Narrowboat Aylmer: A Wedding, a rescue and beach

We had a lovely few days at home and managed to catch up with family & fiends as well as attending Jodie & Antonia's wedding. It was such a beautiful day in every sense.

We rejoined the boat at Barton Turns before saying goodbye for now to Parker & Lynne who had very kindly looked after the boat whilst we went home and then accompanied us to the first lock.
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As we approached Burton-on-Trent we could smell the hops even before the Marstons bridge came into view. Unfortunately the Marstons Brewery is no longer open to the general public except on pre arranged tours. However the National Brewery Centre is nearby.

We managed to spot a few of Tony's favourite brews at the NBC and even sampled some after a very interesting guided tour. Well recommended.

It was only a short trip to Willington, which turned out to be a popular stop. Even the pub was fully booked on a Tuesday evening!

We decided to walk the 1.5 miles into Repton, famous for it's Public School, and crossed the River Trent which we would be joining later. The church, St Wystan's, which you can see in the photo, is built over a crypt constructed in the 8th century which is said to be one of the oldest and most important examples of Anglo-Saxon architecture to survive intact. http://www.reptonchurch.org.uk/Crypt.htm . And Tony just happens to be reading a series of books by Bernard Cornwell in which the crypt is mentioned as the final resting place of Mercian Kings.

Back on board Tony caught his first fish in 6 weeks! He blames the fact that I won't let him have maggots on board. Well would you??

Onto the River Trent and under the M!.Here the journey to Nottingham alternates between canal & river.

Approaching Sawley Flood Lock we were flagged down by a couple walking along the tow path who drew our attention to something in the water on the opposite bank. An elderly man had fallen into the canal & was literally up to his neck in the canal. We hastily moored the boat and Tony grabbed a rope. By the time we got back to the scene the other couple had hold of John (as we later learnt was his name) but were unable to pull him out because of the steep concrete bank. With the rope around his chest and the effort of the four of us we eventually got him out, cold; wet; shaken and semi conscious. Andrew rang the emergency services whilst we made him as comfortable as possible and wrapped him in a blanket. Poor John was very disoriented, confused, cold and had a nasty gash under his eye. It took the emergency service 45 minutes to send anybody to the scene, first a policeman, then a paramedic and finally the ambulance we requested and John was finally taken off to Derby hospital. Just another casualty of the NHS cuts?

The week ended on a much happier note when we moored in the Castle Marina, Nottingham and met up with daughter Kerry & granddaughter Lily. The ever enterprising Nottingham City Council have turned the old Market Square into a beach with sand, deckchairs, merry-go-rounds, pools, fountains & candyfloss. Brilliant!