Day 38 Ferry Boat Inn to Nottingham.
It is wall to wall blue sky this morning with a promise of 26 degrees and I have just taken my bearded one for his walk. It is hot already and there is not a breath of wind. The river is like a millpond. It is the ninth day of drought.
We are reluctant to leave our mooring at The Ferry Boat Inn with its excellent facilities. I have had a lovely time, masses of goose poo (divine), swans to taunt, ducks to chase, geese to goad and all that stuff and, plenty of my kind to play with.
They had a good supper last night at the pub from all accounts even though my owners family could not join them. They were muttering about two for ten whatever that means, I was not involved, I had to guard the kennel. I did not mind as I was quite tired. they do not mind me sleeping on duty.
Early this morning, the river was looking beautiful as we left to continue our journey with a short cruise to our first stop, Stoke Lock and then on to Holme Lock where we decided to refill our fresh water tank. The tap here was very slow but this did not matter as we had arrived at The National Water Sport Centre and National Park.
What a spectacle! Here was an untamed part of the Trent, albeit a man made massive white water park. We watched kayakers bouncing along over mountainous water sometimes disappearing only to re appear yards further downstream. There were large inflatable rafts tumbling along each filled (most of the time) with eight athletic youngsters involved in some apparent mad suicide race being urged on by screaming spectators. It looked such fun I wanted to join in but was put on the lead.
After a picnic lunch we continued our journey towards Nottingham. Rounding a bend in the river, we found ourselves in the middle of a regatta of sailing dinghies. Tacking back and forth in a haphazard fashion each blissfully unaware that my bearded one was at the helm of twenty tons of kennel bearing down on them. He skilfully threaded us through this mad maze only to meet a flotilla of canoes on the next bend spread from shore to shore in an undisciplined array demonstrating various degrees of inexperience, miraculously we avoided these too.
As we left the river and entered the tranquility of the canalised section of The Trent we passed, Trent Bridge, Nottingham Forest and Notts County grounds all within half a mile. We passed through a slightly seedy area of the city for a couple of miles before there was a gradual change to the bucolic with an increase in the leisure boaters and often grumpy fishermen as we approached Beeston Lock, our resting place for the night.
Tomorrow we will re-join The Trent. My photos today are: dawn on The Trent, kayakers, threading through the regatta.
Sent from my iPad
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