Jenny’s Visit

 

At last a state visit from one of our Cardiff ladies! Jenny comes by train . . first to Rugby and a trip to the Merchant’s Inn for a pie & a pint

Back to the boat – the flags are out!

Wednesday and a trip to St Peters, Marefair, Northampton see http://www.fostp.org.uk/the-building/  

A magnificent church and so much history. It is not open to the public but you can ring them and ask to view, collecting the key from a nearby hotel. We then went on into town and visited All Saints, a much different church but quite splendid too.

Further refreshments were sought out at another historical location, the newly restored Phipps Brewery, where had lunch and sampled Phipps beer and one of their gins!

Through the window, the brewery in action . .

Then home for a nap, I think!

Later that day . . . a walk to meet Jenny, who was walking in a dead straight line from Crick to meet us . . . with a spot of rain and a rainbow

Yes, the pot of gold at the base of the wind turbine . .  well it is making money!

And what’s that in the field . .  ? 

Yes, this is a hare!

After a brief “Where are you?” phone call, we met up with Jenny and strolled up Cracks Hill . . .

Good view from the top

Next day . . . off to Ashby St Ledger and the marvellous manor house and church (BVM and St Leodegarius!)

Famous for being the place where the conspirators of the Gunpowder plot met up! You get some dodgy folk around here!

So good to have the services of a pointy person to highlight the interesting bits

Impishly grinning from within

 

End of Summer Cruise#2 – Day62

 

We stayed the extra day. The weather was good but no work was needed just time to relax. Met up with other boaters (Brindley & DulcieBlue) and watched satellite TV – it works!

Sunday, 3rd September, it was time to move off. Rain was forecast later so off we chugged the final few miles back to the marina – it’s about 80 minutes from bridge 27.

A dull & windy day

Back in our slot, B4. Odd cos there’s no one in B1, B2, B3 or B5, B6 or B7! Feels like we’re the plague ship. Nice though.

This shows how isolated we are . . . for the time being.

All tidied up, fenders stowed. Water taken on, rubbish off. Second batch of washing on the go. Combi oven transferred from the car to the boat.

It feels like we’ve been out forever but it’s just 2 months. It’s good to be home. A brief rest before we head down to Ubley (check on our lock-up and visit with David & Judith, helping out at the Chew Valley Beer Festival). The following week sees a rare visit from Cardiff! Then we head to Whitstable to visit family before heading to Mojacar in October for the winter . . . so busy, busy, busy . .ish.

So no more blogs for a while . . might report from Mojacar, who can say!

Thanks to all our readers. Thank you for your support – I shall always wear it 😉

Oh and Merry Christmas!

 

Summer Cruise#2-Day60/61

 

Decided to stay put. Very misty, moisty morning but forecast is for full sun and lo, for it came to pass! 20 amps plus pouring into the batteries. Lovely jubbly. Good decision. We’ve seen more Yelvertoft boats (Gordon on Cut Loose, Willow, Andante . . .) and all the paintwork is now dry, so pack away the paints and tidy up. Friday 1st September (Autumn starts?), cold start. Painted the well deck, twice. Then went for a long-ish walk around the area, through bean fields and then around the woods – discovered a giant wasp = hornet! Thought there might a nest but dismissed it. Found we couldn’t get any TV signal despite having watched a film (Film4 – The Big Game) last night. Something odd going on with my ickle black knob, the TV or the cable . . . sort it out later. Had toooo many G&Ts – for we have no wine, no beer and stocks are low on everything!!

Happy Anniversary to my Mum & Dad – 61 years today! Hurrah! No further telegram for the Queen but we do look back to last year’s fun with fond memories!  See blogs passim: Diamond Wedding

Saturday did prove to be warm and yes, there is a nest of hornets in the wigwam! Steve went back with the Boggle for a midday walk . . .

Not a very exciting photo but the edges of the well deck needed painting. All done now.

Viv captures the field and haystacks in the final rays of the sun plus a balloon.

This is the actual bridge 27 and that dog.

View of our boat in the distance across the fields . . . and one zoomed in . . .

Back in the cool of the woods – Toby hunts for Squirlies!

Hmm, that star filter in use again . . . dappled shade

Lots of evidence of badgers . . .

Meanwhile, Viv takes it easy and takes a call from Anne-Marie!

Here’s the alarming pix of the hornets nest, which we didn’t stir up but got close enough to take some photos. I did wonder why the wigwam was left deserted and the gardens around were left . . .

The wigwam in the middle of the woods and usually quite well hidden – most folk don’t know it’s here but I posted these pix on Twitter and told the Woodland Trust as we don’t really want any kids (or anyone else) poking around in here, thinking this is fun! They only attack if disturbed.