A Big Thank-You

We have been quite busy these past two weekends :) and after 2 evenings spent sifting and editing my photos I am finally ready to pop them in a post.

We would like to say a big thank you to the organisers of the Birthday Banter at the Samuel Barlow pub on the Coventry Canal.

Unfortunately we were not able to attend in our boat, but we drove down and stayed in a local Travelodge.  Two very late but fun nights, including birthday cakes for the birthday boaters. One of them being Andrew.

I did a short walk of the Tamworth town centre on Saturday after a late brunch in the nearby pub, while Andrew and company kept my seat free.  Not a lot to see really, in the town centre that is.  A lot like most other small towns. I did take a walk around the castle and the park surrounding it, along with the two rivers.  That part of it was all quite pretty. I had not taken my camera with me for this weekend, not expecting to have time to take a bit of a wander, so the old handy phone came out for the very few pictures that I took.







Sunday morning the weather was dreadful, with the expected bad weather. We woke up early, packed and decided to head for home.

It was really good to catch up with people who we had not seen in over a year.  Non-stop talk and laughter, really good medicine.  The lack of sleep though did not aid the Monday morning rise for work though :(

So after a week at work to recover, on Friday evening we set off for Bristol.  Barbara and John, who we had met on our travels last year and with whom we cruised for a few weeks along the Huddersfield, Aire and Calder; and Leeds and Liverpool canals, had invited us down to stay with them and have a catch up.

We had another fabulous weekend, with Barbara and John taking us on a grand tour of the west Cotswolds, including Newark Park and Tetbury on Saturday and the Severn Bridges and Bristol Docks on Sunday morning. 

Around Newark Park

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Another weekend of fun and laughter.  This time though I took my camera with me and I just hope that Barbara and John were not too upset at my constant lagging behind :)  Andrew and I had a ball, so thanks again Barbara and John.  Not sure if we will be able to reciprocate quite as well, especially on the entertainment side :P

Around Tetbury

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We had a lovely lunch in Tetbury after a short wander and after lunch visited The Cheese Shop. It was so small inside, Andrew (with the money) stayed outside.  There were some rather good looking cheeses, but with the money having hidden itself I was not able to purchase any :(  Never mind, Barbara and John had a delicious supply which we managed to put rather a big dent in :) ,  then it was on to the bakery. Again the money seemed to make itself scarce, but with a 2 for 1 (as they were about to close) John and Barbara, treated us yet again, yummy :D 

Tetbury, is a bit different to most other villages that we have visited (as is to be expected for Prince Charles’ local village), every second shop was an antiques shop rather than a charity one :)  I have never seen so many antique shops in one spot !!  Window shopping was the order of the day though, a bit too expensive for our wallets :(

Around Easter Compton and Bristol Docks

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One of the shops which caught my eye in Bristol was an art gallery.  Maybe not so much the shop itself but two of the art works in the window.  I just loved these,  hint, hint to Slim ;) 
See the artists page here, Irene Marsh, just beautiful. 

This weekend coming is our last long weekend before Christmas :( but we will be chilling (hopefully not literally) on the boat.  We are both looking forward to that too.  Not sure if we will cruise very far, but just being on the boat will be great.