It wer' a bit wet in Willington

My personal challenge for this round of Miss Jenny Matlock's alphabe-Thursday is to post about a location within the borders of my own county of Derbyshire, UK, for each letter of the alphabet.Look for the letter, to see where I am.

W is for Willington.

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'Willington' comes from the Old English tun (homestead or farm) among the willows. It is a village of around 2,700 people, situated on the banks of both the River Trent and the Trent and Mersey Canal, approximately 5 miles outside Derby.

The Green Man is one of 3 pubs in the village, all between the centre and the canal.

The centre of the village has a double mini roundabout which was causing quite a backlog of traffic while I was there. Around the roundabouts are a florist,

post office

and Co-operative Supermarket.

This road runs away from the roundabouts, south towards the bridge over the Trent between Willington and Repton. The railway bridge is both low and narrow; not a problem for cars, but a bit of a pain for larger vehicles which need to drive in the centre of the road to avoid hitting the edges of the arch.

Also alongside the roundabouts is the raised railway station.

From here, you can catch trains to Birmingham, Stoke on Trent, Crewe, Nottingham and Derby.

The village clock marks the time.

Yet another railway bridge heads out on the Derby road, along which is the modern Baptist Church...

...and the Chinese takeaway.

In Derbyshire, we call this a jitty, meaning a footpath between two streets. This particular one leads down the side of the village school.

Willington Community Primary School is a smart looking building (in spite of the flat roof; I'm suspicious of flat roofs) which has around 200 children on roll, aged between the ages of 5 and 11.

Just down the road is the Village Community Hall which, if I'm honest, looks functional, rather than interesting or attractive. Useful though!

Heading back past the centre, it's only a matter of a few strides to the canal. Look carefully and you can see the raindrops rippling the surface of the water!

Here, there are temporary moorings for narrow boats, mostly looking pretty forlorn on this soggy September afternoon.

The post sets out the regulations for the moorings. I'm sure you can figure out the rules for this location (though I think the dog poop sign is aimed more at local dog walkers than boaters!).

Not surprisingly, the picnic benches in the beer garden behind The Dragon are deserted. On a balmy summer evening, this is a popular spot for a beverage.

Nipping round roadside, this is what the front of the pub looks like. It's had a bit of a makeover since Dad and I last stopped off here a couple of years ago. I have to say that it needed it. We were virtually the only ones in the place at the time!

Almost next door is Willington's third pub...

...the delicatessen and a house sandwiched between the two drinking places. Lovely to have the canal behind, but I suspect it can get a bit noisy in the evenings!

And finally, for those who want longer term moorings than are on offer behind the pubs, there is the new Mercia Marina, where, for £107.30/metre of length per annum (excluding VAT), you can hire one of the 524 berths and park your boat. It's cheaper than renting a house and, if you get fed up of the views of the cooling towers of the now decommissioned Willington Power Station, you can always cast off and head out under the bridge to journey the Inland Waterways of Britain.

By the way, did you spot that this photo was taken on a different day? It doesn't rain here all of the time :)