Tea and Unlimited Cakes!!

Saturday 25th August, 2012 at Great Bedwyn.
Dawn revealed the Pumping Station, above where we had moored last night, in a more sinister guise reminiscent of England's "Dark Satanic Mills."

After breakfast, we walked up to the Pumping Station as they were advertising a flower show and M hoped to buy some flowers for MM. The show was just being set up, but sadly the flowers were not for sale. However, it was very interesting to see the Pumping Station in the process of firing up and there were lots of chaps bustling about in white overalls looking very knowledgeable or standing in a sort of expert looking contemplation.

We are looking forward to seeing it in full operation tomorrow.
Moored up next to us was nb "Free Phase" with a Redhill area postcode on the side. It turned out that the owner had been building the boat for 12 years in a field next to his house in Copthorne just south of Reigate and had launched her last November! She is an all electric boat, hence the name - a pun on Three-Phase electricity.
We set off eastwards towards Bedwyn in weather that was alternatively bright sunshine and heavy rain. Luckily the rainy bits came between the locks, when R could shelter under the umbrella and the sunny bits as we went through each lock!
As we approached Bedwyn, we spotted nb "Ruffian," and to our delight, the side hatch opened and two familiar, smiling faces popped out to greet us.  Not "Rosie and Jim", but Karen and Jim!

We had seen "Ruffian" yesterday and, as Karen and Jim were not on board, M had nipped on and left a note stuck to their back door to say hallo.  Unfortunately, they hadn't found it as they had come in through the front! They told us that there was a great place to have tea in the Bedwyn Church, so we arranged to meet there at 3:00pm.
As we approached the Bedwyn moorings, we saw a black cat on the towpath and quickly recognised nb "Red Geranium." It was lovely to see Angela again and she very kindly invited us on board for a cup of tea. I think the cats were also as pleased to see us as we were to see them!

Just before 3pm, Angela joined us as we walked up towards Bedwyn Church. On the way we saw several classic cars parked in the centre of the village, including an old "AC" Royal Roadster. R's Grandmother, Mimi, used to have a beautiful AC Saloon; they were made in Thames Ditton close to where she lived in Esher, so R has fond memories of them.

Then onward to St Mary's Church, where a welcome notice proclaimed that tea and home-made cakes were to be had!

We met up with Karen and Jim from "Ruffian" there and found that there was tea, coffee, scones and lots of delicious looking cakes. To our surprise there were no prices, you could help yourself to as much as you wanted and then make a donation of as much as you felt appropriate. All the tables were laid with checked tablecloths and pretty flower vases. The five of us spent a very happy couple of hours drinking tea and coffee and sampling one lovely cake after another!
We were so full of cake that we only had a very light supper, and then sat down to watch the broadcast of last Sunday's performance of "Yeoman of the Guard" that we had seen last Sunday at the Albert Hall; it was a real treat to see it again.
Today: 2 miles, 4 locks and 2.1 hours.
Trip: 228 miles, 219 locks and 189.1 hours (340.2 total).