Saturday 29^th September. Bright lights in the sky again – it’s sunny! We decided that we could go for a walk today along to Alrewas by road, about 2 ½ miles, buy some bread and vegetables, have lunch, look at the river, take photos of all the boats waiting for the river to open and then come back along the towpath. The only problem with our plan was that when we got to Alrewas there were hardly any boats around. Where had they all gone? You guessed it, the water level had gone down enough for the locks to be opened and everyone had charged through in an attempt to get back to their home bases. This prompted a change in our own plans since we now didn’t need to hang around for another 2 or 3 days and Sunday lunch didn’t need to be taken in the pub. So, we nipped round to the butcher’s shop and bought a chicken and then walked back to Fradley. We were lucky, really, since some of the boats had been stuck at Alrewas for 4 days. At least our incarceration has been short lived. We did see a couple of hire boats abandoned (securely) on the canalside where holidays had come to an end. We understand that one boat had been hired by an American family who had to get back to the States. In the afternoon we took the opportunity of filling up with water, emptying out the rubbish, replacing an empty gas canister and moving the boat.

After all that business, sat down for a cup of tea and dozed off for half an hour or so. It’s been a lovely sunny day today and the evening glow looking back up the canal was very Turneresque. (i.e. had the colours of paintings by Joseph Mallord William Turner.)

I don’t think my photo does it justice. Early night tonight for an early start tomorrow. Mind you, we’ve moved the boat across to a more suitable mooring which is alongside the road that goes to the pub. It is Saturday night – need I say more? Let you know tomorrow if the traffic kept us awake!