Bartimaeus

We followed our walk with a very enjoyable cycle ride. The butterfly count didn't have any photography, as we bumped along the paths. I just remembered what I saw. We had seen a few damselflies in that area too. It was perfect weather for a bike ride.

We had been to the shop at the bridge before we left and bought a brick for their wall, every little helps, and I bought some miniature cookery books as Nye seemed to have liked ones I had bought before. They had one of Boating Recipes - Traditional Cabin Fare. I might have to try one of those, though I don't expect I will be bothering with steak and kidney pudding (takes too long) or wood pigeon with mushrooms.... I would be skipping the pigeon anyway, and they also take a while to cook according to the recipe. I guess they give a lot of flavour for a small bird. A few were designed for a slow cooking stove, that is on all day anyway, rather than an all electric boat with fast high energy cooking.

Today we were eating out on our daytrip. After lunch at Moira, we found a track that took us to a Lake. We stopped at a place with benches. I briefly sat at a bench recently adorned with flies. The bench was in memory of a woman who had died young, in her thirties, a few years ago. I guessed the flowers were there as it was not all that long since her birthday in July and she had been brought flowers, like I had, lilies too. It is a lovely spot for a wee rest.

The lake was tranquil and had grebes and coots diving. Shane thought the coot was a second grebe, and I am sure there was more than one, and it is confusing judging the size of birds lover the wide stretch of water. The birds looked tiny.

It looked a long walk round, but a short cycle so we added a circuit of the lake to our itinerary. A couple of girls one on a skateboard and the other on roller skates, made short work of the circuit and passed us for the second time while we were reading the history of pottery.

The sign told us the the clay diggers and pottery or kilnworkers had a tough life with little money, but a strong sense of community. The village was named after the Prince Consort, but by others it was known as the village of Borra Nock from the practise of knocking on the neighbour's door to borrow something you needed.

We returned to the cafe for a drink and in my case an ice cream. A man opposite came to chat and began addressing us both about women having a reputation for nagging. I was chilled enough not to bristle and take it as banter, then he addressed me and said he wanted me to nag my husband. He had recently recovered from prostate cancer and was now proselytising by telling every man and woman to get their menfolk checked out and urging them to go to the doctor - the earlier the better to catch it while it's still small. He was on a mission to save lives. He said his best audience was the WI who all were keen to tell their families. I told him I knew it was very common and knew people who had been successfully treated and Shane was able to tell him he was in favour of early cancer treatment and was still being scanned himself. He moved on to speak to others.

There were two more of the info sculptures and as we were reading one I chatted to a woman collecting berries. She was cheerful, seeing lots but finding she was too small to reach them - all the ones left were all too high. 

The land has purposely been replanted with trees and was now a beautiful wood. The Bath Yard basin was now part of a park with many paths and children's attractions.

We met the berry gatherer again later. She had tried reaching from the bridge, with no success and wished she had a litter picker, to reach the branches and pull them down, though she did eventually get a decent quantity in her tub, as we cycled past her later. "Every mickle maks a muckle" as they say (but not as much as they used to).

We swung past Measham on the way back as it had a hardware shop. The drier for "smalls" that I bought four years ago is disintegrating and losing pegs so I wanted another. There was one (it said 'sock drier', but I use it for all the little light things - pants, bras, handkerchiefs) which looked identical to what we had. I hope to find something more robust, but may be it would have done. Shane spent the journey back planning a design that he could make himself.

We saw more of the paint roller handles that we find useful for getting things like a rope or chain that are below us and may have sunk. I thought after my recent guddling that a longer handled one would be useful and a spare wouldn't harm. No sooner had I unwrapped it and put it away than I saw a ladybird next to the boat on the surface o the water.

I went to get it out and Shane went to get the very implement. As it was on the surface the extra long handle wasn't required. This is the littlest thing we have rescued from the canal and needed precision operation. 

He brought it to the bank and when I looked to see how it was faring. It was fine and I saw that in that small patch were lots of little lady birds. They all seemed to be 7 spot ladybirds and I counted seven of them altogether. 

The next day we headed backwards to the end of the navigable part of the Ashby, that we hadn't been able to reach last time. There was plenty weed to be seen but careful drifting over the worst and perhaps luck meant we managed to keep the prop relatively clean and no weed hatch clearing was required. 

