Hermione, Edie and I off to HMS Wales Napoleonic Demonstration at Whittington Castle for the day. On the way we spotted a car boot sale so decided to have a quick look before we went to the castle. I counted four cars! but I still managed to find a saucepan with three internal dividers that I liked.
I was surprised at the thickness of the castle walls and it is not surprising that great chunks of it are still standing. Edie was intrigued by the stocks and insisted on having a try. We did manage to stop her playing "Ding dong bell, Mabel's in the well".

Sven.

Hermione and Edie off to Nantwich Floating Market for the day. I was on Mabel duty, walkies on the hour every hour.

Hermione and Edie took Iowner along to Frankton Junction, turned around and went to Ellesmere Arm where they moored up for the day. I came along for moral support in case anything went wrong but she coped admirably. Back to Dennis for six pm. The day had been a mixture of sunshine and cloud with the occasional spot of rain from time to time, much better for travelling than brilliant sunshine all day.

Hermione and Edie off to to Yorkshire to see their mum and grandma. As usual they have their activities planned out to occupy themselves fully.

The terrible two return after a trip to Yorkshire to see their mum and grandma. Got back about 7pm just in time to have a bite to eat and off to bed.

I said that they had a series of activities planned, well today is the The Legendary Llangollen Faery Festival, so they are spending the day there. Edie had a ball at the The Faery Market where hundreds of specialised artisan traders sell fairy gowns, wings, tiaras, crystals, and mystical wood carvings, most of which she bought, at least that's what it looked like when they returned to the boat.
Quite a treat for them as I believe they missed it last year. Meanwhile my No2 and I were being entertained by this most unusual queen buff-tailed bumble bee, the largest found in Britain.
Monday was Tŷ Mawr Country Park day and Tuesday was spent investigating BeWILDerwood.

My No2 and I were discussing the changing of the elsan cassette and I happened to be holding an electric chainsaw that I had found buried underneath the elsan cassette storage. Hermione made an innocuous enquiry at which point my No2 said "We're having a domestic." meaning we were discussing something that could be taken as a little distasteful. Seeing that I was holding the chainsaw Hermione retreated inside the boat. I did take time out to explain the situation later to her intense relief.
Hermione and Edie set off early (about 11am) for the long journey home via Oxford where they have arranged to view the eclipse.
We hadn't actually planned anything but as the day wore on I decided to try and make one of those pinhole camera things out of a laundry basket. I got a good image of the sun when I tried it out so was planning to use it when the eclipse occurred. We both equipped ourselves with a colander and a piece of white paper and waited patiently for the big event to occur. We both tried to hurry it up but all to no avail, it took it's own time.
As soon as it started to happen it became obvious that my pinhole camera was of no use whatsoever so I reverted to my colander and we both started viewing the eclipse like that perched on stools in a gap in the hedge where the sun was shining through. I looked up and lo and behold the sun was shining brightly on the front of Dennis, a perfect position to view everything. We sat on the gas locker holding a colander up to the sun and projecting the image on to a piece of paper fixed to the wall. Saw it all the way through.

My No2 expressed a desire for a loaf of olive bread for lunch and sausage and red cabbage for dinner tonight, just like Hermione cooked for us, much nicer that the version I had been dishing up. We discussed the difference and she sent me off to town to get some quality sausages. I had to go in to town anyway to the post office so combined the tasks. Called in to the post office, no parcels, off to Vermulens, no olive bread, passed the butchers on the way to Tesco and called in there and purchased some of his home made pepper sausages. Tesco provided the olive bread and the red cabbage along with some beetroot. Dinner sorted.
I was sitting at my desk playing (working) on my computer as usual when there was a knock on the side of the boat. Went to the front of the boat to see who wanted my attention and was confronted by some guy asking about the generator I was advertising for sale. A little discussion, showed him the manual and he offered £250. I accepted and he went off to the post office to get the cash. I didn't really expect him to return but he did, with the cash and a pair of wheels. Gave me the cash and asked for a receipt, which I promptly wrote out. We loaded the generator on to his wheels and off he went.
Filled with a little concern that he might not be able to get it working and would return for his money back I, nonetheless, went shopping in Tesco to get the baking potatoes to go with the sausage and red cabbage. As I went in the front doors I saw the guy also going in the front door from the direction of the Tesco car park, so I can only assume that his vehicle was in Tesco car park and that he was not on a boat, not that it matters really.

