January 10th – Passing through Chasewater on the kind of bright, chilly winter day I’d been hoping for. Sadly no frost, and horrendously muddy, but I saw some deer, and on my return, a great sunset over the dam.

I noted that the water level had been boosted by the recent rain – and the sense of keeping the reservoir at a middling level became clear: the water held her now isn’t being fed into the canal system and is being stored. Were it to overflow, the surplus would go directly into the River Tame via the Crane Brook and canal overflows. This way the pressure on the river is relieved a little.

Not a bad day at all.