It’s now Wednesday morning and the water level has gone significantly, however we are still on a strong stream warning and the navigation is still closed to boaters.

Yesterday went very well for both Sally and I as we were both up early to make ready for our visitors. Now with the water having gone down a little we backed the boat up and topped up the tank from the standpipe, both making the most of copious supplies of hot water and having a long shower. With the boat all spick and span Jacinta, was the first of our visitors to arrive and soon had a nice coffee in her hand after the drive down. It was another hour before the others arrived, Peter and Pam, Sally’s Brother and wife, with Sharon and Jane her cousins from Calgary in Canada. Once the greetings were done it was on board for tea’s and coffee’s and the promised bacon and sausage sandwiches that had been requested by Peter, as  they had set off earlier from Hampshire, to later continue their journey on to Durham for the night. Having spent some time in Canada myself the conversation with Sharon and Jane came easy as we joked about Tim Horton’s coffee and a Tooke (a Canadian hat). The whole visit went well and with the food gone we left the boat to look around and took advantage of the photo opportunities.

Some nice greeting is that Peter

Arriving at the boat

Let me on too!!!

Coffee is on

Sharon

Left to right; |Socks, Sally, Jane, Peter, Sharon, Jacinta and Pam

Peter with all of his women

Final pose before leaving

Jane

Sadly this part of the visit was only a short one, for only after two hours they had to be back on the road to keep to their schedule to reach Durham that night and their hotel booking. So a quick dash by Jane to finish her coffee before we were all walking back to the car to say our goodbyes, the visit was all too short, but next time maybe. To you guys personally, thanks for coming, it was great to meet you both, enjoy your tour around the UK and we hope to see you again, somehow.

Jacinta, bless her planned to stay for the day so after a lot more chatting we made for the pub, for a drink and a meal at The Anchor Inn just up from where we are moored. The meal was well presented and we would recommend the place for a stopover, then afterward we sat outside in the sun, having a coke before coming back to the boat and preparing for a trip to Tesco in Bedford. Sally and Jacinta set off, leaving to sit Socks and the boat giving me a chance to write a few letters between taking Socks out for a walk. It wasn’t too long before they got back loaded down with shopping and whilst transferring the bags from the car to the boat, Sally did it again. She tripped and fell in the road, grazing her chin and hands in the process, so it was a bit of Medicare and attention from us. I guess she was concerned that Jacinta should not be carrying the bags and didn’t pay attention to the raised curb and tripped on it (I don’t think it was the beer).

At around 18.30 Jacinta headed off for her brothers and Sally and I settled down for the evening watching a bit of TV and chatting about the day. Now Sally has a good bruise on her chin and grazed hands, so I will have to spoil her for the rest of the day.

Hopefully we will be on the move again tomorrow toward St Neots, but we will have to see.

For those interested in the levels, the river has gone down about 10inches today.