The day was looking decidedly brilliant this morning so we wandered off into the village. We didn't get very far along the towpath when Dot stopped by a boat with the name Sarah-Kate, Welford. She wasn't too sure wether or not it was a boat we had come across at Market Harborough as she thought that, that boat was green. Anyway she called out to the occupants and it turned out that it was Mike and Jo who we had met before and they had just recently had the boat repainted, and very smart it look's too.
Mike and Jo with their new paintwork, you can even see our reflections in it
Well, the obligatory cup of tea or coffee was had while catching up on the last year since we last saw them. Mike told us that the boat had been stretched twice, 11ft the first time and 5 ft the second but you couldn't tell from inside or out. After delaying their departure for the best part of an hour we finally reached the village and did a circular route back to the boat. We got there just in time to see Mike and Jo go down the lock heading to Long Eaton where they are having some cabinet work done. The funny thing is they are taking the boat to where we stopped alongside a moored boat and had a long chat to the owner Derek last Tuesday.
Memorial seat alongside the canal
I had planned on repainting the starboard gunnels but the boat in front of us was the same boat that complained about us leaving the engine running yesterday so I thought that I would service the engine instead. Hopefully they would leave in the meantime. By this time the temperature was getting decidedly hot and it was like a sauna down in the engine bay. After finishing that little chore we walked into the village by another route and found the butcher who is also the baker and green grocer and bought a few things. On the way back we called into the Crown Inn for a much needed cool ale or two.
Thatched cottage and petunias in Alrewas
Even though the boat ahead of us had gone, it was getting too hot and uncomfortable to even contemplate starting work on the gunnels so we both just blobbed out in the boat. It wasn't until about 8pm before the temperature started to drop and become bearable again. I had tried my luck with the fishing again without success but the guy two boats along had caught two Chub around 3lb - 4lb and a small Perch but he was fishing close to a bank of reeds.
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