Mendip & Explorer go to Bourneville

Hello again, It's blog time again. Today has been both interesting and enjoyable. An opportunity to meet old friends and make new ones. As always the atmosphere is great. The boaters are one big happy group. Exchanging stories catching up on events and happening since last meeting.
There are over 60 boats present at the gathering the oldest was built in 1899 and still in great condition and working order, she arrived towing a number of "Joey's" narrow boats without engines and designed to carry loose coal. In their heyday a single narrow boat tug would have towed up to a dozen of these each carrying upto 25 tons of coal.
We were again privileged to welcome Charlie's daughter and other members of the family aboard Mendip. It was wonderful to meet them again and exchange stories and enjoy their company.
Tomorrow we continue our visit and look forward to further engage with those interested in the Mendip story and meet up with our friends.
Those of you that are following my daily dairy will recall that I mentioned that I was blogging in the dark and one of the crew took a photo of me doing it. Much against my better judgement I have given into the peer pressure to publish the picture. So here goes. Promise not to laugh too loudly at a man blogging in the dark. However, it is a lot of fun and is, thanks to you all, raising a lot of interest in our important and historic journey. Thanks again. Talk to you again soon.