To Welford (on the Avon)

After an evening spent enjoying the "Golden Hour" at the Olympics, but frustrated because we could hear, but not see, what seemed like a fantastic firework display nearby, we made another leisurely start this morning, when this was the view from the stern:

After an hour I was scuttling inside as the skies darkened and there was a torrential downpour.  Eventually it eased off enough for me to push a mug of coffee out to the Captain, then, with the speed of lightning we felt overdressed and overheated as the sun came out.

We decided to turn up the Welford Arm, moor at the end for long enough to see which medal Andy Murray would win, then meander back to moor back on the main line "somewhere in the country".
We actually stopped just short of Welford Wharf and walked up, first to the village shop (which is in Northamptonshire) and then back to the Wharf Inn (in Leicestershire), where we had a great lunch.

The county boundary is actually the Avon - the Warwickshire one - which rises a couple of miles from the village.  At this Welford it is all of 4ft wide!  It also bisects a delightful "Pocket Park" where we spotted Postman Pat

By the time lunch was over, I found out from my Olympics mobile app (yes, I am that sad) that Murray had already won the first set, so we hurried back to the boat.  Disaster! - no TV signal!  So we decided to move off back to the main line and hopefully find a better mooring, where we could also spend the night.

The Welford Arm was gorgeous - even quieter and more remote-feeling than the main line.  It has just one lock which I think is one of the beautifully located we've seen - does need a lick of paint though...

Note the blue skies?  Twenty minutes later it was chucking it down again, with lightning for good measure.  Still at least we would have our waterproofs on ready for drips in Husband's Bosworth tunnel.....which was completely dry.

The canal was very much closed in with trees for the next few miles, which was not conducive to good TV reception,  so eventually we had to resort to my App for the news which had two sixty-plus boaters jigging about on the stern shouting "Yesss!!"

We then wondered if Andy Murray actually does better when we are not watching him on a boat - a theory which came closer to being proved when we eventually moored for the night and joined the mixed doubles at the start of the second set.

We are "somewhere in the country".  Think it's probably Leicestershire as we haven't crossed the Avon again.

13 miles, 2 locks (1 x 2), 1 tunnel