Trent Bridge

On Sunday morning we walked to Hilary’s brother Martin’s house on Trent Boulevard for coffee with him and our hung-over nephew and nieces. On the way back we had a Mexican lunch (burritos and nachos) in The Dispensary. We had a table at the back of the carpark, and a bewildering online ordering system which almost prompted us to give up on trying to get an outdoor meal.

We walked back through the Meadows which is being gentrified.

In the evening we were underwhelmed by the final episode of series six of Line of Duty.

On Bank Holiday Monday morning we were joined by Marky Mark and his son Ben to take The Duke up to Meadow Lane C&RT Services. We set off at 8am and went through Castle Lock and then Meadow Lane Lock.

Hilary swooshed out onto the River Trent and did a U-turn, coming back into the lock in the shadow of Nottingham Forest Football Stadium and Trent Bridge. Vera onboard the boat below decks slept through it all.

Marky Mark got this good photo of a heron along the way.

And we passed ducklings and baby Canadian Geese.

Darrol the engineer came along later in the morning to fix our fridge, diagnosing dodgy wiring and a blown bulb in the fridge light. At 11.30 Ian came to whisk us off to Cotgrave for a splendid brunch with ingredients from Harker’s Farm Shop (http://www.harkersfarmshop.co.uk) and use of their shower facilities! For once, we didn't have a bag of laundry with us.

On Tuesday we walked up to Nottingham Railway Station to post cards and the to Castle Marina to book a visiting berth for next week, each time returning to our mooring beside the Castle Marina Retail Park.

Steve walked down to the Castle Rock Brewery shop but was told that you have to order beer online and collect it on Friday or Saturday.