Sunday 26th August, 2012 at Crofton and Bedwyn.
We awoke to a peerless morning, with mirror image reflections.
We walked up to the station to meet Emma, Charles and Penny from the train. It was lovely to see them. How Penny has grown!
Chris and Gay arrived by car soon after; lovely to see them too. After tea, biscuits and a family "catch up," we set off for Crofton Pumping Station. Penny (her badge reads "Cabin Boy"!) fell asleep on the floor while Charles and Chris "crewed" very competently.
Charles steered MM through a number of locks while R walked on the towpath (that's a first!).
Moorings at Crofton were in demand, but we managed to squeeze in at the far end by the bottom lock after winding (turning) by Crofton lock. The Pumping Station was buzzing with activity as one would expect on a bright and sunny Bank Holiday Sunday. We decided to have lunch first, before taking the tour, and managed to find a table in the crowded cafe for the seven of us.
This time, on the tour, we were able to wander around at will.
The two beam engines are run alternatively for an hour each. On the hour the second engine is started and the two run together for ten minutes before the first one is stopped. We watched the careful and laborious process of starting the engine. It apparently takes two years' training before you are let loose to start an engine on your own! M was astonished at how quiet they are when they are running.
After the tour, we sat on the grass and each had an ice-cream. We saw many boating friends there including Angela, Jim and Karen, and then to our delight we bumped into Lizzie and Richard from "Dragonfly." We last saw them in Bedwyn weeks ago on the way down. They had gone on to Bristol and had become trapped there by the closures - so it seems we did make the right decision to turn at Bath!
Gay joined the team "crewing" at the locks while R steered and we were soon back at Bedwyn in good time for tea and cakes before Emma, Charles and Penny caught the train back to London.
We had suggested to Gay and Chris that we should have dinner together in Bedwyn but one pub was still closed for refurbishment and the other wasn't serving food on a Sunday! What to do? The Royal Oak at Wootton Rivers was favourite but it was 8 miles away and Chris had bought the Porsche. Necessity being the mother of invention, we discovered that you
can get four people into a Porsche!
At the Royal Oak, dinner was as good as ever (the second time this week!).
As we came out, the moon was bright above us, waxing into her third quarter, and we all stood for a moment remembering Neil Armstrong who died today.
Today: 3 miles, 8 locks and 3.3 hours.
Trip: 228 miles, 219 locks and 189.1 hours (340.2 total).
No comments:
Post a Comment