Day 0

We left Branston at half eight yesterday, the cunning plan being to arrive at Shobnall Marina just as they opened at nine. This sort of worked; we got there at ten past, only to discover two other blue shirt boats manoeuvring to get under the access bridge. These were Peter on Ehawee, and Dave and Beryl on Peddler.

Peter got in first, and we tied on the rings outside to wait. Peddler drifted about in the winding hole opposite the entrance, with occasional bursts from the bow thruster. We beguiled the time with shouted conversations with Dave and Beryl. Everything took quite a while, as both boats wanted to top up with water as well as getting diesel and/or a pump out, and the tap at Shobnall is quite slow.

By the time it was our turn, another three boats had arrived to join the queue behind us.

Boat juggling at Shobnall

Fully dieseled and pumped out, we came smartly backwards out of the arm, and I was able to swing Sanity Again round to carry on towards the show site without needing to use reverse again. This was a bit of a triumph; all boaters will tell you that such masterpieces of handling normally only occur when there's no one else to see.

There are lots of boats here already, double banked along the parkside moorings and some distance along the towpath. We just tagged on to the end, handily near a cut through into the housing estate, so that Elanor was able to visit us in the late afternoon, on her way to agility with Sally.

Earlier, we'd had a wander round the field, and I took the first shots of the space which over the next two weeks will become a little village within the town:

First arrival at the campsite

The clans gather

Just some of the fencing that will be erected in the next week

Smiling faces at the start, at least...

This is Sandy the administrator: she's got a lot on her mind...

Marking out the show field