It was somewhat sad waking up and mum not being on board, we’re still reminded of her presence with her towel and hat ( not forgetting our daily ration of chocolate cake too!)

A later than usual cast off at 9am,  it was quite chilly and very quiet with only a handful of boats on the move all day.  It was a lock free day and in the countryside, it felt like we had the canal to ourselves.

Our first water stop, and then the sharp left turn on to The Stratford Canal.  Toby is trying to get me to steer a bit more on the awkward bits, so I had the pleasure,  and would you believe, no boats for ages, and then two boats coming out of the same junction!  We moored up at 11.30am…….yes, you read that correctly!

We walked the mile or so to Baddesley Clinton, a National trust property,  it’s got a number of hidden rooms for Catholic Priests who were hunted in the 1590’s.  We liked the moat around the house and the kitchen garden.

We’re well in to our ship’s routine, and it feels like we’ve been on Oliver for longer than four days.  Thoughts turn to ‘is the lock set’ or ‘where are we  going to moor’ and of course ‘when is it tea and cake time!  Narrowboating is  good for the soul.