The first day of our BIG Summer Adventure

Every few months we hire a car and go and visit the family. Last week we left the boat in Sawley Marina and Chico at a local boarding kennels and headed back up to Manchester and Newcastle. A wonderful time was had by all, although Chico has come back minus his bark and has done nothing but sleep since we picked him up yesterday afternoon.

Today we started our Big Summer Adventure. A few months ago we joined the Cotswold Canal Cruising Club which is an internet based cruising club i.e. no club house and no gardening/maintenance duties and is perfect for us as continuous cruisers. Back in early June some of the members sailed across the River Mersey from Ellesmere Port to Liverpool and later this month another group are planning to cross The Wash.  This is the trip that is forming the basis for our B.S.A.

It's been another glorious sunny day, perfect for cruising on the River Trent.

I always used to be scared of rivers but now I think I prefer them to canals. I may change my mind of course when we get to the tidal bit.

I love the way the rivers are so wide and have such a diverse bird life. We saw lots of Grebe families and several Cormorants too, much more interesting than mallards and Canada geese.

At Nottingham we met up with one of the other boats coming on our trip, n.b. Vagabond, who had been stocking up at the canal-side Sainsbury's. They set off behind us with the intention of sharing the double width locks but another narrowboat pulled out in front of us so we ended up sharing the locks with them and Vagabond caught up with us when we moored for the night at Holme Lock.

When you come down Meadow Lane lock Nottingham City Football Ground is right in front of you. No football today though.

This is the huge weir barrier and sluice gates at Holme Lock. We're moored in the channel to the right.

It's a great spot to moor as it's beside Holme Pierrepont Country Park which is home to the National Water Sports Centre. Basically it's a white water canoe centre and makes for some excellent entertainment.

This is one of the rapids......remind you anywhere Michelle?

Just as I was starting cooking our dinner, these intrepid souls went past the boat heading back up-stream to the river entrance to the slalom course.

I reckon you could get a narrowboat between those bollards so we kept well away........

I grabbed the camera and rushed back out, just in time to watch them come into the course.

They didn't last long though

and were almost instantly tipped over

It didn't seem to put them off and half an hour later they came back past the boat to go for another run.   Each to their own I suppose.