Bartimaeus

Late on Wednesday afternoon, we passed through Stourton Junction.  This marked the point where we met up with a canal we have already been on.  This is actually the fourth time we have been on the section to Kidderminster because we used it as a day trip for our visitors in July.  We moored up in Kinver on the same moorings we had used previously.

Yesterday we stayed put as this was the rendezvous point for our overnight guests.  It seemed like good use of the time to continue with the cupboard project, though I was a little wary of making too much mess just before guests arrived.  However I found enough time to get the cupboard in place before their earliest likely arrival time.

Stuart and Wendy’s arrival in the “late afternoon” was scuppered by traffic jams.  By the time they arrived it was raining heavily and nearly dark.  They came aboard with various gifts – mostly consumable (and now largely consumed).  The gift of an enormous set of mixing bowls was more of a surprise – I looked with horror at the sheer volume!  Fortunately Clare quickly noticed that the two smaller bowls actually fit rather neatly in to our pan drawer – result!

Wendy has taken the largest one away again, and I am delighted with the others.  I’ll be making some bread in the medium sized one soon.  We had a very enjoyable blether, punctuated with a trip back to the car to bring the bikes under the pram cover for safe keeping overnight.

After breakfast, Stuart and Wendy continued on to visit friends who live nearby.  We hope they’ll join us again, and next time they might travel along with us.

The weather slowly improved through the morning, and we set off in the dry.  We were caught in a very brief shower outside Kidderminster and moored up in a nature reserve a little further south.