Bartimaeus

The repeated heatwaves of recent weeks have been replaced by less extreme weather.  After a few cloudy days, I'd noticed that the batteries were not being fully topped up as they had been almost every day since we came back aboard.  I'd been along the towpath on shopping trips several times, so when we moved on I had a mooring spot or two in mind which would maximise our solar input.

Something else I'd noticed from the towpath was John's Garden on the other side of the canal.  As we cruised by we both read the sign that said it was open every Saturday - that was tomorrow.

After the third lock, we stopped to fill the water before moving on to the first of the possible moorings I'd identified.  It seemed very peaceful, despite the occasional squawk from the resident moorhen.  I got the folding bike out and cycled further along the towpath to the supermarket (other supermarkets are available, but not so close to the canal) to get some things for lunch.

This also allowed me to scope out the canal ahead.  I concluded that the next good mooring spot was further than we could enjoyably reach before the rain mentioned in the forecast.  We settled on staying put for a warm and sunny afternoon.  As evening approached, so did some very dark clouds.  We saw a man looking over the boat from the towpath and went out to see what he was looking at.  The rain was looking spectacular across the field opposite, but obscured by rushes from inside the boat.

The photographs don't fully capture the vivid rainbows at the leading edge of the storm, nor did we catch the lightning that started to flash shortly after.  The heavy rain moved over us soon after and the temperature dipped low enough during the evening that I closed all the windows in the saloon for the first time since we opened them when we boarded in June.

This morning was cooler than of late, but the blue sky and bright sunshine meant it warmed and dried very quickly.  It was only a mile's walk back to the entrance to John's Garden, and it was now Saturday, so we headed there.  We weren't sure how much there was to see, but most of the modest entry fee goes to a cancer charity, so we were prepared to risk it.  It was something of a culture shock to see so many plants that weren't brown!

The garden is the project of the eponymous John, the owner of the adjacent plant nursery.  He has a team of gardeners to look after it for him, and what a great job they do.

The site is surprisingly extensive, wrapped around the plant nursery and bordered by the canal.  The range of plants and styles was impressive - presumably running a plant nursery makes acquiring different plants easier.

I had thought we might be back on the boat for lunch, but it was nearly 2pm before we got back to the tearoom attached to the nursery.  We both enjoyed our lunch there too before returning to the boat, still basking in the sunshine.

It was again too late to comfortably reach the next sunny mooring, so we decided to stay another night.  I made a second visit to the supermarket so that we don't need to factor Sunday's closing time in to our plans for tomorrow.  While sitting out in the sunshine later, I saw a bird flying towards me.  "Kingfisher" I said to Clare as it shot by, a distinctive blue flash skimming low over the water.

The day in the sun has brought the batteries up significantly today.  The forecast for the next few days is almost as good, so we may get back to fully charged in the next day or two.