Sequence: Wet - Wetter - Wettest - Today!

Friday 6th July, 2012, back at Bedwyn.
Oh, the vagaries of the English climate! The contrast with yesterday evening's gentle calm sunshine could not have been greater.

Last Night's Mooring (What a Contrast to Today!)

From our mooring last night, we sailed back to Bedwyn to pick up Alan and Pat who are "borrowing" our house while they are visiting our neighbours Grant (their son) and Katie for a month from their native New Zealand. Naturally, they had never seen an English canal so we had invited them down for the day.
They duly arrived by train from Reigate about 11.30 and we took them on a quick tour of Bedwyn village. Then the plan was to do three locks in two miles, turn and come back through the three locks back to Bedwyn railway station. However, by the time that they arrived, the rain had started and as we set off it got heavier. They bravely helped with the first lock in bare feet but by the time we left the first lock the rain was torrential and they very wisely returned to the dry warmth inside the boat. It was raining so hard that it was difficult to see more that a few yards but by the third lock it had eased off a little and was only pouring down (!). Both M and R were dripping wet. M went below and prepared some hot Bovril while R went down to the Winding Hole and turned round. Then we did the three locks back while the rain still pelted down and Alan and Pat watched fascinated from inside the boat.
Three and a half hours later, we were back where we started and moored up again. After wringing out our clothes and emptying the water out of our shoes, we had a late lunch of smoked salmon and cream cheese sandwiches and Bakewell tarts with tea and coffee.
While it certainly wasn't the day that we would have liked for Alan and Pat, it was undoubtedly an experience for all of us! Despite the weather, they appeared to have enjoyed themselves and they left on the 16:44 train back to Reigate
We had an early supper and made some contingency plans for the weekend with the Scouts in case the weather does not improve. The forecast is for heavy rain showers and sunshine - so anything is possible.
Today: 5 miles, 7 locks and 3.6 hours.
Trip:  137 miles, 7 locks and 107.7 hours (252.5 total).