Welsh waters: Day 11

Ir wasn’t supposed to rain until about 11 today, but when we woke up it was already coming down — although with bright sunshine at the same time.  We walked up to Tesco, as we’d found we had more room in the fridge than we’d thought.  Then we set off at 9, first going to the end of the arm to turn around.  Once back at the junction we turned right, and pulled over onto the service point.  There were already two boats there, but there was room for us at the far end, and there are four taps.

The water took a long time (it always seems to in places where there are multiple taps) but we also got rid of a mountain of recycling, and I stuck my head round into the dry dock to see what was going on.  There was a boat in there being blacked.

It was pretty much 10am when we set off again, heading into a mixture of sunshine and showers.  At times there was completely different weather on one side of the boat from the other.

We moored up after another hour or so, at Val Hill.  The spot we’ve used before at the far end of the moorings had a boat on it, so we stopped at the other end.  But then they moved off (which was a surprise, because it was the boat that had been in front of us on the arm last night), so we pulled our boat along to that space, where the view is a bit more open and the towpath is much wider.  It also turns out the mobile signal is better, even though we’ve only moved three or four boat lengths.

After lunch we went for a walk along to the junction and back.  The hawthorn bushes are absolutely laden with berries.

We got caught in  shower on the way back and sheltered under a bridge — you can see how heavy the rain was by the disturbance in the water, although the sky looks fine!

Showers have come and gone all afternoon.  We can sometimes see that it’s raining across the valley, and then we’ll get a sudden downpour.  Numerous boats have gone past, some of them at high speed.  This afternoon, inspired by Bake Off, I made a batch of hobnobs, just to see what they were like.

As I haven’t got silicone moulds on board, or cream for that matter, I didn’t do the caramel or the chocolate.  But they are really nice, and absolutely do taste like hobnobs.  I’m still surprised Bake Off was allowed to use the name, because it must be a trademark.

Tomorrow, we’re off down the Monty for a few days.

3 miles, 0 locks.  (36 miles, 19 locks)