No particular hurry

We're heading for Kinver to get Wilson's to look at the pram hood cover. But we're in no particular hurry. So we allowed a few boats to pass as we packed up this morning, and then followed them at a leisurely pace. It was all very pleasant. The only excitement was at one of the bridge / sharp bend combinations on this stretch, where a 35-footer was approaching far too fast what was, for them, a blind corner. I saw their bows appearing, slowed and tooted. They slammed on the brakes, slid to the outside of the bend and didn't seem very aware of the difficulties with the angles they were creating as we came through. La-de-da and lackaday – what did it matter on a nice, sunny morning?

In spite of going at a relative dawdle, we nearly caught up the boat in front as they were about to enter the quarter-mile narrows on the run down to Autherley Junction. We'd noticed when they passed earlier that they had a Silsden boat – we got to know their base in Yorkshire pretty well last summer.

They're a long way from home if they really are hiring. But perhaps they bought a retired boat and hadn't yet got round to removing the Silsden Boats plaques on the side. Anyway, they and we came through the narrows without meeting anything coming the other way. We needed to visit the supermarket, so tied up on the armco just beyond bridge 67.

I still remember finding this spot the first time we came this way. We could hardly believe we were in Wolverhampton!

There's a large area of grass and trees between the canal and the Pendeford estate – it's all very pleasant. So after a walk to Morrisons and back we ate some lunch in the shade of a tree – and then the downpour came. It was all positively Brazilian and we felt justified in deciding to stay put. After all, we're in no particular hurry!