Well he hasn't come back asking for his money back so I guess he got it working and he should be delighted to have a brand new petrol generator for less than half price, I know I would be if I wanted one. Now all I have to do is organise somewhere to get the dual fuel, electric start version of the same generator delivered to, the one I really want. The upshot of the sale means that I got £250 for my old Diesel Generator.
I have been putting off ringing EE to cancel the three contracts the I don't want or need and today I plucked up the energy to try it. I knew it would no be easy but was determined to persist until the task was complete. The first time I rang I got mired in a whole series of Press 1 for this and 2 for that until I got to a dead end with no more options that applied to my enquiry. Tried again, this time I got to the point where I was directed to some sort of automated system, where I again got lost in the system. Tried again, got through to a real person who wanted either the last four digits of my bank account or the last four digits of my EE account to get me past security. It was a real struggle as it sounded as if he was talking through a bubble pipe. In the end, as I could not think quickly enough to obtain the information he wanted I told him I was going to ring off, find the relevant information and ring back.
This I did. This time I got a young lady who was very helpful, did not need any security information as I was, apparently, pre security checked before the call took place. She took all the details of the three contracts I want to discontinue and said that she would transfer me to someone who could actually cancel them. I waited and waited and waited and eventually the phone went dead. Not to be beaten I rang back again. Got through to another young lady who seemed to have all my information to hand and organised the cancellation of the three items quickly and easily. All I had to do was click on a link that she had sent and agree to the cancellations. Job Jobbed,
In to town for some more sausages to go with the red cabbage I have left. Got the sausages and, just on a whim, popped in to the charity shop in the middle of town and, hey presto, I found some boots that I didn't know I wanted. Wide fitting with room for my high instep. Purchased them and then wandered along to the computer shop to see if there was a USB CD,DVD player available. Yes, £18, more than I was prepared to pay for something I am not sure I need. Off to Tesco where I wandered around to see if I could find anything else that I didn't know I wanted. No, nothing. Back to the boat.
Chased Caldwell's up about the delivery of the window trim I had purchased. Apparently it has been delivered and the nice lady sent me a copy of the delivery photo, so I popped off to the post office to collect it. My No2 came with me and managed to find a rather good stainless steel kettle, a puzzle and a dress in the charity shop near the post office. Filled with enthusiasm she went to the other charity shop just to see if they had anything worthwhile. They did. Tesco on the way back to the boat but neither of us could find anything that we didn't know we wanted so came away from there empty handed.

Leek and potato soup livened up with a little chicken tonight so went shopping for some leeks. Got some cheese while I was there as it seemed a waste not to get something other than just leeks. Need the cheese anyway and it was reduced. (Mind you cheese always seems to be reduced one way or another.)
Fell asleep while the leek and potato soup was on the stove. Woken up by my No2 ringing to suggest I bring the yogurt and cream with me when dinner was ready. Fortunately the soup had just reduced to a thick stew and not at all burnt. It was excellent and we finished off with a plum and apricot tart with custard. I had custard, my No2 had yogurt and cream with hers.

Rained overnight, well, sort of. Bacon and broccoli quiche for dinner this evening. I make individual quiches, eight at a time as that is how many I get out of a single mix of pastry. Two tonight, two in the fridge for the day after tomorrow and four for the freezer.
Got some Tenderstem Broccoli for dinner. Made the most of the sunny afternoon (it's getting cloudy and threatening rain) by fitting the window trim that I had purchased from Caldwells to both portholes and both windows on the starboard side because that is the side facing the tow path.

Rained overnight, a bit more than last night. Looks like it could be easy to get used to the hot weather. When I got back to Iowner in the morning the temperature in the boat was 16°C and I was tempted to light the fire.
Spent most of the day migrating my giles.me.uk domain to Netlify and my email address to Zoho mail and checking that it all worked OK. (Saves me over $400 every two years. Took a break to do some shopping for tonight's meal and some picnic stuff for tomorrow when we go to Shrewsbury for another eyeball injection. Got back from shopping just before the third shower of the day and the temperature in Iowner was 22.5°C and I still put on a fleece! Perhaps I am just getting old.
Popped next door for a game of scrabble and had to rush through the rain. Got back after the game in time to make a vegetable stew for dinner tonight.

