An update.

So yesterday, anticipating a longish stay here in Mountsorrel and needing a few supplies we headed into town. In the Nicholsons book a small general store was shown but could we find it? Even asking two of the locals they knew nothing about the store but they did point us in the direction of a newsagent selling a few groceries. Not ideal but milk and some veg could be purchased. During the walk back to FS, we noticed the 127 bus trundling along the road with the destination of Loughborough on the front. Ah... that may well be the answer to doing a decent shop. Somewhere to go during our delay at some stage. Better than sitting twiddling thumbs anyday.

Last night the river dropped by 2 inches. Fabulous news for the 'morrow we thought. Maybe even the possibility of making a dash for Leicester perhaps? So this morning Ian was up bright and early to check on conditions. The wind had increased slightly causing FS to bounce about a bit but we still had high hopes of getting underway. Before he even put the kettle on he took a look at the river app. And there it was, a depressing sight as the levels were still in the red, even after having the 2" drop. Now peeking at 1.15m, it made us realise how lucky we had been yesterday taking on the river at a height of 1.18m. Rain started soon after 8am, drizzle at first but turning into something much heavier. I came to the conclusion that staying in bed for another hour was a more favourable option than getting up to watch the rain and sulk.

A meal in the Waterside Inn for lunch was decided upon. We felt in the need of cheering up and this was the case when we were joined by our friends Lynda and Tony who lived nearby. I would have liked to recommend this eatery as the place was welcoming and the staff friendly and quick to take our order. But it seems our bad luck continued when it comes to pub fare as we waited for over 45 minutes for the food. An apologetic waiter then came to tell us he had been called away to change a beer barrel before processing our order and had clean forgotten to put it through on his return. When the meals did arrive they were delicious so maybe I will have to recommend the Inn after all.

Back on FS and it was evident there had been another rise in the levels. The app showed it now to be at 1.19m and still on the way up. Storm Gareth hasn't even reached us yet, that pleasure is still to come overnight! There is nothing for it but to ride out the storm, batten down the hatches and keep slackening the ropes. We could have one hell of a night in store!