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| The bridge at Swarkestone mentioned in yesterday's post. |
Some photos wouldn't load for me for the previous post so I have added them here - only one photo from today.
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| This mooring at Swarkestone is clearly mine! |
This morning we moved into the marina and
managed to get on to the mooring quite efficiently. The trick is to take it
slowly, but I do have to remind myself of that as I am doing it! We certainly
had far less hassle than we had at Barton Marina last week, that’s for sure. (After
I’d recounted that adventure, Dave C told us they’d once been delayed a day
leaving Bartons as the wind was so strong they couldn’t get out. – I didn’t
feel quite so incompetent after that!)
We hooked up to shore power and it took about
30 minutes on bulk load to bring the batteries up. Scary stuff. We are going to
talk with Tim about getting us a couple of solar panels this week so that re-charging
them is not such a problem. We think that they and possibly a change of
alternator may get rid of the loss of acceleration problem when the current
alternator kicks in. We will see week after next when the work is done here at
Aqua Narrowboats.
After brekkie (gluten free pikelets - which
are improved by a couple of tbsp. of greek yoghurt in the mix by the way - baked
beans and bacon), and a discussion with Mel re whether he was intending to come to Scotland with us (answer: Yes!) we set off on foot to Willington to catch the train to Derby.
Three errors of research:
·
we didn’t consult each other about
getting there on the towpath and David wasn’t aware there is access to the
footbridge over the cut from the marina,
·
we didn’t check out where buses
go from just outside the marina – having seen the Derby bus when it left Willington
and the direction it went, we have a feeling it came right past the marina on
its way … and
·
we didn’t look together at the
google maps info on how to get to the car rental place from the Derby station on
foot, avoiding roads. I had seen the footpath map but had not written down its
details (no printer on board), David was using the GPS which isn’t big on
footpaths.
However, we got there, picked up the car
without hassle, but with another realisation that we are out of the habit of
traffic noise.
We decided to go to Asda near Swarkestone
(Lindsay had told us Steve had gone there, so we knew it was pretty close). I
missed being in the right hand lane for the most direct way there, so we went through
the suburbs of Derby – saw a number of shops selling eastern European supplies
in one area. If there had been any parking available I would have stopped and
phoned Tusi and asked if there was anything she needed. I am not sure where the
nearest Polish shop is to Dalry!
I don’t really like shopping at Asda –
apart from their stores generally being enormous, they are a Walmart company
and the tactics that big supermarkets employ in gouging profit from their
suppliers do not endear them to me at all. (Countdown, a Woolworths company in
NZ, started doing it not long before we came over this time, and there was a
bit of a boycott – noticeable near us in Johnsonville as the carparks were far
less full and the New World supermarkets were decidedly busier. Hope it lasts!)
We managed to buy several things we needed
but not others. We now have a first aid kit, a small cushion, a hoodie for
David, a very tinny BBQ and 2 bags of charcoal (we’ll need the latter two when
Olek is with us as he enjoys barbecuing, and we’ll also put Barry in charge of
it when he and Pauline are with us, weather permitting). We did not find a battery
driven clock, and shock horror, I forgot to get chardonnay!
However, I bravely decided not to worry
about that, and we came back to the boat at the marina. Washing had finished
but had pretty much drained the tank – the taps spluttered when I turned them
on. So we now know the extent of the tank – two showers, sundry toilet flushes,
one load of washing and several cups of tea and dishwashing episodes – good info
to have!
Engine is on to heat water and it is quite
soporific in a noisy sort of way – I wonder if it is similar to what a baby
hears in utero and I am channelling my unborn self? Lovely and warm afternoon,
but cloudy and that is not a problem.
Tomorrow we are off to Dalry to see the
lovely grandsons. We are excited as we haven’t seen them since just after New
Year. I am a wee bit anxious as I am aware that Olek has grown (his mum does
keep feeding him!) and in our last phone discussion he told me he is 133cm. Considering I
am 155cm, I think it is just wrong that, at 9, he is approaching my height! It
was bad enough that my 2 kids were taller than me at 12 years old, but if my
grandson becomes taller than me by the time he is 10, I will not be happy. He
has been warned …
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