Having hung around waiting for a phonecall and being of the opinion that it would be good to let the antibiotics kick in before further medical action (if required at all), AND wanting to charge the batteries, Shane had a particularly strong case of “itchy tiller” today.  We have settled on heading the other way, towards Burton upon Trent to charge batteries and be going towards the place the NHS staff mentioned to him. 

The ice looked a lot thicker this morning though and without sun might be slow to melt. We were entertained in the morning by the ducks slipping and sliding on the broken ice, trying to find their way to water. There were also some very noisy birds in the hedge opposite, but not as noisy as the crunching noise if a boat passed smashing ice itself and sending ice cracking against us.

Shane went for a walk and got in some shopping. I did some updating of the knitting pattern, adding a photo. He came back in time for lunch and we set off – not so much a bat out of hell as a penguin off the ice floe.

While out Shane took this photo of a tree with large red velvety buds. I have seen a lot of these and like them, but keep forgetting what they are called. It’s not in my little tree book!

I liked that it had a nest in it. One of the winter bonuses is seeing nests in tree that are hidden by foliage during the summer. We saw more nests as we went along, but strangely lots of birds were hiding. Though ducks and moorhens were still active. It is good to appreciate such things when driving into a north wind! The ice had melted so it was definitely above zero. While Shane was out he had bought new mitts and thin inner gloves and they seemed to be doing a good job and his hands were not cold driving! 

I gave myself a jaunt to a post box at Hopwas and Shane moved along  very slowly to allow me to catch up. His slow pace caught the attention of a small group walking, but when they saw me walking towards the boat, they realised why he was loitering.

We decided to moor at an area with good pilings, but waited till we were out of the smell range of the chicken farm! Just as I pulled in and Shane had jumped off with a rope, he spotted we were opposite a winding hole , so he got straight back on and we went through the next bridge and found more pilings. They are much more reliable than a random bit of bank.

Back aboard, a change of direction means more research on facilities as he had already scoped ahead but we are not going there now, at least not yet. We have also done some more editing of the pattern. My eagle eyed sister spotted an error but we have corrected that now. It is on the blether website. If you are a knitter do have a go. If you are a crocheter there is a pattern for that on the face book page of Knot Unique. Completed pieces for the bunting can be sent to the Vinolanda Trust.