This is probably my least favourite day of the year, the day that presages the end of summer and the beginning of autumn. Not all bad though as it marks the end of the main holiday season for boaters so it is also the start of a less busy and frantic waterway. I had two hire boats getting in to trouble right outside my boat yesterday, rushing to get back to their home base before close of play.

Off to Ellesmere on the No53 bus. Arrived, picked up my prescription from the pharmacy. Quick jog round to Tesco to get Onken on offer and some other goodies. Jogged back to the bus station where I caught the 499 to Oswestry which arrived with five minutes to spare before catching the No53 (actually the same bus I caught to go to Ellesmere earlier) back to St Martins.

Spent some serious time planning a summer (autumn) holiday. Criccieth out of the question, Seahouses out of the question, Alnick out of the question. Beginning to lose hope as the weather is awful for all of those places for the next week or so. Break for lunch. Investigated anywhere in Devon, Dorset, Cornwall that has good bus and train links. AI turned up Penzance and St Ives (and the surroundings). We eventually settled on St Ives and then frantically investigated train journeys and tickets to and from St Ives before booking the penthouse and rushing off to Gobowen to get the tickets, maxing out my credit card in the process. Looking good, we just have tomorrow to prepare as we are setting off at the crack of dawn on Saturday.

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