FFFing good! – Freakish weather, First strawberry and Family Fun.

After possibly one of the wettest Mays in years the sun finally made an appearance at the end of the month just in time for Alex & Freddy to spend a few days with us before we set off for our annual trip on the canal boat. The boys stayed on to house sit and enjoy a break from London. The sunny weather continued and we had long sunny days with perfect temperatures in the early to mid 20’sC.  Cape Parrot was to be our boat, Gail was to be our usual shipmate and we started in Alvechurch. 

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We cast off late afternoon from Alvechurch and cruised for just an hour or two as the first full day would be a toughie.  Tardbigge lock flight is a boaters right-of-passage as it’s the UK’s longest flight and when you add it to Stoke and Astwood flights which almost follow on, you are doing around 40 locks in a day…….that’s a lot.   We did it, surprisingly easily and the crew were rewarded with a generous G&T. 

Next day we visited the National Trust at Hanbury Park and after a couple of days we arrived in Worcester.  We had 2 nights in the town to do some sightseeing and for Cheryl and Gail to get some retail therapy……’yuck’ says Neil.  We have been to Worcester before but never really explored the city but we’ll probably be back as there is so much more to see.  Hopefully without the therapy! 

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From Worcester we entered the River Severn and headed upstream to Stourport and onwards to our next National Trust, Kinver Edge and Rock Houses.  Absolutely fascinating, but in a nutshell, they were about a dozen houses hewn into the sandstone rock by troglodytes which continued to be homes for families until the early 1960’s.  If you are ever in that part of the country go and take a look.

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The sun meant BBQ’s and more BBQ’s which were interspersed with a chilli night and a few cheese fests to break the monotony of grilled food.  Needless to say our livers took a bit of a hammering and as this year we had no set itinerary we availed ourselves of long alfresco lunches that stretched and stretched.  Cheryl and Gail would start the evening with a G&T and snacks before the main event with yet more wine. 

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From Kinver the days had to be planned quite carefully as we were entering the Birmingham conurbation. Many places are OK to moor for the evening but some are not so safe and some of the ‘inmates’ look less than welcoming.  It was here that we broke a few mooring rules to stay in better surroundings.  Firstly, we moored in a picturesque spot which was screened by trees and hedges from the nearby sewage plant but we were upwind so no problem.  Next we moored close to a railway line but it wasn’t busy and we were sheltered by a bank of trees, again no issue.   The amount of graffiti along this part of our route is staggering and Neil in particular found this time quite depressing. 

Once through the Netherton Tunnel it’s plain cruising to the centre of Birmingham which is really pretty.  Many of the old warehouses have been turned into residential property and lots of bars and restaurants.  Once through the centre it’s then onto the Stratford on Avon Canal to head for the long flight of Lapworth Locks where we were to visit NT houses at Baddesley Clinton on the way down and Packwood House on the way back.

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Two wonderful weeks, great company, lots of laughs, a few ‘oh shit’ moments, too much beer and wine and some lovely food.  Here’s to next year!

Covid has a lot to be blamed for not least of all closing all the pubs and restaurants.  With things getting better we met Glyn and Diane in a pub garden in Beer to celebrate his birthday.  It was a lovely evening and so we got carried away and went for a curry in Ragini just a few days later.  We went early to avoid it being too busy but the tables were well spaced and it was just a great feeling to be out and about again.

We are keeping in touch with friends in Goa and during one exchange Priti sent us a link to Amazon where we found that Aditya’s book, Quest, was on sale.  It’s all about his round the world trip on his Triumph Bonneville that he took a few years ago pre covid.  His route included the UK and we met him when he was in London and took him to The Red Lion near Downing Street, a pub once frequented by Charles Dickens.  We bought a copy of the book only to find that we had a mention and our photograph taken together in London was on page 170……we’re world famous!

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The weather hasn’t been great since we got back from the boat trip not least of all on June 21^st, the Summer Solstice and apparently the first day of summer.  It was very cold, so much so that in the early evening Cheryl said ‘can we put the heating on’?  We did, just for an hour and just enough to take the chill off what was a very miserable day.  There is an upside, we had several cold and dull days so we got stuck into selecting the photos that we want in the gallery in the hall, stairs and landing.  12 years of photos to choose from so we inevitably went around and around in circles trying to decide.  We did it, got them printed and now they are in the frames.  You’ll have to visit to see what we’ve chosen!

The scheduled family party at June’s took place and was a great success.  The weather played ball, sunny intervals and not too hot.  We were 25 in total and it coincided with her birthday so June was blown away by the presents plus the huge cake that Leanne made.  What a fab day.

This time last year we were suffocating under a mountain of raspberries, redcurrants and gooseberries from the fruit cage we inherited in the garden.  This year we’re struggling, very few raspberries and those we have are minute, redcurrants still to come and gooseberries still weeks away.  The blackcurrants are coming, at their own speed, but not looking like we’re going to have too many. The one success story has been the strawberries. None at all last year as any promising young fruits were eaten by some critter before ripening. This year we planted some inside the fruit cage safely guarded from whatever beastie was feasting on them last year – hurrah!

Sadly, at the very end of the month we heard that our next door neighbour, Mike, suddenly passed away.  Due to covid we never got to know him other than chats over the fence.  We had invited both him and Karen round for lunch so we could get to know them better only to get a call from his son to say that his father had died the day before.  RIP Mike, we’ll get to know each other better one day.

Reasons to be Cheerful

1. We are now open for visitors – make your booking now!
2. Despite the Delta variant it’s looking good for all Covid restrictions to be removed next month.
3. Our social calendar is filling up fast with visitors, meals out, volunteering at the tramway and generally getting back to normal life.

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