Daniel and the girls on The Little Lady in July 1988
Daniel and the girls on The Little Lady in July 1988

An increasingly wet day for boating cruising up to Eaton Socon and then to Tempsford after a rather unsettled night but some nice meals with Daniel’s guests joining us as we had refreshments at the garden centre and then a meal at a very crowded Anchor pub. Nigel Mansell managed 2nd place in the rain driving his Williams at the British Grand Prix

We had a rather unsettled night. The weather, though dull and windy, was very warm, which made our sleeping bags a little uncomfortable; and then some drunken youths came by after midnight shouting and hollering. Eventually they started leaping in the river and swimming across and, wet and uncomfortable at last, they went off home. This morning, we cranked slowly into our boating routine, finally getting ready for breakfast, with Daniel and David Tomblin joining us on ‘the mother ship’. It was still fine this morning and so the girls walked over to see the Coneygeare play equipment before we set off.

We had decided to go a bit further upstream and so we took off and cruised first to Eaton Socon, where we visited the garden centre and had refreshments at the snack bar within. I bought another mole trap, as they had new supplies in. We met Daniel’s friends, Steve and Gary, coming down through Eaton Socon lock and then we cruised on, as the rain began to spot, to moor up for lunch at the Tempsford Anchor. We went in to the restaurant, where the service was better, but even so the place was very crowded. It seems that most people’s idea of Sunday lunch these days is to have it out and that the idea of cooking as a satisfying hobby is on the decline. Pity the crowds and the fact the building was so hot and stuffy. In view of the rain, we opted to stay at Tempsford, rather than cruise on to Great Barford and we watched an exciting British motor racing Grand Prix, where Nigel Mansell got a 2nd place for Williams in the rain and poor conditions. The weather then brightened and so we took off for a walk to Roxton, across the footbridge and over the field lanes. Nothing there but old farm houses and cottages, interspersed with new dwellings. Being Sunday, even the Post Office was closed in the afternoon. We got back as the rain set in again and had a salad tea on board The Lady. Some athletics on TV, then time to write up today’s journal as the rain fell steadily all evening.