It poured with rain all night and was still raining lightly when we awoke.

We settled down to a porridge breakfast expecting to wait a while for the weather to improve. But at about 8:30 the sky cleared and it’s been a lovely sunny day.

We have boated this bit of the Staffs & Worcs many times and it felt good to be back on familiar waters. We quickly passed Dimmingsdale, Ebstree and Awbridge locks and then on down the Bratch.

There was one boat infront (crewed by a 90 year old man) but it didnt slow us down. We eventually stopped just below Swindon lock and sat outside in the sunshine.