Day 2 on the canal

Enjoyed a lie in and got up as it was getting light. Breakfast and another wander to look at the lake. Mum and I couldn't see anything of interest but The Boy returned and showed me an unusal bord he'd seen. A Grebe. On overhearing, mum was back to the lake to see it but it was too far out for photography.

I took the helm today and was let loose with the boat. I didn't do too badly. Lined it up nicely for bridges and only got confused by the whole tiller-to-the-right-when-you-want-to-go-left thing a couple of times. We stopped to get fuel near Barton under Needwood and in the 20 minute wait we found some bread to feed the swans. They were a little less gentle than I'd hoped but I still came out of it with all my fingers intact. We then had a river section to get along before mooring up just outside Alrewas for lunch, it was just about nice enough weather to sit out on the bow of the boat for our bacon sandwiches. The river made steering a little more difficult but we got through with no major catastrophes.

By the time we got to Fradley Junction I was trusted enough with my ability to steer and get through locks that after the first, everyone abandoned ship to do the locks (and for mum to pop to a shop), maybe they didn't trust me so much after all. I then expertly steered the boat through a succession of 5 locks which involved idling rather than mooring, passing other boats (both moored and moving) getting through very narrow bridges, passing dredging works and moored British Waterway work boats that nicely blocked the path I needed to go through. I survived, the boat survived, the bridges and locks survived and everyone was brave enough to get back on the boat.

We moored up for the night in a quiet part of the countryside about 1/2 a mile out of Handsacre. The light was fading but it should be beautiful in the morning.

Today's shot is of one of the finger nibbling swans. I had planned on using a shot from the front of the boat but then I realised there were probably better shots from other days of the scenery so I reverted to the swan.