A little bit of boating

As we weren't planning to go anywhere today, we took our time getting up and eating breakfast. The weather had not yet turned unpleasant, however, and Sheila pointed out that by moving to Brownsover today we could shop first thing tomorrow. If we stayed at Newbold, we'd have to wait until later before moving in order to stand a chance of finding somewhere to tie, it being only about half to three quarters of an hour from one place to the other.

After a bit of discussion, I agreed with her and we set off just after nine. It was indeed just half an hour to Brownsover, during which time the sky clouded over and it grew cooler. There was plenty of space when we arrived and we were able to find a couple of good loops of line to tie to through the rather awkward concrete pile and iron rail washwall.

As we buttoned up the boat again, the rain did indeed start, so we've been inside pretty well ever since. It's been a day for pottering about with various jobs. I've decided that my anxieties about the batteries were ill-founded as they were charging perfectly normally today; I left the engine running for a bit after we'd stopped, since there wasn't a lot of sun.

When I apologised to Sheila for being so neurotic, she kindly said that after forty plus years, she's quite used to it...

After lunch we heard a toot from a boat horn and, looking out, saw Martin on Ice Breaker passing. He's tied just beyond us and came in for a cup of tea and a discussion about some Braidbar stuff. He won't be at Crick this year, though we will have the pleasure of his company at the Owners' Weekend, where he is a tower of strength in getting things rigged up.

We've had the stove on most of the day, a great comfort when it's so cold and damp out there. No matter, the forecast is for dry weather tomorrow. It's a 24 hour Tesco here (though almost all of the Retail Park on the other side of the road has disappeared and is now a building site) so we'll get up early, shop and go on to Clifton Cruisers for a pump out when they open at nine.

After that, we'll move on to the foot of Hillmorton for the night.