Last night there was a  lovely sunset as we walked back from The Rufford Arms to see Oliver bathed in the evening glow.

Toby and Sarah have had a few wet weeks and today they had to part company for a while.

Sarah changed the tiller for a steering wheel and set off to Oxford in Zena just after 9:30.  Tears fell like falling rain – but not for long as Toby was so looking forward to a week with his Mum and particularly with his Dad.

The new crew cast off just after 10:00 on a very leisurely trip to Tarleton.  Peter helmed the whole way with consummate skill neatly dropping the crew on and off so they could perform all their duties without risk to life or limb.  That was pretty arduous considering there were all of two swing bridges before tying up at Tarleton.

There we found a good mooring on bollards just before the very large Tarleton Boatyard which occupies a long stretch of what would be the towpath right up to the lock.

The lock itself is a little unusual as it has an extra gate to hold back high tides.  We are a bit concerned that Oliver will not fit between the gates!

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We were not sure what the state of the tide was when we were at the lock and it looks as if Toby decided to do some serious calculations to ensure our safe passage into the River Douglas.

The weather was pretty good until we decided to go for a walk around the village which turned out to have a lot more shops than we anticipated.  The rain was only short lived and the sun soon reappeared and we walked back to Oliver along the towpath.

Peter cooked an excellent pork, apple and cider casserole for dinner and now plans to take a rest for the remainder of the trip.

We loved these Crested Ducks that swam around Oliver close to our mooring.