Bartimaeus

Shane’s plan for the day involved checking the towpath quality and looking for another double duvet, in advance of visitors joining us tomorrow. We also took out recycling with us to make use of a recycling facility en route, as recycling rubbish can be difficult on the canal and we’d found no such facility for several weeks.

It was a sunny day and it felt good to be in a summer top.  The towpath is of variable quality, better for walking than cycling on this stretch. Things improved once we left the canal. I had thought the trip was going to be shorter than it was, and was getting hungry. We reached Southport and found fish and chips widely available, so enjoyed a traditional seaside lunch, seated in a pedestrian area and near a busking saxophonist.  

Southport was clearly a big attraction in its heyday. I thought it had the fanciest public toilets ever, but turns out to have been seawater baths, no longer open.

We’d managed to locate and fit a duvet in the pannier so then went on to tour the promenade. Lots of people were still enjoying the delights of the funfair and a sunny day. Though the baths aren’t open, more recent statues and attractions had been added.

We shared a bag of hot doughnuts, the smell was irresistible. We didn’t indulge in the giant swan pedalo as the price for two people in the 4 seater wasn’t that appealing when we were going to spend all day pedaling and all evening on a boat anyway. But use of various craft on the “lake”was popular.

The sun stayed out on the way home but we got caught in a couple of showers towards the end, as forecast. We sheltered briefly under trees.The sun still shone now and then, so we were treated to a couple of fine rainbows and arrived back dry.

A quick trip for water and pump out and we are back where we started and more ready for our guests, with a very enjoyable day behind us.