Bartimaeus

I had stopped knitting for a bit in the heat. Now that the baby was born I needed to crack on with the cardigan. An afternoon when Shane was busy on his virtual meet up call was a good time to sit in the shade and get on with it. Two or three people stopped to ask about and complement the knitting, as they walked by and two or three stopped to ask about the dragon or name Bartimaeus. It was a chatty towpath.

I had to use the next ball for the second sleeve but it looked a different colour, though I had bought them both at the same time. It was less obvious once it was washed, slightly changing the overall texture. I pinned it out on a towel, on a cushion to dry overnight, but cotton is slow to dry and in the morning I removed the damp towel and I laid it in the sun with books to help it stay balanced.

Later as the sun got higher I put it on the back hatch and it dried there very fast, with a breeze to help it. The pattern is called button stitch but I hadn't got the buttons on yet. The buttons looked a different colour than they had in the shop, but they went well enough.

When I had stopped dealing with the cardigan, we went out for lunch on a cycle ride. The cafe was also attached to the post office and I hesitated going to the toilet, as walking through a post office didn't seem the right thing to do. I had a surprise in the toilet as there was a picture of a tandem in there.

On the way back we stopped by some horses having a drink that we had whizzed by earlier, when lunch was beckoning. One came over to say hello with me.

Shane had a notion to call in to the unit where Bartimaeus was made as it was near. We met Sean again, who had helped get the boat on the lorry when we left it over winter, and the secretary, Kerrie we had never met, greeted us enthusiastically and Paul chatted away with me about boats and steering in the Stourport basins, and Rob chatted to Shane about the heating and arranged for Paul to see us next day. Shane talked to Simon about programming. Caroline had arranged paint for us to take away, and Paul looked out pipe insulation. It was a most pleasant and fruitful stop and good to see where all the Ortomarine magic happens.

We had another stop when the level crossing we had slipped over without a pause on the way to lunch was now in full red flashing light mode. We joined the queue of assorted vehicles.

Paul requested we stop by the pub to check parking the van there in the morning was okay. Apparently previous owners had not always been happy about non customers using the space but the new ones had seemed very friendly - stil we promised to check and were only too happy to sit in the garden with a couple of beers, mission accomplished.

The next day after Paul had done his work of moving the greaser for the grease gland, we were headed for another lunch out and on the way I saw a new notice on the towpath. They are taking the reports of wild animal harming with a catapult seriously, even if they haven't caught the culprits.

We had a successful lunch stop, third time lucky at The Windlass and got offered free home made bread pudding! We had eaten enough but it was bagged up and we snacked on it later, very tasty.

I was about to package up the cardigan when I took a notion to try to knit a hat. The cardigan was quite big so no rush, and I had a lot of left over cotton and a hat is quite quick, so I picked the needles up again. The pattern I found was quite plain and seemed more like a general guide with a few pointers on how to do it, rather than a detailed description, or specific sizing, so I am winging it a little and adding in my own patterning!

We needed water though, so after a relatively long stop, for us, of a full week, at the Bird In Hand in Stourport, we set off quite late in the day. There were two locks between us and the water. I worked the first lock while some startled ducklings leapt out of the water after mum, and then after Bartimaeus had passed they all leapt back in again and went on their way. Shane worked the second lock, in the pretty sandstone cut through. Water was not far away just at Kidderminster. Just round the corner, we stopped for the night.

The next day we had the tandem out again. Shane had a plan to go on the steam railway from Kidderminster to Bridgnorth Station and then visit Ironbridge. We have been to Ironbridge by tandem before. We had an enjoyable outing but on the way back there was an unscheduled longer stop at Bewdley. The fire service were tackling a fire. Their hoses were across the tracks, so we were waiting till they were done. Staff (volunteers) distributed water to the passengers as the train was hot. We were permitted to get out on the platform. It was a fair bit of tourism for the vehicle enthusiast, and there were plenty of those aboard the steam train. The passengers didn't much mind the stop at all.

We were considering cycling from Bewdley to Kidderminster in stead, when we were told to get back aboard and we got going again safely back, just over an hour later than expected.