Storm Boelo

The start of the day was in between two storms : Austen and Boelo, with the latter being forecast as much the stronger and longer lasting. It seems possible that two or three days of high winds will be bookended by extended heavy rain.

The clock change meant an extra hour before we needed to be up but an almost empty water tank needed filling very soon. As it was still dry around 8.30 (new time) Mike thought it best to get the hosepipe out now as it could be very unpleasant later - he made the right call it turned out. We use extending hoses which are, in most situations, much the best and take up least space in our bow locker. The one exception is when we need to run the longest hose from the inlet on the bow deck it aft of the boat, along the roof. Although, when the tap is on, the hose is more than long enough to reach a tap aft of pur stern, it starts rather shorter and can be unwieldy as the pressure is turned up. Eventually we were connected and the tank started to fill. There was a false start when Mike failed to spot that the initial rush of pressure pulled the end of the hose out of the filler!

All was done just in time for our planned excursion to the parish church in nearby Brinklow village. We have been before and as always they are a smallish congregation, but making that up with a very warm welcome. There was a chance for a longer chat at the end over coffee and biscuits which they manage to serve each week. They do have a Cafe Church once a month in the village hall with a wider range of calorific eatables but that is the first Sunday in the month, not this week.

After we left we drove directly to Lidl in Rugby. We probably made the wrong call as the store in Coventry is a bit closer to the village but perhaps not so different as he distance between the one in Rugby and the marina. This store has an undersized car park so there was competition for each space (some of which are tricky to get into) but we were rather lucky when Christine spotted someone leaving about the easiest slot!

Once we had returned to the boat and transferred our haul, the outside door remained firmly shut for the rest of the day, apart from a few trips half a metre to the veg box in one of the stern lockers!

At times during the day we wondered what might happen but at least here we are some distance from any trees. The wind would have been intimidating if we had been needing to make a move any time during the day.