And we're at Penkridge

Since the weather forecast again indicated that it would be dry today and wet tomorrow, we've come on to Penkridge, making a fairly lazy start. It's only a couple of hours from the top of Deptmore to the towpath moorings below Penkridge Lock, so we didn't want to leave before eight.

Now that Sheila can get her boots on over her rapidly recovering foot, she insisted on doing the locks whilst I steered. Standing still for long periods of time is still not a good idea for her as it encourages her foot to swell. We had a very pleasant run in cool and occasionally damp conditions – we ended up wearing fleeces with a light waterproof over the top.

We did indeed get here just after ten to find that there was plenty of room opposite the park home site. After a coffee, we walked down into the village to get some shopping in. Excellent bread from Jasper's, then a visit to the Sainsbury's Local (good stuff but limited stock) and finally a few other bits from the Co-op.

By the time we got back we were quite well exercised and ready for lunch. Not a lot has happened since. There continues to be quite a bit of traffic going by, including Ian from New and Used having a boatman's holiday in his smart trad boat, Clytie. That's quite a classical name, Ian (Clytie was the daughter of Oceanus who loved and was abandoned by Helios, the sun god. Eventually she was turned into the heliotrope, a flower which tracks the sun across the sky).

We had thought about having a meal out here, but the pub nearest us, The Boat, has some very poor recent reviews on Trip Advisor and the other canalside pub, the Cross Keys, was slated in the Owners' Group pub guide. There are a lot more down the hill in the village but a) Sheila doesn't feel able to walk that far in sandals yet and b) it's going to rain this evening.

So we're having Cajun chicken on board instead. Assuming it does rain tomorrow, we'll stay put here and move on on Wednesday.

But who knows?