I got a bit of a ‘ticking off’ yesterday for not keeping our blog and whereabouts up to date and feel suitably chastised! I do believe I’ve a legitimate defence though, in that until today I’d only spent three days on board Areandare in the last three weeks. So I’m thinking you’ll all understand how challenging it can be?

I shall endeavour to do better Doug, honestly …

A Chance meeting

Returning to Barry in Stoke-on-Trent after spending five delightful days with my gorgeous grandsons whilst celebrating my eldest daughter’s birthday last Tuesday, we were en route to Barlaston when Doug and James from NB Chance suddenly appeared behind us.

What a wonderful surprise for us all – we’ve been in touch on and off for more than four years, but not managed to synchronise journeys and meet in person.

Doug and James follow us down the locks

Doug had thought we were still up on the Huddersfield Narrow Canal, due to my current blogging slackness and posting our adventures and Barry’s photos retrospectively.

Sadly they’d already arranged a meet up yesterday evening with friends, but we decided to continue to Stone so we could have a bit of a get-together.

After a slight mooring mix-up that I shan’t bore you with, they walked down to see if we were still around and we ended up having a very memorable couple of hours on board Areandare, polishing off a fair few glasses of home brew Pinot Grigio and Cabernet Sauvignon. Having not been around for a while, nibble supplies were in short supply, but I managed to rustle up a few nuts and cheese and crackers to soak up a bit of the alcohol consumption.

Cheers! So fantastic to spend a short time with you both – look forward to a longer time in the future

It’s James’ birthday today and the second anniversary of their marriage. Passing us on their way south this morning, unbeknownst to Doug I’d already written a card for them with a photo of Castlefield Basin in Manchester, where they’d recently been staying for Manchester Pride (we loved our visit there in 2009 aboard Northern Pride).

Towpath trading in Stone

Barry had set up The Home Brew Boat banner and put his greetings cards out on display – and had a sale within minutes of doing so which was fab. Doug saw the cards and was just about to buy the one I’d intuitively chosen for James’ birthday.

Set up ready to trade next to ‘The Wool Boat’ in Stone

Barry took a lovely shot of the three of us before they left, but that won’t be handed over to me for a few days!

Our next moves

I’ve got five days now to play catch up on a number of projects before I’m back with mum and dad Friday to Monday next week. By then we’ll be in Wolverhampton, making our way to our next trading festival at Netherton where we’re excited to be joining Helen and Andy and ‘Wild Side‘ once again.

For now, we’ll stick around Stone until Tuesday, and see what else transpires here …