The Rain Finally Arrives

 Wednesday 23rd September 2020 outside Willoughby.

We've been so lucky with the weather this trip. Today the weather finally broke. Rain came in the morning and intermittently all day.

There is a relatively new shopping area called "Elliot's Field" just a short walk from our mooring in Rugby. After breakfast, coffee and croissants in the M&S café (Hobbits' second breakfast) was a must!

M was able to acquire a "few bits" and R found himself some new shirts and a couple of thermal vests just in time for the plummetting temperatures forecast for this weekend. Outside the shopping centre it looks like this narrowboater took a wrong turning! It's actally a local hire boat company that sponsors the roundabout.

It was still raining as we approached the three Hillmorton locks. These are unusual in that each lock is duplicated with two narrow locks side by side. Very unusually, all six locks were working so we made quite rapid progress despite a couple of very slow hire boats.

We could see the rain sweeping in from the horizon. Luckily, there were only a couple of really heavy showers and R managed to shelter under our large umbrella.

A good friend of ours lives in Willoughby, just north of Braunston. Jan was the falconer at Mary Arden's Farm in Stratford; R called him and we arranged to meet him tomorrow. Jan's news of Mary Arden's was very sad. It has not only been closed since March but all the staff have been made redundant, most of the rare breed animals have been sold and there are no plans to reopen it even next year. It may be that the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust never reopen it and may never have "Tudors" working there again. This would be a great loss, as it was a fully working Tudor farm and was the most vibrant and interesting of all the Birthplace Trust sites. Sadly, we don't think that the management "suits" ever understood the farm. One of their accountants once asked why the farm manager was buying feed in the winter when there were no visitors! (Clue - Its' a "farm" - with live animals!)

M was astonished at the furrows in the field next to our mooring. It had just been ploughed - imagine trying to work that heavy clay soil!

This is a very agricultural area and many of the fields opposite our mooring show signs of "Ridge and Furrow" farming. A very quiet mooring tonight.

Today: 7 miles, 3 locks and 3.4 hours

Trip: 118 miles, 33 locks and 61.4 hours.