Stafford Boat Club to the IWA National

Friday

Last night we moored outside one of the old converted Silk Mills, it looked very splendid with all the outside illumination on. Thanks to the clear waters of the Erewash Canal I can now confirm that there is not a magnet stuck to the side of Harnser, where it went when I lost it I don't know, it is possible its under the base plate but I am not going under there to look.
We set off this morning just before 10 in sunshine but it soon turned showery. On our way down the canal we passed the branch to Derby as well as the headquarters of the ECP&DA. Also to add interest we passed the bottom of someone's garden and they had a full length Narrowboat cut in half, the back end stood out in the open but the bow section was poked through a hole in what looked like the back of his garage. I can only assume that some time in the future these two halves will be reunited. We stopped for water just above Trent Lock where I had a quick word with Jan Deuchar on nb Hereford while the tank was filling. Jan's husband, Chris wrote the book "A Boaters Guide to Better Boat Handling" This little book is full of very useful boating information. We locked down on to the Trent with two Wilderness aluminium Narrowboats who were able to get in the lock one behind the other beside us. Once on the Trent it was straight across onto the River Soar to make our way to the festival site. Our mooring pitch is at the south end of the moorings, there are only 24 boats further from the site than us, I am waiting to find out how many booked after the closing date for the draw for moorings and why they have better moorings than we have. I have conformation of two boats that booked late but are still closer than us. We moored up just before 2 pm and after a bite of dinner walked the two miles to the Water Space Office to book in. There is a ferry that would reduce the distance by over a mile but it only runs between 8-30 and 10 am. 12 and 2 pm. 4 and 6 pm and the last one 7 and 8 pm. There is mini bus to bring us back but that leaves between 10 and 10-30 pm which is before the entertainment ends.
This is the last trip report until we leave for home next week.