Bartimaeus

Our journey from Edinburgh went very smoothly.  With the festival over, the walk to the station was not the fight through the crowds it would have been a week ago.  We were early enough to stop for a short chat when Cath waved to us from the window of her office.

Our train in to Birmingham was a few minutes late, which meant it was definitely not worth trying to dash for our next train.  We couldn't miss "Ozzy" the giant bull sculpture we'd noticed when we were going the other way.  While we waited for a clear shot with nobody in front, he started to roar, move his head and flash his eyes.

We've previously bought groceries between trains when returning this way, but today we had a different plan.  The short walk from Lapworth station to Bartimaeus took us right past the village shop, and I had already established it would still be open.  We were able to pick up a few essentials including milk as we passed.

We'd left the fridge on while we were away as we were confident of enough solar power to run it.  We'd agreed that the milk wouldn't keep, but neither of us had actually thrown it away.  One of my first jobs when back on board was to deal with that.  It was clearly not at its best, but didn't seem close to gaining self-awareness.

The weather has changed while we've been away.  In contrast to the last few months we now sometimes have to wait for showers to pass.  On the first morning we set off the way we were pointing, knowing that we would have to turn back.  We didn't have to wait long before we spotted a kingfisher flying ahead.

As we went slowly past moored boats approaching the Knowle Locks, somebody on a boat asked if we were wanting water.  We were, and were told that was fine as they had just filled up - a slightly confusing message.  I hoped it would became obvious if we waited, and it did.  There was a very long hose running along the hedge, used by the permanently moored boaters.  We now knew we could ignore the cardboard sign asking us to leave it on and hook our hose up instead.

Once the tank was full, we moored Bartimaeus on the lock moorings (nobody can use the locks just now) and went in to the village of Knowle looking for lunch.

The first cafe we saw, looked and smelled enticing, but we were met at the door and told the kitchen was closed (it was already after 2pm).  Another cafe was available which, though crowded, provided us with an excellent lunch.  One staff member mentioned that she couldn't wait for the kids to go back to school.

The following day was very wet.  We waited for a good time to go back in to Knowle for lunch at the first cafe - and it was excellent too.  Our timing wasn't perfect as the drizzle got quite heavy as we were walking back to the boat, but we did see a kingfisher whizz by.

I got an update from Canal and River Trust about the South Stratford Canal.  It isn't fully open yet, but three pounds at our end have re-opened.  The closure is ten miles and fifteen locks away, so perhaps we can start to head that way.

Today there were even more frequent and heavy showers so we mostly stayed inside until mid-afternoon despite the bright, even hot, spells in-between.  I heard and then saw the kingfisher again in the sunshine.  We eventually decided we'd waited long enough and set off down the towpath looking for the pub.

We passed the first pub because I was interested in the boat lift at the Black Buoy Cruising Club.  I'm still keeping an eye out for options in case the water levels drop further.  The marked weight limit of 30 tons wasn't going to be a problem, but we don't think it's possible to get a narrowboat out of the gate at the end of their premises.

We had a look inside the Black Boy Pub, but I didn't fancy it for some reason, so we headed back to the King's Arms, arriving just as the next shower started.  By the time we'd finished our drinks, the sun was out again so we didn't have to wait to return to Bartimaeus.