Up early for a trip to Shrewsbury. Arrived at the bus stop at about 9:15am. Checked the bus timetable, it said the bus was going at 9:50am! Checked the bus timetable on the Lakeland web sire and noticed that there was a little checkbox for which day you wanted the timetable for, it was checked for Saturday, when I ticked the Friday radio button it brought up a different timetable with the 9:50 departure. Still, better early than late.
The plan was to get off at Knights Park and catch the 25 bus from the same bus stop to Dunelm to purchase some bed sheets.
Waited at the bus stop for long enough for two busses to arrive (45 minutes) and decided that enough is enough and started to walk to another bus stop to go straight into town. Got round the corner and saw the bus we were meant to be catching going along the road that ran parallel to the one where the bus stop (which clearly stated that the No 25 stopped here) we had been waiting at. Then the No 25 going into town arrived so we waylaid it and went into town.
Since we now had two hours to kill we wandered around and found 'No 8' a shop that claimed to sell quality bedding. Enquiries revealed that their supplier was no longer supplying to Britain and they didn't' have what we wanted. The pointed us at White Lotus Living where we had a similar story. Found our way to a Halifax for my No2 to get a bank statement, then on to Costa Coffee in The Darwin Centre. Left there in time to catch the 12:50 bus to the hospital for my 1:30 appointment. It didn't show. Waited for the 13:10, it didn't show. At 13:15 we raced around to the train station taxi rank (a four minute jog) and got a taxi to the hospital, arriving at the reception desk at 13:30.
The procedure went well, injecting the fluid into my eyeball (unpleasant but tolerable due to the copious quantities of anaesthetic dropped into the eye) in an attempt to delay the progress of the deterioration of vision, which seems to be working.
Headed off to the bus stop for the bus that was due in six minutes only to see it disappearing around the corner. Fortunately there are several busses that stop at that bus stop and go to the bus station so we did not have too long to wait.
Back in town we had another two hours to kill so we found a shady spot by the River Severn for a bite to eat and a spot of calming down. (The procedure does have a stressful effect on me). Back into town again to The Darwin Centre and on the off chance popped in to Marks & Sparks to see if they had the required bed linen. No, but we have it at our warehouse, order today, pick it up Monday. Go for it.
Caught the bus back to Ellesmere where we have planned to investigate their best held secret, the Ellesmere Carnival, for which we had seen A poster. Everything on the Ellesmere Carnival web page says 'Event - TBC', or to put it another way it may or may not happen. We will see tomorrow.

Setting up a Chromebook for my No2 so that she can view her pictures from the past ten years or so since she has had a camera. In order to hide as much as possible Parental Controls are in place on her account. It just gets rid of the stuff that she doesn't want.
Off to the best kept secret in Shropshire, the Ellesmere Carnival. Really surprised at the number of floats and other groups parading through town. Ended up at the Cremorne Gardens by the mere where we stopped to listen to some of the bands that were playing including the Bootle and District Brass Band and the Whitchurch Brass Band. Loads of other stuff going on but nothing that appealed to either of us so we left fairly early and settled for a bacon butty each back at the boats.

The start of the 'MOTD' season so my No2 will be up early to watch it on iPlayer. We are planning on moving to(wards) St Martins today, the coffer dam at Frankton Junction permitting. As it turned out there was no-one on duty and it looked as if the work was complete but as yet I have had no notification to that effect from CRT.
Made use of the facilities on the way past. (Note I did not say Good Use as I only emptied a toilet cassette and got rid of the rubbish.) Only cruised for an hour as that is quite long enough in this heat.
When mooring up I noticed that one of the rear ropes is a little frayed a foot or so from the loop so I had to cut that off and splice a new loop into the rope. It is no good waiting till it breaks and leaves you standing on the bank with a bit of rope in your hand while the boat drifts serenely down the canal.

Set off just after a CRT work boat and Savoy Hill London went past so expected to have to wait at the locks when we got there, but both of them pulled over at Whittington Wharf, the CRT boat to offload their enormous 20/kVW Generator and the pump pipes that they had been using to keep the works at the coffer dam dry. Arrived at New Marton Locks just in time to see a boat entering at the bottom. We both moored up and I started to work the lock when another two boats arrived. Suddenly we were swamped with crew and they offered to work both of us through, which offer we gracefully accepted. My No2 went first and I followed on. By the time I got to New Marton Top Lock, my no2 had it ready with the help of Dean, another boater. I went straight through and Dean offered to work my No2 through as well, bonus. Tied up , filled up with water and continued on to our mooring. We did not know Dean before we got to the lock but we have seen him around before. I joked that his wife was called Pearl and he responded that most people remember them as Pam & Dean (like Pearl &anp; Dean). I had been at the mooring for a half hour or so, long enough for the ropes to settle in, tighten up and generally get slack, like they do, so I got out and adjusted the ropes and put a couple of fenders down. While I was doing this my next door neighbour started to complain about the hire boaters going past too fast, I think he thought that we could have 'a jolly good moan', but I explained that hire boaters are not told that it takes two boat lengths to actually slow down so they think that if they cut the throttle when the front of their boat reaches the moored boat, that is good enough, so it is actually the hire companies fault AND that if you are moored up properly they do not cause a problem. I pointed out that although he had a 'spring' (a coiled bit of metal that stretches and returns to its original size) on his mooring rope that would not help a lot as it will not stop his boat going forward and backward. I guess maybe he was a little disgruntled as he just turned away. In boating terms a 'spring' is a rope that makes a triangle with the boat as one point of the triangle and the two mooring points making the base of the triangle. This prevents the boat moving either forwards or backwards so passing boats do not cause your own boat to move.
Got a recipe for a slow baked chicken with no added salt or garlic which most recipes seem to use. I will post the results of this experiment tomorrow.
Just to illustrate how varied the internet signal can be on the canal if i put my phone in the salon window I get virtually no signal at all, if I put it in the galley window it is more than acceptable.

