A Victorian Afternoon Tea.

Wednesday 08/08 in Bradford on Avon.
Early morning drizzle gave way to a warm and muggy day.
We were expecting Linda (M's former sister-in-law) and her husband Tony, to arrive from Salisbury and had given them directions to the parking near MM. We walked up to meet them and were very pleased to see that they had also brought Alexandra, Linda's Greek mother, with them too. None of them had ever been on a narrowboat before, so it was a voyage of discovery for them looking round MM and then going out on her for a short trip upstream.
Tony took the tiller very competently for a while until we came upon a boat coming the other way! We turned at the winding hole about 1.5 miles up stream and cruised back to the wharf. We had considered going on through the lock, but decided that we were all feeling a bit peckish, so moored up again and walked into the town.
We had spotted a lovely tea room during our reconnaisance two days ago and decided that it was the perfect place to take them. The "Bridge Tea Rooms" purports to be the most photographed in England, probably because it looks as if it is about to fall down; however, it has been there since 1675 so it will probably last a few years yet!

The Bridge House Tea Rooms.

We had the most splendid afternoon tea served by waitresses dressed as Victorian "tweeny" maids. It was really lovely to sit in such delightful surroundings spending time together just chatting.

We walked back to MM via the Tithe Barn and the towpath, then accompanied them back to their car.

It was very special to see them again and spend some time with them. We hope that they will come again to MM in the not too distant future.
Today: 3 miles, 0 locks and 2.6 hours.
Trip: 194 miles, 161 locks and 160.9 hours (310.9 total).