Few miles but hood completed

 A cute moth

We awoke to a morning which was dull and cool, and was heralded by clattering noises from behing the hedge next to Banjo. It soon became much noiser as a pile driver started up - we were moored next to the site of a new marina, and construction was in full swing. We moved off after breakfast, heading for our rendezvous with Hoodman.

 A fabulous house in Whittington

We moored in a spot in Whittington, which was near a bridge and which had somewhere for Hoodman to park hs car. We then called him, and gave him the details of how to find us. After about an hour, he duly appeared and got stuck in to what was forecast to be about 1.5 hours work. While he did this, we headed into the village to get some food fom yet another Co-op, returning to the boat to find work still in progress.

 The butty Australia, being towed by Kangaroo

Many boats passed us as work progressed, and we recognised many of them from the festival in Burton on Trent. Progressively, we were losing the advantage we had gained in setting off on Sunday, with the consequence that we would probably be behind them at the next lock. We perhaps shouldn't have worried too much since Hoodman was still working into the early evening! Finally the hood was finished and we bade Hoodman farewell, with a few helpful suggestions about work scheduling and communications!

 A strange door in a bridge

We set off at about 18:30, and travelled a few miles in the evening sunshine, with the aim of stopping just short of Tamworth.

 Cruising through a firing range

We passed through some beautiful woodland marred only by warning signs about the dangers of entering the firing range! We steered clear...

 A canalside pillbox

 The completed hood

We found a mooring in the country and tied up. By this time Banjo was covered in swarming flying ants. They were everywhere and started to swarm on us if we stood still. We re-build the hood which we had had to remove to pass through a succession of low bridges, and you can see it above in all its glory. We have a lot to learn about the handling of the hood, but it should make travelling in heavy rain a bit more pleasant. We plan to kick of early in the morning, putting in a long day to try to make up some lost time, and to slip past some of the boats which passed us today.

Hoodman

And finally, we include, by popular request, a picture of the illusive Hoodman. It isn't very clear, but like Bigfoot, he is notoriously difficult to capture on film!