My brother and his wife came down to see us, and we were also joined by our friends Greg and Karen who are going to be crewing for us for the next few days.

Guess what? We finally made it into the tithe barn without any actors there. Was it worth the effort?

Then it was off to lunch at the Three Gables restaurant.

Excellent food, though the portions were a bit nouvelle sized, and a charming old building. Service was leisurely, which was fine as we were having fun chatting.

We set off a bit after three, with Greg taking the tiller for the easy bits. He handed it back to me for one of the difficult bits, when we had a broad beam boat coming in the other direction, and moored boats on the side of the canal. I was able to demonstrate how to run aground, and how to extricate yourself when you have done so. (In case you are wondering, when the boat starts to tilt over for no apparent reason, put the engine in neutral, wait till the other boat has passed, and the reverse till you are level again.)

We moored in Hilperton, a little way away from the bank due to mud, so we are using a gangplank. There are many blackberries along the bank, so Greg’s first priority was to take the colander and gather them. I am pretty much incapable of doing this, as the blackberries go straight from bush to mouth, with only minimal time in my hand and none at all in any kitchen utensil. Greg definitely has the hunter gatherer thing down better than I do, as we now have blackberries enough for breakfast.