Longer than we expected but with bananas

This bit of the canal system should be well known to us; Elanor was just six months old when we first boated it in 19xy (date obscured to avoid intrafamily grief, but it was a while ago). It's all the more remarkable then that we got our cruising time estimate so wrong today. Last night we agreed to allow three hours for the run from Newbold to Sutton's Stop and so we set off this morning at half eight.

In the event we arrived here just on one o'clock, a mere ninety minutes later than expected.

No matter, it's been a day of positives. The weather continues glorious, the cut was in good nick and we survived a couple of encounters in bridge holes with our heads held high.

What's more, I made the 180 degree turn through the junction in one move, no reversing and without touching anything.

George the banana man (he's a Scot fae Fyffes) had emailed us this morning to say that he was working in Coventry today and did we want some fruit? Silly question... I texted him when we'd arrived and tied and he popped over at half three with both bananas and pineapples.

What a good friend! We had a good old chat, especially when we heard that they are selling their current boat, Phoenix III, and buying a much longer one, 68 foot no less. It's a well known boat, too, but I forgot to check how public his news was, so I'd better not say which one on here just yet.

/hmm

This blog has been written using the Blogger app on the iPad, by the way. Until now I've been using Safari and the web interface, but this is much better.

Tomorrow, on beyond Hartshill and down Atherstone the day after.