Milton Keynes with friends

After my 4 day trip from Oundle onto the Grand Union and Milton Keynes I decided to take a short break. My old RAF colleague Pete Billings lives in MK and we met up for lunch on Thusday before he kindly gave me a lift to Tesco to top up the larder. 

Friday saw the arrival of Paul & Debbie Beaumont who were spending the weekend in their motorhome on a campsite only 200 yds from the canal hidden behind the trees.

Paul arrived late morning while Debbie joined him later after work. Paul and I passed the afternoon cycling firstly to the "Cathedral of Trees", which was a bit of a disappointment, and then onto the Barge Inn for a pint or three of Doom Bar which was most welcome in the warm spring sunshine. Pete joined us for a pint with his lovely dog Newfie.
As time was getting on Paul & I cycled to meet Debbie off the London train and then the three of us cycled back to canal. On my return the neighbouring boats informed me that the wind which had picked up a little had blown my new satellite dish into the canal. I decided to leave the search and rescue operation until morning. My eldest son Steve joined us for dinner in the evening as he was running in the MK parkrun the following morning. The four us enjoyed dinner at the Barge Inn before retiring for the night.

On Saturday morning Steve completed his run after which Paul & Debbie joined us to play "Hunt the dish" with a collection of poles. The dish was located and Paul & Debbie managed to recover it while I steadied the boat. The dish was intact but had collected a bit of mud from the canal bed which I promptly managed to transfer my T-shirt. I changed shirts and immediately transferred the remaining mud to the new shirt. After making sure all goo was removed I proceeded to put on another clean shirt.

We then settled down to watch England v Italy in the 6 Nations with beer and nibbles. 

After a good match we relocated to the motorhome for a mid afternoon BBQ before settling down once again to watch Ireland v France.
Steve left for home on Saturday evening and I enjoyed a lie-in on Sunday morning before once again taking to my bike and heading into MK centre with Paul & Debbie.

A climb up through the pretty Campbell Park and then a gentle downhill stretch to visit the Cotswold outdoor shop before heading to Weatherspoons for lunch. We spent the late afternoon onboard enjoying some rather good wine and cheese with a gentle jazz accompaniment.

A superb end to a lovely weekend with good friends. Now looking forward to catching up again when we find another