Lock 'till you drop

We woke up to the milk train rumbling past at 4am......a reminder never to moor too close to the railway! When we surfaced properly, we awoke to beautiful sunshine, so it was up and off. We left Findern and was soon upon the first of the double locks. These can be difficult, with heavy gates and sticky paddles, so no wonder all the hire boaters had glum faces......it's their baptism of fire! Talking of fire the best part of the day for Al was the local fire brigade conducting a canal rescue drill. They were looking at the risk of someone falling in at a lock so Al proved to be an expert in the subject!!!!!!We carried on along this pretty canal, passing Swarkestone and Weston-on-Trent, before mooring up for a spot of lunch. This was just over the hill from Donnington Park raceway, so would be a good mooring on race day.
It was lovely sitting in the sunshine, and tough for us to get going again!!!! But get going we did, and made our way to Shardlow. We hadn't intended to stop, but it looked so inviting, and as there was one visitor mooring left, we decided to call it a day. We popped into the Clock Warehouse next to the lock for a quick pint, and as they were doing 2 main meals for £10, you know what we're like, we couldn't resist. Feeling stuffed, we went for a walk around the village, before chilling out for the rest of the evening.