All Aboard

Today we fulfilled our promise at an auction of promises held at The Shelford Feast.
The prize was a day's cruise (and back) to Ely, with picnic. The lucky family boarded at The Lazy Otter and, fortified with fruit drinks, biscuits, coffee and a lunch such as Patience has not seen in our time, sped upstream. Thanks to Sarah for the excellent picnic and also for providing napkins and flowers.
Mum, dad and three children then explored Ely while we washed up and, in a spirit of bonhomie, finished off the bottle of wine.

Though we proffered bird books, coloured crayons and an Eye Spy activity sheet (it's the teacher in me!) and because we explained the TV was out of bounds, activity was mostly based around trying to point Patience in the direction we were heading and talking about the boat and her slow and peaceful surroundings on the Ouse.
Not too exciting perhaps, but our passengers showed genuine interest in the new experience.
We think they had a good time on the cruise - we certainly did, any excuse for a purposeful trip - and we noted that prices for commercial boats at Ely were £120 for one and a half hours, so our 4 hour charity promise plus lunch and tea and chocolate cake was a bargain!