Bartimaeus

Nye had noticed a Portuguese cafe and shop at the basin and having been to many meals throughout his life at Kenny and Helena's, he has had  plenty of Portuguese fare and is perfectly at home with it. He proposed that we go to the cafe so we went there for lunch on his last day with us. Shane ordered a meal we had had before from Helena. In fact she had given Nye the recipe, but this version has olives added, so Nye didn't fancy that. In stead he chose something she had never made, but on being sent a photo, Kenny recognised it and called it "the famous Franceshina".

It is famous for being hard to finish as it is so filling. I communicated with Kenny about it and he said he had it each year on their visits to Porto, where Helena is from.

They gave Nye the leftovers in a box and said most people cannot finish it. Kenny can though, he says! We popped it in the fridge since we were still so near the boat and headed off to our Cathedral tourism. I hadn't expected the cathedral tour to include a multi-lingual poetry exhibition, with all the poems from local school pupils, who were, at least, bilingual. There is always a surprise to be had.

On the way back to the boat we found the fountains working, which was fun to watch, and I stopped to look at some street art. I don't know what the artist did, but it seems he sought forgiveness and was hoping to give something back to the city to make up for any distress caused. I hadn't come across such a message before.

Back aboard we saw another free art form. A woman was teaching some Indian dance, I am guessing, going by the style and music, but I am no expert. The class went on a long time.

Nye had some more of his Franceshina and I wrote a post card, and posted it in the postbox at the basin. Beside the postbox was a weighbridge. It is amazing to me that they had a way of weighing such large loads. It reminded me of the giant cheese scales that we had seen in the Netherlands on holiday at a re-enactment of old cheese markets. To engage their audience, people could be carted around by cheese carriers, wearing straw boaters, or weighed in the scales and have their weight broadcast to the crowds. Bryn and Nye went on together. Nye remembered it too.

We accompanied Nye to the station and he caught his train, starting his journey back to Edinburgh. We had another appointment of our own, in a few days, a meeting of electric boat enthusiasts. In the basin we could see a few other people might be aiming to get there too, but were taking the opportunity to visit Coventry. The one in front was an Ortomarine boat and another smart new electric boat was next to it.

We moved on the next day and got to the end of the Coventry canal. We were visited by a ladybird, a two spot, that made itself at home on my top. 

We had a very English meal in the pub at the junction and we both enjoyed spotting the boat whose name made us smile.

 We were back to seeing fluffy broods on the water. We needed to cover a few miles, but it didn't stop us enjoying the scenery. 

Shane was also getting messages from his friend Paul about meeting up as he had noticed he and Richard were within easy traveling distance. He hoped to meet us on the Thursday, the same day as we were to check in to the marina. Shane researched a pleasant park that might be an option for a meet up. We cycled there the next day and checked it out. The geese and ducks were short of water.

There was a hotel visible in the gardens but a gate through which only guests were allowed. It was a pleasant walk though and we had got ice creams at the café. 

While it had an English stately home feel, not all the plants were native. Shane was taken by the tall tree, a sequoia, or giant redwood. It was certainly giant. I couldn't get the whole of Shane and the whole of it in. 

Parakeets had made themselves at home too, squawking around from tree to tree. There was also a Go Ape there. For the uninitiated this is not an ape sanctuary or place to see a variety of primates. It is a high rope adventure for people in harnesses to go tree to tree too. We saw some people making their way through and weren't tempted. We didn't think Paul or Richard would be either but they might still enjoy a walk in the shade.