Went in to Oswestry today. The No2 bus driver did not issue me with ticket, just told me to sit down.
Tried everywhere I could think of for a USB adaptor for the camera memory stick, none available. Found tinned pilchards in B&M so got six tins, it's not always available.
Figured I had about 50 minutes to do the regular shopping so I took mt time and when I left the supermarket with ten minutes to spare I was surprised to see the bus leaving. Oops, my mistake, now I have an hour to wait for the next one.

Early start to get to Gobowen in time to renew my Senior Railcard and get tickers to Shrewsbury and back. Unfortunately due to rail works there are no trains running until the first of September so we caught the replacement bus. Actually it was a very nice coach and although it was comfortable it took an hour for the journey instead of the train scheduled time of nineteen minutes. Collected the flat super king size sheet from M&S. Returned to Gobowen by way of Costa Coffee for an almond croissant and a latte on another rather nice coach that took a different route but still took nearly an hour. No 53 to St Martins and the boat.
Not to be denied my food shopping I went in to Oswestry this afternoon. The No2 bus driver did not issue me with ticket, just told me to sit down.
Today's escapade went off much more smoothly than yesterdays, especially as I had an umbrella with me. Provisions for at least two days. .

Some nasty person has given me Man Flu, I didn't ask for it, no-one offered it, they just slipped it to me without me noticing. That is to say I have a runny nose and a sore throat. Eat, sleep, doze, drink, repeat.
I did manage to make a little progress with the fitted bed sheets. Cut the super king sizes sheet in half. That was quite an exercise as the sheet is 108 inches by 122 inches and my largest workbench is a modest 57 by 21 inches, which I modified by putting a sheet of ply on top of it making it 25 by 61 inches but with one corner cut off. Took over an hour just to mark the sheet and cut it in two equal halves, more the enough for today.
Later on that evening. What an amazing thunderstorm, it went on for ages. First some occasional lightening, then the wind got up a bit then the lightning became more frequent. Thunder almost at the same time as the lightning and the wind really blowing the trees about. Vaguely conscious that one of them might be blown down but before that happened the wind started to die down and the thunder and lightning moved on to pastures new. Quite a relief.

Spent all day nursing my cold. I keep trying to give it passers by but no-one wants to take it off my hands. Tree down overnight between the next bridge along from here and the one after but it was only a small one and it has been cleared already.
I have heard that there is a baby bank near here, people take their babies along and deposit them until they want to withdraw them later. At 15% they should be quite well grown in ten years.

Awoke this morning singing 'Nothing could be finer
than to be in Carolina
in the morning'. I felt much better as someone had taken my cold away from me. Unfortunately that someone was my No2. I stayed in nursing what was left of my cold and working on my No2's fitted sheet. Got one corner cut and sewn up.
My No2 found some damsons and collected enough to fill two one litre jars and three quarters of a half litre jar. That is the one she will be using for porridge for the next few days.
A few days ago my No2 dug out her DVD of Fargo, a film that we both like. We have seen the TV series Fargo 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and we have been waiting for Fargo Season 5 for several years. Anyway I had a good look on all my hard drives for any copies of Fargo without success. Just on the off chance I looked for Fargo on the net and found a site where I could download all five series, so I did. Watched the first four episodes of Season one back to back and then watched episode one of series five after dinner on Dennis later that evening.

Not to be beaten to the damsons by the bank holiday Monday holiday makers we both pulled ourselves together and walked about a mile along the tow path to where there are several damson trees. Manged to pick enough to make it worthwhile before we both gave up being too tired (both still under the weather with the remains of the cold).
I finished the second corner of the sheet I was working on and marked out the two remaining corners, cutting it to size in the process. Just so I did not forget how it works I marked out the second sheet for cutting to size. Well pleased with my work I decided that I could take time out and watch another four episodes of Fargo Season one.

CRT have decided that the 14 day rule for continuous cruisers has been suspended foo another month till the end of September.
Eventually got the super kings size flat sheet turned into two fitted sheets for the custom beds on Dennis and Iowner after nearly throwing a wobbly because I had to keep unpicking where I had made mistakes. If I had to do it again right now I would do it very differently.