Aliens, frost, birds and a presumptuous bumble bee.

Me and my big mouth, England played like a bunch of ............(Insert non pc description of choice). at least we have the championship.

But what a beautiful day yesterday was. I woke up to see that an alien spacecraft had landed, but by the time I had my glasses on it had turned into an animal feed silo, clever chaps, these aliens.

The early morning walk was a glory of white,

Even the coltsfoot was rimed with frost.
After breakfast we set out to stretch our legs, up the towpath to be greeted by

this chap, shouting his joy to the world. Actually he was saying "This is my tree and I'll thump anyone who comes near it", but why let facts get in the way of a bit of whimsy?
Up the towpath and over the graceful arch of the turnover bridge at bridge 26.

It was here that we encountered the first bumble bee of the year, in fact it made a determined effort to to crawl inside the collar of Jill's shirt but was rapidly evicted and buzzed of, presumably to find somewhere more welcoming. We also saw a small tortoiseshell butterfly, another first for the year.

We left the canal at bridge 29 and wandered down country lanes to Church Eaton and then back to the boat.

They don't like bends on the Shroppie.