Last cruising day this year?

 Wednesday 6^th November; Dunhampstead to Droitwich Spa marina

The overnight rain had stopped by daybreak.  The trains seemed to have stopped running overnight, though I did hear one goods train in the early hours.   We did some packing after breakfast while we waited for the sun to come up a bit. 

Polishing the tiller arm

As we left the sun was warm on our backs, and made up for the chilly wind in our faces.  The autumn colours are glorious.

Even leafless branches look good when the sun is low.

There is a lot of mistletoe in this area, and hawthorn seems to be a common host for it around here.  

As expected, there were no volunteers at Hanbury locks today, and as all the locks were empty it took us a while to get down.  I was fine, working mostly in the sun, but down below in the shadows (these locks are all around 11’ deep) poor Dave was freezing.  But he did wait for me at the bottom lock. Its’s a long walk round to our mooring!

Soon after 11 we were tucked into our mooring, and got straight on with packing and cleaning. 

Welcoming committee

 We wanted to get everything done on the boat and be on our way before the wet weather already affecting the south-west reached the marina.  We haven’t fully winterised yet, but we did turn the water off and leave the taps open.  Any food in the galley not in tins or bottles was packed too, along with all the bedding.  We left in a light shower after an early lunch, and hit the bad weather about half-way home.  We were back by 5, with the rain nearly over.  The day after, Devon had a lovely sunny day while the Midlands got drenched. Good timing!

 2 miles, 3 locks.

Trip stats; 13 miles, 7¼ furlongs narrow canals; 34 narrow locks (17, once up and once down); 2 tunnels (Dunhampstead, twice).