First blog in the captain's log... Thursdays Child is now out of the water on The Erewash and having her bottom cleaned and blacked. The hull was totally covered in fresh water mussels, there must have been thousands and thousands. It was a rather unpleasant job scraping them off and the smell was terrible! The boat has to ready for Monday as she's being used as a prop on a tv programme about angling. This will also be the first time I've been up to the top of the Erewash so I'm looking forward to seeing this part of the East Midlands by water.