flat fenlands and waterways from the narrow canals to broad rivers.

Sadly it did not start well.  We were ready to leave by 9am.  But it was raining heavily, and if at all possible we dont travel in the rain.  However the rain cleared soon after lunch and we left our mooring, turned the boat in the marina without difficulty as, unusually, there was no wind and set off south on the Trent and Mersey Canal.

After 2.5 miles of pleasant countryside we descended our first lock of the trip at Sandon.  Another 2.5 miles took us to the village of Weston upon Trent followed shortly afterwards by Weston Lock.  At 4 pm we moored up at one of our favourite spots near the village of Ingestre.  It is quite close to A51 but our new double glazed windows are proving very effective at reducing the external noise.

We will be staying on the boat this evening as we have an unfrozen chilli con carne we brought from home.  Hopefully the weather will improve tomorrow and we should get a full day's cruising.

Today: 6.25 miles, 2 locks, journey time 2 hours 35mins