Shane got a pic of me at the bridge, once we were through it as the bridge is a recognisable feature for the silver propeller location. I wanted one at the very end at the stern. Surprising how satisfying that little drive to nowhere felt.

We now went on forwards and this time I got to operate the swing bridge as no staff were around. It was pretty stiff to shift but I got it open. I couldn't get it quite back to place. It was good enough to use safely but I asked Shane to give just a little extra shove to move it the last inch to close it fully.

As we went along, we were keen to see if the tree had been cleared that I had reported. There has been some confusion with them thinking it was in a different place and I had updated the information. The customer support team were looking for feedback and I felt that little job could not be done until we saw if the way was clear or not. It wasn't a complete blockage though so may not be a high priority. As we approached we could see the way was indeed clear already.

Looking to the side we could confirm that we hadn't mistaken the bridge number and a tree had been thoroughly dealt with. Another little thing off the to do list.

As we approached the bridge before our happy place that we had been in for a few days before, I saw the cows were joined by a donkey but it looked pretty tiny in the distance.

We arrived back at our swallows spot and moored up. It was slightly altered. There were some smaller birds. A few baby swallows were waiting for parent support in the tree opposite but as well as them in the same tree and the bridge were gold finches, just as entertaining. In with the cows, and calves, was a bull.

My lilies were wilting. As I went to bed one collapsed leaving the table with a liberal dusting of pollen. I believed the pollen could stain considerably so I made sure to wipe it all up very carefully and remove others that looked ready to fall. The lilies were the largest and splendid while they lasted, but the shortest lived of the flowers, once open. The littlest purple flowers were still exactly as they had been at the start. The next day I sorted through taking all the roses that were past their best and remaining flowers and putting them in the hedge.

Our plan for that day was to walk to the Battle of Bosworth visitor centre. Once off the towpath we met some more cows and calves clustered at a gate. The black calf was snoozing.

On the way we passed a plant sale and honesty box. It was a small stall and Shane did doubt whether they believed in people's honesty with signs around saying there were CCTV cameras watching. The plants were tempting and the little one in a teacup looked particularly cute but I wasn't going to carry them around all day.

It was a pleasant walk picking nuggets of information along the way, accompanied by short Shakespearean quotes from Richard III. The Bosworth Battlefield Heritage Centre was packed with different displays. It has taken a great deal of guesswork and a variety of theories to decide on where they think the battle took place. There were names of nearby places mentioned in contemporary accounts but no detail and as the battle was short and the spoils removed from bodies, there was not a lot of evidence left. There was a display of very little fragments found of buckles and coins found by metal detectors. In many cases the numbers beside them were bigger than the exhibit.

Our passes last a year and I would happily revisit as there are a few little details I have not read or remembered. Outside a large sundial display was a place for a brief seat before going back and completing the trail on the way home. Shane has a Lancastrian and Welsh background so this seat suited him well.

The next day we had the Battlefield Line to visit. There were steam and diesel trains and a variety of compartments. We had plenty time to take in refreshments and the Victorian cafe attendant with shiny shoes recognised me, or my voice. The main advertised event was the model railway exhibition. The detail in the layouts  was amazing. Some were fictitious and others replicas of real train layouts.

Some had sound effects and one group gave us details on how they hand made everything from up cycled products. The life-like miniatures were fascinating. The tiny circular saw in the saw mill spun round, the 'gravel' from the quarry travelled down working conveyor belts. The corrugated iron is corrugated cardboard.

One of the men made a joke of showing his best side when he saw me taking photos and I explained they were all decapitated and not in the picture but he then showed how the pieces were made and also explained they were working on a working model of the boat lift that had been made at Foxten to compete with trains and replace the locks. 

We had plenty of opportunities for refreshment throughout the day in different places and completed our day in the buffet car, though it was not serving food. 

On the way home we met Casey (not Jones) and Charlotte wearily walking their bikes. Shane proposed they come to where he had tools. It was the wrong direction but the prospect of a shorter walk and fixed bike and the offer of a drink and biscuit, made them decide to follow us back to the boat. We had a lively conversation and it was lovely to see how the very small offer of tea and plain biscuits and a puncture patch made for a very happy time. It was a pleasure to meet them. The thorn in his tyre was long, but the puncture was small and easily fixed.