Shopping, camping, and plans for a musical cruise

Where can you buy (in one shop) a 5 litre tin of bitumen paint for £8-65 to touch up your boat blacking, a local hand made pork pie, a bottle of good beer for a quid (or a choice of real ciders), a kitchen baster (£1) for sucking oil out of the drip tray under the engine, and then get 6p off a litre of diesel? Before you cast off and steer your boat in that direction I'd better add that it's a long way from a navigable waterway :-( In fact its Harry Tuffins supermarket in Craven Arms Shropshire. A real Aladdin's cave. When you come round into the next aisle, you never know if it'll be plums, chicken feed or water pistols on the shelf! We love it.

We've just been camping at our favourite camping and walking site at Little Stretton, a brilliant shady spot in this hot weather, right next to a cooling stream, and with spectacular scenery in almost every direction you could walk.

The trek to the shops in nearby Church Stretton is a bit arduous though as you can see here.

Church Stretton

Back on Herbie later this week, assuming there is enough water in the Slough Arm for us to move! We're having an overnighter with our occasional band "PRANK" (Pete, Rob And Neil & Kath - geddit?). Taking our instruments (bouzouki - Pete, bodhran - Rob, mandola, guitar and Scottish smallpipes - Neil and hammered dulcimer - Kath. If things go normally, we'll play a few tunes / songs and then have a beer break and then forget to start playing again. Must remember to take the camera so I can prove it happened.

I'm also keen to fix up my new roof box ends that I have made so as to give the box a pitched roof, and to display my freshly painted mop, boat hook and broom in Herbie colours. If I'm not careful, the roof will end up looking smart (not till I've de-rusted and repainted though.)