What A Difference A Day Makes

After yesterday's glorious sunshine I was surprised to wake up to the sound of wind and rain on the roof of the boat and the sight of waves lapping at the banks of the cut at Gnosall! Definitely a day for lighting the fire and staying put, which was what everyone else was doing; but I have to be back in Hereford for a few days and  had to get Starcross back to Norbury Junction first. To get from Gnosall to Norbury involves going south for two miles to High Onn to turn, then coming back four and a half miles to Norbury. Of course, I could have done this yesterday in the sunshine. . . Oh well.
This was the scene looking back  at High Onn Wharf, just after I had winded:

I don't mind boating in the rain. I close the cabin doors behind me, pull the hatch over as far as it will go and enjoy it. At least with no other boats on the move and precious few tied up anywhere I could get some welly on. Even so, it still took two-and-a-half hours for the six-and-a-half miles - including winding and negotiating the lines of moored boats at High Onn and Norbury itself and the long shallow section through Cowley cutting (twice).
Two well-known blogging boats were at Norbury. Shared-ownership boat Debdale was on the visitor moorings, although I don't think bloggers Adam and Adrian are aboard at the moment and this instantly-recongisable boat was tied up outside the Junction Inn with Sue and Vic back from their Mediterranean cruise (and back into less-formal attire too.)

Unfortunately, by the time I'd tied Starcross up and sorted everything out before leaving her, there was no time to say "Hello" as I was by then in danger of missing the last bus of the day from Norbury village to Newport (at 3.38pm!!) and had to make haste to the bus stop some one mile distant.