Saturday 19^th September; Hanbury Junction to Dunhampstead

Not a long day at all, though it started with a long walk.  I wanted to buy a paper so marched off towards Droitwich and Waitrose, about a mile and a half away.  It was only 9 o’clock, but a boat was already leaving the bottom Hanbury lock on its way to Droitwich.  Work is being done on the towpath near the Rugby Club bridge, and although it looks easily walkable they have closed it off because they can’t maintain social distancing for the workers with the public walking by.

Shopping done, I was soon back at the boat to unload.  My haul included a free paper (having spent over £10, and flashing my Waitrose card) and some conkers I found on the walk, my first this year.

Dave had been cleaning the side of the boat, including wiping dog slobber from the windows – our pontoon neighbour had two delightful Airedales who liked to stare closely through the windows.  We pottered off around 10.30 in lovely sunshine, though it was still chilly in the shade.  At one point we did a double-take as we saw a familiar (and anxious) dog on the towpath – how on earth did Meg get off the boat?  Because of the reeds we hadn’t noticed she had nipped off at the bridge a couple of hundred yards back, that’ll teach her to leap off without permission! 

She was soon back on board – I didn’t think to take a photo, I was too busy looking for a gap in the reeds so we could get close enough in for her to jump on board.  Once through Dunhampstead tunnel, which was completely dry, we pulled in on the long moorings between bridges 30 and 29.  Dave removed the remaining mushroom vents and prepped them for resealing, which he did after lunch.  I dismantled the top of the hob (well, the bits that a non-gas fitter can do safely) and gave everything a good clean – it took as long as the rubbing down and rust-curing of two mushroom vents.  

He also changed the engine oil, and suddenly it was 4 o’clock and a bit late to go as far as we would need to for a satisfactory mooring below Offerton locks, so we stayed put.

2 miles, Dunhampstead tunnel