Sunday, June 23, 2013

Don't know why there's no sun up in the sky,

Stormy weather. Blimey, it's breezy.

Last night we cruised up to Hopwas where we had a meal at the frantically busy Tame Otter pub. No that's not an otter that is tame, Tame is the river nearby.

I'm a bit peed off be.cause after a week of not moving , I forgot to tighten the stern greaser and no,w we have 20mm of water in my previously dry bilges. Not enough for the bilge pump to get at. Must tighten up the gland .

Today the forecast was for strong winds and heavy showers, so we whimped out of cruising and instead we took the bus into Lichfield, mainly to see the famous three spired cathedral. And very good it was too.

The building itself is pretty unique and the contents even more so. They have the St Chad Gospel which is the oldest book in England still in regular use. About AD 670 if memory serves me right, and in pretty good nick too. The pages are of course vellum and we were told that a very large number of animals did the decent thing and donated their skins for the purpose.

Then there is a sample of bits from the Staffordshire Hoard which I am sure you know all about, and some very old wall paintings and loads and loads of wood and stone carvings and filigree metalwork to marvel at. What made it even better was that the organist was having a practice and really giving it some welly. I think the lady said that the organ had over 2000 pipes. Anyway it sounded fab.

Lichfield is only a short bus ride from the moorings at Hopwas and worth the trip, even on a cold wet day like today. Lots of nice old buildings.

The forecast for tomorrow is better so we'll be on our way, and when we turn left at Fradley, we'll be on water new to us for the first time on this trip.

And so to the photos, starting with one of Kath pointing to the weather report.









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