Leisurely Cruising on the Trent and Mersey

A nice slow trip to Stone in Staffordshire where Serafina's hull will be blacked. Normally, we could do this in a day but it was a day in Trentham and then another nice mooring at the Wedgwood Estate where took a stroll over for a look at the fine china before sitting down to a cream tea. A few days in Barlaston where we completed a few minor jobs as well as doing a lot of walking.

We made our way down the Meaford Locks, four in total, before finally arriving in Stone in the five day visitor moorings. We still had a five day wait to go on to the dry dock at the marina so to fill in time we had planned a day at the Crick Inland Boat Show. Having been a few times before one day was plenty! We added in a hotel stay at Northampton, ten miles from the show and now with a hire car there was a chance to explore further afield.

When it did come time to move into the marina we had a slight technical hitch at the first lock. Mum and dad swan weren't particularly happy so with me holding the boat to one side and a passerby with some bread we managed to coax the cygnets back out.

The second lock, this one equipped with a tunnel for the horses to pass under the road.

And, waiting for Monday morning to go into the covered dry dock, just behind the boat.