Onwards to Sawley to meet a presenter.

 There was a decision to be made this morning. Do we stay another day at Trent lock or move to Sawley? A meeting had been arranged with Jenn and Jim (Dire Straits) to meet up with Radio Derby's Andy Twigge  sometime over the next few days. Apparently he lives in a houseboat at Sawley Marina and Jenn has often been a phone guests on the program, sharing tales of her 'liveaboard' life. It stood to reason then, for the pair to meet for the first time when we made our way through Sawley to Derwent Mouth. This time of year one would expect plenty of free moorings and Jenn wasn't at all worried about not being able to stop but I decided to take Toffee for a decent walk-up to Sawley and see for myself.

Nop, she was not going to stop chasing those ducks. Lead went on after that!

View from the bridge looking toward Sawley lock

Sawley locks

Hmmm, I was surprised as there were hardly any spaces to be had, in fact I could only see one definite and another that would overhang the resident moorings slightly. Back I went to impart the news and the conclusion was better to try today to get moored rather than wait until tomorrow and have none available. So lunch first, then ropes untied and head toward Trent Lock to descend onto the river.

Who forgot to put the satellite dish down?

 

Sawley lock had volunteer lockies on, but not in their official capacity. A spot of gardening and tidying around the lock was why they were there. By rights, we should have locked ourselves up, but the lady volunteer offered to push buttons to operate the sluices if we were happy for her to do so. Never one not to look a gift horse in the mouth, we excepted gladly.

 Dire Straits heading for the lock

 Two boats had left...yes we had somewhere to moor.  Not together but at least Jenn could rest easy. Gosh, it was windy on the mooring, proper waves lapping against the boat. A tad rocky and rolly and Toffee seemed a little unnerved by the motion but thankfully no sign of sickness. Gosh that would have been a disaster. Three weeks of a travel sick dog.......gulp, doesn't bare thinking about!

 That phone of mine was still on my mind, would it ever truly work properly again. With some trepidation and hoping the rice had done its work, I pressed the on button with fingers crossed. It started, and the screen sprang into life. But those watermarks were still there. Google is a marvellous tool because after I had asked about drying phones, a step-by-step guide on how to remove the back was on U Tube. Over to my man that can, he managed the task brilliantly (I was confident he would) and now I'm more than hopeful the drying process will be successful. 

 One slight worry which concerns me, we found out that in the rally meeting consisting of 7 committee members (including us) which was held 7 days ago has now three confirmed cases of Covid. Tonight I have a slight sore throat. Test still shown us as negative. Hope the morning sees me still okay. 🤞🏻

And new life to show spring has sprung.