A Tale of Two ……………… Marinas

Crick – small and simple.

Mercia – vast and complex.

Yesterday we went to visit Ian, Alison and Katy ‘Potato’ Dog at Mercia marina where they are currently moored on n/b ‘Nobby’.  In terms of marinas Crick and Mercia are at opposite ends of the spectrum.  Mercia is huge and overflowing with facilities:-

                  

• mooring for about 750 boats
• brokerage
• a branch of Midland Chandlers on site
• two different hire boat companies use the marina as their base
• small shop selling all the essentials
• tea room/cafe
• three luxurious toilet/shower/laundry blocks
• security gates
• coal delivered to your boat!  (You DO have to pay for it though!!)
• Pump out and diesel
• Allocated fields in which to walk dogs
• and …………… a weekly (?) farmers’ market held in the car park

Nearby Willington Village also has a number of useful facilities – Post Office, small supermarket, pub, hairdressers etc.  AND – it’s only a 15 minute drive to the beautiful Dove Dale within the Peak District National Park.  Derby, Burton-on-Trent and Lichfield are all just a short drive away for major shops, restaurants and banks etc.  A very well situated site then and, apparently all this for the same mooring fee as at Crick.

There are some holiday lodges for sale on site – altogether there will be 17 I think and planning permission has been granted for a hotel and 7 other shops.  The marina has gained a David Bellamy Environmental Award.  This is not like any other marina I have seen – it’s more like a Boating Village – or will be when it’s all finished.  All down to personal choice and requirements I guess.  Ian and Alison love it there.

Back at ‘little ‘ol Crick’ – walking around the fields and lanes it feels more like March than January :-

                        

I forced him to have a haircut so that the new ‘titfa-tat’ had a chance of fitting!

A ‘Plug’ as in A Mention …….

Ian (Birks) has collated a collection of articles written by himself covering a wide variety of topics pertinent to boating on our inland waterways.  The collection is called “Shuffling Along A Ditch” and is available from Amazon to download onto a Kindle.  Bargain!

Katy, the 3rd Crew Member of n/b ‘Nobby’