Stormy weather

By and large, today has gone as planned though the weather has been less than helpful. Expecting to have a dry morning and a wet afternoon, we got going in good time, postponing the post-breakfast coffee until after the locks. However, by the time we reached the bottom lock, I'd had to put a waterproof on to keep the spitting damp out.

I was able to retreat to the cabin whilst Sheila stoically boated round past the Clifton yard to Brownsover in heavy rain and rising wind. Here we found that CRT are indeed installing a good set of rings along the towpath side, where until now it's been necessary to rely on bits of rope strung through the railway line waling on the concrete piles. We found a mooring on the park side and headed off to Tesco to get stocked up.

For the first time we tried using the Scan and Go system installed there, making it possible to bag everything up in the trolley. Naturally, since we were first timers we had to have a brief double check but even that didn't take too long.

Back at the boat it was still persisting down. As usual, Sheila set off to boat whilst I stowed away and made us coffees. It is at least a short and simple run to Newbold where there was a good choice of mooring spaces.

It's turned downright chilly, such that we felt justified in having mugs of soup with lunch and I've had to light the Squirrel to drive the damp chill out of the cabin. Considering it's the fifth of June, that's a bit much, frankly. What's more, the forecast doesn't look any better for tomorrow, with if anything even more wind than today.

Our next sector, to borrow an airline phrase, is a long one for us, to Hawkesbury Junction/ Sutton Stop. We might well leave that until Wednesday if the weather doesn't pick up – we've a couple of days in hand in our cruising schedule, as always.

Location:Newbold