Number 9: July 2010

Tuesday 6 July 2010

First potato harvest from containers!

A few days ago my daughters, Amelia and Hermione, had great fun
digging through the compost in one of my containers for new potatoes.
We ate them when we did the BBQ on Saturday when my brother visited.

Sunday 4 July 2010

Messing about on the river.

I had been looking forward to this day all week. Yesterday, I had the great pleasure of sharing one of my favourite hobbies with my brother, Ashley. He and his partner Charlotte arrived in the morning and Ashley helped me load the canoes onto the cars, one on my car and one on my wife's car. We then made our way through town to the car park at Stamford meadows only to find that the bridge had been closed for 'rock on the meadows' music festival. So we had to mess around finding another suitable put in.

We eventually found a spot under some trees where we were able to finally get onto the River Welland. Ashley was suprised at how 'wobbly' the canoe felt initially but he soon relaxed into it and off we paddled towards the town bridge. We took our time, admiring some of the old
buildings that line the river. We were amazed by the clarity of the water and the huge number of fish that we saw, next time I may take the
fishing rod!

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Soon we were passing under a footbridge and heading out of town towards the weir which was to be our breakfast stop. As we neared the
weir we spotted what looked like an abandoned ducks nest so we went over to take a look. There was an egg still inside so after a quick
photo we left it alone incase the mother was nearby wanting to get back to it.

We were soon at the weir and so out came the single ring gas stove. Some may say that's cheating but I don't see the need for a proper fire just to cook some smoked bacon and make a cup of tea..

We hung around for a while chatting about when we were kids before packing up and making our return trip. We got home and after unloading the canoes we fired up the BBQ and enjoyed lunch with our partners and my daughters.

It was fantastic to have my brother along for the trip, we don't see much of each other anymore and I hope that we can do this together more often, perhaps including my other siblings if they fancy trying it! Thank you Ashley for a great day and thank you Elissa for ferrying one of the canoes to and from the river on your car for us!