Heading back, gradually

We need to be in Alrewas at the other end of this month, so we're not exactly under time pressure to get there. The plan is to take a wander up and back down the Ashby, a canal we've not done for many years.

This morning we made a leisurely start; the weather has not exactly broken, but it's not brilliantly sunny either. After bidding farewell to Martin, we headed north out of Braunston, your correspondent steering and Sheila alternating between doing lookout in the bow at the various blind bridges and tackling boat keeping jobs below.

After an hour we were nearing the Prison moorings where we stopped to paint the well deck on the way down. There was still at least another hour to go to Hillmorton, so Sheila got the washing machine started. There's a big backlog of laundry after not having a chance to do much whilst tied at Crick.

Traffic was frequent but not a problem; the number of boats moored on the towpath was more of a hindrance to rapid progress. On the other hand, the cut seems to be decently dredged along here, allowing Sanity Again to make good speed through the water when not pootling along in tick over.

We had a good run down Hillmorton ninety minutes later; Sheila had to turn the first lock, but Volockies were on hand to help at the second and third. There was plenty of room on the visitor moorings both above and below the flight and we've tied on our usual spot, the newish Armco round the corner from the lower VMs.

It's been a quiet afternoon watching the washing dry on the airer in the bow; the weather's not reliable enough to use the whirligig. I wasn't totally idle; I've done the monthly battery top up.

Tomorrow, we'll stop at Brownsover for a serious Tesco shop. The store cupboards are pretty empty, so it will probably need two trips. We'll then go on to Newbold for the night and possibly stay there on Wednesday if the forecast heavy rain materialises.