Bartimaeus

The rain was pretty heavy. We were going to the station to meet Bryn. He has a habit of bringing cold weather with him. He had forewarned us that he had also caught a cold so he was bringing that with him too. 

On the walk there, across the park, the ducks by the pond looked much happier, waddling as usual, than the hunched group of pigeons on the path. Some people were huddled under the overhangs of the building near the boat to be out of the rain. Luckily it was a short walk to the station, where a stone statue of Joshua Wedgwood presided over the entrance. 

The station is small but had some plaques with local history and a celebration of some centenary or other. We didn't have long to wait and a member of staff offered to let us through the barriers to meet him as his train was on the other platform but we thought that would confuse things as he had already been messaged to tell him where to meet.

He arrived and we set off back. He liked that we were moored in a park and despite the inclement weather appreciated the surroundings. We approached Bartimaeus from a different angle from usual across the lawns and Shane remarked he should be able to see how far we had left to go.

On approach Shane warned us that on his earlier reconnoitre of the station route he had discovered parts of the brick path were very slippy when wet. Bryn speculated about whether the shoes had worn soles. In fact Shane had switched to new barely worn shoes that he had bought because they were waterproof and he had discovered yesterday that his previously waterproof trainers were no longer providing that service when he got wet feet during our museum excursion the day before. The new shoes had thick soles with deep treads. Still some materials slip on a wet surface even with treads. We took care stepping aboard. No one wanted to slip into cold water if the surface wasn't to be trusted.

On the walk back I had observed Bryn's voice was quite hoarse and gravelly. Working with children's groups increases the chance of getting a cold and then he has to project his voice to speak to the outdoors all day so damaging his inflamed vocal cords. 

After dinner he and I went outside to go to the supermarket nearby. It was dark but the rain had eased off. I had a head torch so we could see the puddles and wet leaves. Some parts of the route were lit and others not. Bryn had wanted to stretch his legs after a long time sitting on three trains, and I was glad of company in the dark. He seems to not be feeling too sorry for himself despite the cold, since he was chatty and keen to do a walk and carried the bag full of shopping back. 

 As the evening wore on the wind picked up. We were in a position to be affected by both storms Austen and Boelo, but in the eye of neither. At one point I thought someone had stepped on to the boat from the noise and movement but it was just leaves landing, the wind rocking us and the fenders banging with the movement. All was well inside. Bryn had sensibly brought very warm super fluffy fleeces and extra thick socks and we left a spare blanket on his bed as well as his duvet. We discussed the forthcoming hours and expected heavy rain on Monday. 

We decided on an early start to Sunday but it would not feel too much of a wrench, because of the clocks changing. We were aiming to reach the Harecastle tunnel before midday as it was only operated in the morning. We needed to be well happed up to be outside as there was a strong wind.

Bryn and I got out to do the first lock. I noticed a decorative plaque on a nature theme. Bryn read out the texts explaining how the hips were a good source of vitamins. He was also interested in some bracket fungus on the lock.

Soon we were at the staircase lock. I thought Shane would want to work it, but Bryn is just as confident on a staircase lock and Shane had worked it last time we came through so Bryn and I did it. There are instructions and Bryn went to check the lower lock. All was set to open it and let Shane drive in. Then while we were working it I noticed that written instructions only mentioned how to come up the locks and not separate ones for going down.

Still I was happy doing the lock and it is helpful way to get warmed up on a chilly day.

I noticed Bryn's hat - a present from a visiting school group - was co-ordinating with the trees behind.

We headed out into the wider Trent and Mersey Canal and that was more exposed. I was concerned that the wind would make driving difficult but we didn't have much difficulty going along. Shane and I swapped over driving as he was getting cold. He went in to warm up a bit before joining us outside. I was relieved to not have a big issue driving in the wind. We swapped back when I started to get cold.

When we reached the tunnel queue the mooring was hard as the wind was blowing us away from the bank. The bow thruster helped me get the front tied. However we had made good progress achieving the objective of the getting there in good time and survived the driving in the wind without mishap.