Argy Barging in Lymm

It was Letti's birthday breakfast at the Marriott this morning. A swim and a Jacuzzi followed by tea and homemade cake...always a great way to start the day.

I went to the Lymm Festival today with Carey. There were lots of barges moored up and travelling up and down the canal. You could go on board some, so we had a little shufty. You would have to be a very neat and tidy person and not hoard or collect things if you lived on a boat. I'm not neat or tidy and I love having all my bits and bobs around me so I would not be a good argy barger.

It was interesting to walk along the tow path and see some of the colourful characters. Boat people tend to be mainly men, over a certain age, bearded and very keen to talk bargy....but I'm not one to stereotype!

I saw Anne and Nigel, they had taken their Stag to the car club display. All the cars were in a field but when we went to have a look it was £5 to go in so we decided not to bother. Instead we headed back to the canal and I had an ice cream and took more pics as the sun came out.

I was torn between two photos today. This one of the canal and one of a steam roller. Samson, the steam roller, was magnificent and chugging away nicely. The father and son who owned it posed in their overalls with it for me. They also fitted nicely into steam roller enthusiasts stereotype mould....overalls, caps, packed lunches with a flask and keen to talk steam. It was a fabulous piece of engineering though and they had every right to be proud of it. They had brought it on a truck from Nantwich, if they had driven it there it would have taken them about five hours.

On the way home we stopped off in Leigh. There was an open day at the fire station and they were giving water safety displays over the road at Pennington Flash. Never one to pass up an opportunity for a man in uniform I was keen to fit a vist into the day. Unfortunately, we arrived too late at the station...I was very disappointed as there was a snorkel parked out at the front, I would have loved to go up in that. I also hoped to have a slide down a fireman's pole!

We went over to the Flash where it was blowing a hooley and there were white horses racing across the water. Swans and ducks were being flung all over the place. We just caught a rescue display as the firemen went out in a couple of boats and flung one of their men out into the water. I rushed to change lenses but just missed the rescuers jumping in to save him.

After all our gadding about we felt we deserved a cuppa at Bents on the way home.