Too damp for outside work

Sunday 25^th October; Dunhampstead to below Astwood flight

The clocks went back last night, and we had a relaxed start waiting for the rain to stop, before leaving at about 10 to move up to Hanbury Junction.  The autumn colours were lovely as we approached Dunhampstead tunnel

and again as we came out.

We were not going back to the marina today but we did need some shopping, so we moored on the Worcester and Birmingham at Hanbury Junction and walked down the towpath into Droitwich, where Dave and Meg played in Vines Park for ten minutes while I nipped into Waitrose for some bread and the Sunday paper.  The towpath at the Rugby Club Bridge by the marina was closed for repair last time we came this way, but now it’s all done – one example where it was worth the hassle (and the bike-friendly surface) as the paths used to get extremely muddy in winter - and if you want to walk up to the pub from the marina you can do so now without getting muddy.

The paths were closed while the work was being done, as there was insufficient space for social distancing between walkers and the CRT workers.

We'd seen black clouds building up in the west while we were still in Vines Park, so hot-footed it back and just beat the rain to get inside for lunch, where we warmed up with left-over stew (sadly no dumplings, but we made do with toast😉).  The rain didn’t last long, and we soon moved up to the quiet stretch below Astwood bottom lock.  It was still chilly and damp, unfortunately not good weather for outside work, such as the painting and polishing that needs doing.  We’d lit the fire by 4 pm and hunkered down.

3 miles, Dunhampstead tunnel.