Sitting out a soggy Sunday

As expected, we had a very good evening in the Stanley Arms last night, drinking some well conditioned ale (despite the warm weather making the cellar man’s life a bit tricky) and gossiping with Ian and Kath.

It started to rain whilst we were in there, and Sheila and I found ourselves scuttling back to the boat through a monsoon. Like a monsoon, it wasn’t particularly cold, but most of what we were wearing went in the washing basket as soon as we got in. It was well past our bedtimes anyway, so we crashed out pretty promptly.

It’s carried on raining off and on all day, often with the same dramatic tropical quality to it. Sheila has got a couple of nasty insect bites on the top of one foot, so she’s taking advantage of the situation to rest it; it’s handy for her not to have to wear shoes for a couple of days.

I’ve made one trip up to the Co-op for the usual reason, and one to the rubbish skips ditto.

Apart from that it’s been a very quiet day in the boat; at times it’s been sunny and dry and we’ve been able to sit out in the well deck; at others we’ve lurked below as the rain hammered on the roof.

It looks pretty similar weather for tomorrow, so I think we’ll repeat the prescription, then move on on Tuesday as far as Billinge Green flash. A couple of days there will go down well and we’ll be ready to start climbing Heartbreak Hill by the weekend.

We’ve worked out a cruising schedule that will get us onto the Macc just as Elanor will want to bring Sally over to us, which will be handy for her as she’s not far from the A50 at home.