Damp sort of day

It's not rained as hard as was first forecast, but it's been damp-to-mizzling all day, so we were glad to have decided not to move. There have been a fair few boats on the go – it's been by no means an impossible day for it – but we were due a day off and it's done us good to loaf about a bit.

It's not been all idleness. I walked down to the village again after breakfast to get some bits and bobs we'd overlooked yesterday and after coffee we took a walk up the canal to see who was about. A couple of Braidbars have been spotted; Roquette went through this morning and Hazel has just gone by just now.

This afternoon we gave the boat a bit of a sweep through. A lot of the towpaths have been mown this week and dried grass has been building up in the nooks and crannies of the floor. It wasn't a major clean, but the inside looks a lot better for it. It's not been necessary to run the engine as the batteries have only just got down to 90% charge. We'll be doing some serious cruising tomorrow and especially on the day after so should get them back up to full whack easily enough.

I promised to talk about the Aeropress, not that any of you have reminded me... We're very pleased with the quality of coffee produced by the Nespresso but a) it needs the engine running when not on shoreline and b) I'd noticed that it didn't run terribly smoothly when powered from the inverter. It still worked but I did wonder if it was all that good for it. In addition, even the Inissia takes up a bit of space in the galley.

Following a discussion on CWDF, I bought an Aeropress. At £25 including a good supply of filter papers it didn't break the bank. It uses ground coffee, preferably fine ground but ordinary cafetière grind will do, and it doesn't use electricity. The flavour isn't as good as the Nespresso but is still streets ahead of instant. The Nespresso will live in the lodge as suits our luxurious lifestyle in there. Well, after 12 years on a boat, it feels luxurious to us...

Tomorrow, we'll have a cup of tea first thing then work up the lock to the water point. Breakfast will be taken whilst the tank is filling then we'll carry on up to Gailey, probably tying below Gailey lock as usual. The day after, we'll make the run to Coven and tie by the Fox and Hounds. That's another pub that got a bit hammered in the Owners' Group pub guide but it seems popular with others. Any comments, folks?