Kerry, Phil, Ben, Sam and Joe Visit.

Monday 27th August, 2012 at Crofton and Bedwyn.
A cloudy day, with rain forecast throughout. Our visitors today were our next-door neighbours from Reigate, Kerry and Phil and their three boys Ben (7), Sam (5) and Joe (4). Thankfully, the weather turned out to be better than forecast with only the odd shower rather than continuous rain. They arrived just after 10am, and over tea and coffee we had our traditional "Badge Ceremony", each of us picking a badge from the box. We have a dozen badges ranging from "Captain", through "Tiller Girl" and  "Gate Crasher" to "General Dogsbody."
Then we set off on the same trip as yesterday towards Crofton Pumping Station.
Everybody had a turn at steering MM.

There were predictably fewer people at the Pumping Station but the staff were very happy because Sunday had been a great financial success for them. David, one of the engine "drivers" told M that all the cakes and pies were baked on the premises and, having sold out completely on Sunday, they had stayed up all Sunday evening baking more cakes and pies for Monday! All the "crew" are volunteers in the cafe and in the engine house.
We had lunch in the cafe again. Joe decided to have a jam sandwich and we were surprised to see that it came with the usual salad accompaniment!

We told the children not to touch anything but we don't think that Joe did as he was told!

After lunch, we all toured round the engine house. We are getting to know it quite well now and getting to know some of the volunteers.

We set off back to Bedwyn with the boys helping at the locks, They were able to open the gates but, not surprisingly, found the paddles a bit too difficult.
There were no moorings back at Bedwyn but Karen and Jim on "Ruffian" had said that we were welcome to moor up alongside them - so we did.
We all had tea, coffee and cakes and then walked them back to their car and waved them off. They said how much they had enjoyed their day.

Later, Karen and Jim arrived back from their walk to The Swan at Wilton and we invited them to join us on MM for a drink. A drink turned into a bit of supper and lots of laughter, so they stayed the whole evening with us. We really enjoyed their company and hope to bump into them again as we progress up the K&A and on to the Thames.
Today: 3 miles, 8 locks and 3.9 hours.
Trip: 234 miles, 235 locks and 196.3 hours (347.4 total).