Pam and Trevor at Crofton Pumping Station.

Friday 24th August, 2012 at Crofton Pumping Station.
A much cooler morning; what a contrast to last weekend when Saturday was the hottest day of the year. The weather has certainly had a "yo-yo" effect this summer.
Our friends Pam and Trevor from Aylesbury visited us today. We got to know Pam when we used to visit Kingsground while MM was being built last year. She works at Waitrose on the M40 where we always stopped to buy cakes and biscuits for "our lads."  Pam and her husband Trevor came down to Guildford last year and we took them out for a short trip, but Trevor always said that he would have liked to try more "driving" so we planned a trip for him to "drive" this afternoon.
At midday, they arrived at the Crofton Pumping Station, where we were waiting for them in the cafe, sampling the excellent cakes sold there. They started off with a tour of the Pumping Station, which was venting excess steam but was not yet fully operational. After that we returned to MM, which was moored close by and we set off towards Bedwyn. Trevor did most of the steering between the locks and Pam had a go too.

They both did very well and Trevor also helped a lot with the four locks on the way to Bedwyn. Between the second and third lock we stopped for a light lunch with an excellent bottle of wine courtesy of Pam and Trevor.  At Bedwyn we turned around and went back up the four locks again and returned to Crofton. A very gentle and enjoyable day.
In the evening we sat down and watched "Chariots of Fire," just a brilliant film, very moving and so appropriate after the Olympics.
Today: 3 miles, 8 locks and 4.3 hours.
Trip: 226 miles, 215 locks and 187.0 hours (338.1 total).