Hopwas to Fradley Junction…..

We left Hopwas this morning in fine drizzle, but it didn’t last long, although it remained dull and overcast with the threat of more rain to come.  We could see a thunderstorm off on our starboard side, but it didn’t seem to get any closer for about an hour.  Then, all of a sudden, it did!  Now, as most of you know, we don’t cruise in the rain if we can help it, so we hurriedly moored and put the hood up, as the skies got blacker and blacker

and the thunder rolled around.  However, all we got was a lot of noise and a couple of minutes of fairly heavy rain.  Within 20 minutes we were on our way again.

I love this little row of cottages at Whittington, it’s so nice to see them facing the canal and not turning their backs on it like most.  We stopped at Streethay Wharf to refuel, and it started to rain again, but again not for long.

Lots of Water Irises along here.  Before we’d gone much further the sun came out and it became very warm.As we came through the last bridge before Fradley we could see boats moored, seemingly nose to tail, and we thought our luck was out his time.  But we managed to squeeze in between two boats.  Of course, we had to go and sample the ales at the ‘Mucky Duck’ as is our habit.  We got chatting to a nice couple with an old lab and a 4 month old black lab puppy, called Mabel.  Ozzy and Mabel had a lovely time leaping all over each other, as much as their leads would allow.  Ozzy had certainly met his match with those sharp little needle teeth!  We spent a very social couple of hours with them.  As you can see, the sky was very blue by then, and it was very hot indeed.

I forgot to ask their names, but that’s them in the background of the photo.  They are travelling in the same direction as us, so we may see them again.

8 miles and 0 locks