Magnus came to stay

No more elderflower wine left now!

 

It’s been lovely to see Heather, Jason and the children this week as they’ve been camping in Louise’s back garden in Abbots Langley. They were lucky with the weather as in true bank holiday style it’s damp and dismal now. 

 It was Magnus’ turn to come to stay, but for just two nights. We had a great time but once again we didn’t capture everything on the camera. John and Magnus went fruit picking behind the three locks and came back with cooking apples, damsons and blackberries, which were converted into 13lbs of jam. He help make blackberry muffins for our tow path picnic when the rest of the family came to pick him up.

We travelled a short distance from Linslade down the Soulbury three lock and Magnus’ life jacket fits him perfectly now as it was a bit big for him before. He steered the boat out of the second lock and then got off to help grandad with a serious bit of lock keeping. 

 

Filling up with water

Magnus the muscles

 I just loved watching John’s face when Magnus hammered the mooring pins in. It could have been a trip to hospital if he’d have missed the pin and got John’s hand.

He had a go a using my spinning wheel and produced a lovely bit of handspun wool.

Washing his handspun wool

It’s a shame all the events have been washed out this weekend. We attended the first evening of music at ‘Lockstock’, the beer & music festival at The Three Locks pub. There was a very good band playing and we stayed until the end but it was SO cold and wet with a temperature of just 9c.

Today John’s made 2 gallons of mead and it’s now in the fermenting bucket in front of the fire to keep it warm. We’ve collected lots of local honey over the last few months which was taking up valuable cupboard space and I got some more from Stoke Hammond lock yesterday and it just so happens we went back up Soulbury three locks with a chap that’s just started keeping bees so I brought 3 jars of his honey from him. Once the kitchen was free I’ve done lots of baking and preparing as Edmund’s coming for a few days tomorrow.

The rain has come

The rain has come today and it’s feeling quite cool and that’s because it’s 15c cooler than a couple of days ago. I know how wilting flowers must feel as I’ve had no energy or inclination to do anything really. John has just got caught in the downpour while he was out picking 6lbs of elderberries to make wine. We hope there will be lots of rain in the north too so all the canals can re-open for the end of the summer.

We spent a week at Slapton where we celebrated our 36^th wedding anniversary by having a, not so nice meal at a rather expensive gastro pub, The Carpenters Arms. While we were at Slapton we had a BBQ and stayed up in the warm evening until 01.30, watching the bats and looking at the stars, whilst drinking John’s amazingly lovely elderflower wine.

Sunset towards The Grove

Misty morning towards The Grove

Misty reflections towards Church Lock

We then moved to below Church lock, near The Grove to be nearer Leighton Buzzard. It was quite an exposed spot, which meant we had amazingly huge sky views. I was up early most mornings, (most unlike me) as it was SO hot, this meant I snapped some lovely misty sunrises and sunsets too. Plus, we met a massive carp that came, like the ducks to be fed. It was wonderful to see sparrows feasting on seed in bird feeder and watching the young starlings bickering with each other and devastating the fat balls. We’ve had to do a shopping trip to stock up on bird food. 

Each morning a heron walked along the tow path & peeped into each of our portholes!!!!

 

 

Last weekend we hired a van to help Ada & Dale move to Lancashire. I had the camera with me but didn’t take a single photo. We had to do two trips to get all their things moved and Dale’s dad did a trip in his van too. Their little house in Chorley is lovely. We couldn’t be a few miles away without visiting our other Lancashire family on the Sunday. Heather was at work all day so we didn’t see her but had a great time with the kids and Jason cooked us a lovely curry.

And we are STILL sitting waiting patiently for our house sale to got through because the buyer is going on a 2 week holiday tomorrow!!!