Mud, Mud, Glorious Mud

I think it's fair to say that Winter is definitely upon us.
This summer, the HNC towpath has been resurfaced, but I'm not 100% convinced that this new surface stands up to the wet weather any better than the old one did.

The old one did have a few puddles that you could skirt around, but didn't turn into an unavoidable quagmire like this.

Rufus and Ava don't seem to mind the mud though.
Pictured below is the old surface two locks up on the same day, you can see the difference.