Bartimaeus

When we reached Vines Park, I was pleased to see that a spot we had moored at a number of times before was vacant.  It is only a short walk from the high-quality supermarket (other supermarkets are available, but further away) over one of the swing-bridges that are a feature of the park.

Previous stays here have been punctuated by the noise of large cygnets learning to fly by rushing from one end of the park to the other.  I was disappointed on the first night that there seemed to be no swans at all.

In the morning though I heard the unmistakable wheep-wheep-wheep of a brood of cygnets approaching.  I don't know if these are the same parents who were in charge last time, but the cygnets are certainly newcomers and are not going to be waking anyone with flight practice for some weeks yet.  I was delighted to see them.

We stocked up and finished various administrative tasks before going for lunch in a cafe we had remembered.  We were pondering when to move when Paul got in touch asking if we were available for a visit.  We agreed that he and Richard would join us the following day, so that also finalised any decision about moving on.

Before our guests arrived, we turned Bartimaeus round so that we would be ready for an afternoon cruise.  Clare operated both of the swing bridges in the park once in each direction, waiting at the second one while I winded at Netherwich Basin.

We met Paul and Richard at the station and brought them to Bartimaeus through the park.  Clare prepared a salad lunch which we ate on deck chairs in the shade of the nearby tree - inside the boat was uncomfortably hot by then.

Despite the heat, we set off on our cruise.  Starting from the park, the only short cruise available is back through the interesting lock fixtures towards the marina.  Our visitors were pressed in to service operating the locks

We are now very familiar with the foibles of this stretch of canal which was full of surprises when we first set off five years ago.  Despite the familiarity we saw a new sight, an egret on the side of the canal.

I couldn't resist the novelty of being able to use my phone to instruct Bartimaeus to set off out of one of the locks, but I hopped on and drove in a more conventional manner before we had left the lock (steering isn't currently available in this mode!).  I winded in the marina entrance and we returned to the staircase lock.  On our way up, we had met a lone boater going down.  He was just exiting the bottom as we returned and was surprised to see it was us again.  I was able to give him a small amount of assistance, but he was making excellent time on his own.

We came back through the tricky lock with a bridge over it but negligible drop to find that our preferred mooring was still vacant.  Our slow pace in the bright sunshine meant that we arrived back with the batteries at 100% -  a free ride!

By the time we'd moored up it was time to find some dinner.  Clare and I hadn't yet sampled pub meals in Droitwich, but we'd noticed a few handily placed on the route towards the station.  We were all satisfied with the options at the first of these, and pleased to find the beer "garden" included some tables on a rooftop in the warm sunshine.

Suitably refreshed, we headed back to the station and waved our guests off. It was great to see them again.