Soggily to Alrewas

If the weather yesterday wasn't quite as windy as we'd been led to expect, today wasn't quite as wet. That is, it only tipped it down for some of the time, rather than all the time. However, it was very chilly rain, and has now turned into hailstones as I'm typing this.

Never mind, there's no such thing as bad weather, only inappropriate clothing for the conditions (Ranulph Fiennes), so we got togged up in the full waterproofs and set off at eight. First though, we noticed some mysterious blobs that had appeared on the roof overnight:

The coin is a five pence piece

Is it bird poo? Is it bits of mud on the way to becoming a martin's nest? All suggestions welcome.

It was Sheila's turn to steer, so I lurked down below until Woodend Lock appeared over the horizon, then worked us down. Soon we were at the top of Fradley, after an hour's boating from Kings Bromley. We waited for a boat to come up, then went down and straight through Middle Lock. Junction was against us, and we waited above Keepers for Goosemoor with Steven and Wendy on board to come up.

Below Hunts, we crossed with Shiraz, Braidbar 61. Roger was steering, and I had a quick natter with Janet on the towpath. She told me that there was plenty of room on the moorings in Alrewas, so when we got to Bagnall we went straight down. I was steering by now, and had to hover whilst a Shakespeare, Juliet, attempted to use the winding hole to make a u-turn.

This didn't work.

He waved me through, which was kind, as he then spent a bit of time wedged across the cut with the bow on the towpath and the stern aground in the winding hole.

We tied right outside the bowling green at eleven, so three hours boating from KB.

Into the village we went, and got a newspaper, a loaf of bread and a good supply of meat from Coates.

The afternoon has been spent listening to the rain/hail, surfing the net, doing the accounts and the crossword and generally putting the time to good use.

Tomorrow, I have to go for a blood test after fasting for 14 hours, so dinner will be a bit early tonight.