Family and Friends.

Our little Grandson came to spend the day with us and was very busy playing most of the time on board while we chatted.  He was fascinated with his Thomas the Tank Engine set-up. The rolling stock cleverly link to each other magnetically whichever way they are connected together, clever eh?  We wandered all around Banbury exploring, with him on his reigns and had lunch, but even after all that walking he wasn’t tiered. Just outside the Castle Quays entrance from the canal there is a roundabout, so as he had been good he was treated to a ride on it. We all had such a wonderful day, but were quite exhausted by the evening.

The pillar box with the unusual vertical posting hole stands near the splendid Gothic Town Hall. Banbury has many historic old buildings and it is fun to spot the towns symbol of the Sun on many of them. Friday was the Farmers Market and I made a beeline for the Gales pie stall as their pasties are so delicious. I also treated Bottle to his favourites, spicy bread pudding and giant Eccles cakes. We have also tried the famous Banbury cakes which are very similar.

We noticed that the latch on the paddle gear at Grants Lock had a useful piece added to it on the left. This enables us to flip the safety catch up without getting oily fingers, what a good idea we thought. It is the only one we have seen on our travels around the system so far, unless you know of others of course?

On Sunday we had a text asking us if we were doing Mothers day things, to which we replied no. Soon there was a knock on the boat side and Boots dashed through the boat, followed by Bones who popped in for tea and a chat, it was lovely to see you both.