Ever southwards

 

After the hubbub of London it is wonderful to return to the tranquility of the canals.    However it was a good visit to London to see Emma, Dave and granddaughter Kensa.    The journey up was interesting with cancelled trains and loos on station that were not open!   But eventually arrived and managed to watch the Wimbledon ladies and mens finals over the weekend.  Luckily the tennis didnt clash with the football on the Sunday.   Not that I was watching the football

I often wonder what some of these strange looking boats are like down below....

Club bridge night for me on Tuesday, followed by friendly bridge Thursday afternoon and bridge match in the evening.   Online bridge since lockdown has been wonderful for me.   Normally I cant play all summer when we are away but since everthing is online at the moment and internet has improved it is great.   In addition I have at last managed to get unlimited data on my contract so even better.

Afternoon stroll with the kids

Milton Keynes proved to be a much nicer place to moor than I remembered from 13 years ago.    The town/city may be a sprawling mass but it is surrounded by large ares of parkland...It was so congenial we stayed over a day on the 48 hour moorings opposite Campbell Park.   Lots of toing and froing as it was in the middle of Milton Keynes International Festival.   

An extremely kind lady offered me a lift to Sainsburys which was about one and a half miles away.  Topped up our fridge and caught a taxi back.

The following day Geoff decided to walk in but even he succombed and caught a taxi back....weather getting hotter,

Not particularly welcome visitors

They are better viewed from a distance when out in the crocodile stroll!

An early morning start on Friday (0730) as we wanted to find a congenial shady spot for our visitors later in the morning.

It took three attempts until we were satisfied.   Nice shady spot close to a pub where we could have a pint at lunchtime and they could park the car.

In the grounds of the pub car park was my kind of cow.

Bob and Rosie arrived for coffee and we spent an extremely pleasant day with pub at lunch time followed by lunch alonside Petroc.    All in the cool with a gentle breeze.

After their departure I continued in relaxation mode and saw this fellow just ahead of us.   He, or maybe she?, was certainly a huge heron.    I thought it was a statue at first.

 Early start planned for tomorrow as the weather promises to be even hotter and I dont function very well in the heat.