Category Archives: Museums

Filling Up On Halibut. 12th August

The Swan on the River mooring to Littleport Station Road mooring

A very hot humid night in London and I suspect onboard Oleanna too. Today the temperature would rise that bit more and would end up changing our plans.

**I wonder what used to be on the ground floor**

After breakfast I headed of with a bottle of water in hand, caught a bus then the tube into Piccadilly Circus. I was here to check things out. I wanted to see which way Eros faced, get some photos of my own and then take a look at the building that stands on the corner of Shaftsbury Avenue and Great Windmill Street as I want to use it in my panto set.

I got some good photos, but not quite at the right angle, I needed to look across at Eros, not up at him. Lilywhites was nearly at the right angle and there was a staircase up through the building. It was worth a look. Well it wasn’t really as they position things on the window sills to deter photographers don’t they! Hopefully I’ve enough images to work from.

I decided to walk up Piccadilly, sticking to the shade, bobbing into Fortnum and Masons to appreciate their air conditioning for a little while and watch people stacking expensive teas into their shopping baskets.

I then dropped down into the underground at Green Park and took the tube to Stockwell, here my plans were stalled, the Northern line south bound was suspended. Time to join a massive queue for the 155 bus. I soon realised that this bus would take me along a part of London I used to know very well. Clapham North was were I lived in my final year at college and the route south from here had many places I used to visit when I lived in Brixton for three years. I’ve not really been back to Clapham Common since I left so it was lovely to see that somethings hadn’t changed in the last 26 years.

I hopped off the bus in Balham and kept myself in the shade walking to my friend Morag’s flat. Despite the hold up with transport I arrived perfectly as she’d just finished a Teams meeting for work. Morag is a very good school friend of mine, we’d last met when we were in Marple last year. There was lots to catch up on and a very lovely vegetarian lunch to enjoy before she had to be back at work for her next Teams meeting at her dining room table.

Meanwhile back on Oleanna, Mick spotted a boat that had been moored behind us yesterday near the station, so he knew there should be a space there. He pushed off, winded and returned to the handier mooring for trains to London. The electric boat we’ve seen a few times on our way back from Bedford was there and Mick pulled in. The lady on board was having problems with her generator, so Mick mentioned he’d just left the pub mooring where there is hook up. She was off like a shot to plug in and wait for someone to come out and sort her troublesome generator.

Our original plan had been for Mick to catch a train sometime in the afternoon and come down to join me at the London Leckenby’s for the night. But as there was no shade at the mooring the temperature was rising inside Oleanna. 31C. Not too bad when you can have the windows and hatch open to encourage a breeze to pass through. But with everything shut up to keep a cat indoors it would be really unpleasant. This along with longer delays on the trains due to the heat we decided that Mick should stay with Tilly and make sure she didn’t cook overnight. A real shame, but better for our second mate.

My next port of call was the British Museum. I joined a rather long queue of people going through the security checks and headed indoors, I think a lot of people were heading in doors out of the sunshine. I headed straight for the right room, one that was built to house what are known to many as The Elgin Marbles. One day they will be sent back to Greece, but today I was glad they were still here as I wanted a closer look and to take photos as I’d like to do a touch of a panto joke with them. Lots of photos later and a comfort break I was heading back out to Hackney to help with the final preparations for dinner.

During the afternoon in Littleport a boat had pulled up behind Oleanna. There was then a bold knock on the roof. Mick popped his head out to see if he could help only to find Graham from NB Misty Blue who we did the Tideway and cruised some of the Regents Canal with last summer. He’d spotted Oleanna and stopped to say hello before carrying on for the day, looking for shade. Now some people think we move fast, we know we don’t! But Graham has been all over the place since we last saw him. Then he was heading for the Kennet and Avon which he did and carried on up the River Severn to the Gloucester Sharpness, he was one of the last boats across the Rochdale before it closed and a couple of days ago he crossed The Wash. Hopefully I’ll get chance to say hello when he comes past us next.

This evening we were joined by Jane and her new (to us) boyfriend Kevin, who are over visiting from Sydney. We all grew up together in York as our Mum’s were best friends. It was so lovely to see Jane, hear the news from Australia. Of course there was food, including a whole halibut a first for Andrew to cook. What a wonderful fish, I suspect they will be eating the left overs for days to come.

Conversation kept going until midnight when slightly boozy photos were taken. What a lovely evening.

0 locks, 0.621371 miles back, 2 moorings swapped, 5 buses, 4 tubes, 31C inside at 2pm, 1 London trip abandoned, 1 breezy boat, 1 hot but safe cat, 1 statue, 2 rooms of marbles, 2 old friends, 1 new friend made, 34C, 1 day of shade finding.

**Pip, Jane, Emma, Andrew 1968. Just like it was yesterday**

Hockney Green. 2nd August

Noble Field GOBA mooring

Back when we were moored in St Ives.

A day off work and a day trip in to Cambridge.

We caught the B bus, one of the Guided buses that connects Huntingdon, St Ives and Cambridge. The Guided Busway is the longest in the world and follows the course of the former Cambridge and Huntingdon Railway, the bus driver doesn’t need to steer whilst on the guided track. However they do need to take over when the bus runs on normal roads! Heather had told us of the wild flowers bordering the track, but these are all now sadly gone.

Whilst on the bus I booked us tickets to the Fitzwilliam Museum. This meant we could enter by the main door have our tickets zapped and head off to explore the museum, well the upper floor mainly as this is where the Hockney exhibition was to be found.

Hockney’s Eye , The art and technology of depiction, is a very interesting exhibition. It explores the many ways of seeing and depicting in art and how pictures have been created through his eyes.

Hockney has been known for his use of modern technology, using photographs, iphones and ipads. The exhibition draws together the naturalistic techniques used by the old masters, explains them and collects together artworks made using those techniques and pairs them up with works by Hockney where he has manipulated the rules or gone in the opposite direction from them.

**Get out of the way! It doesn’t work from that side!!!**

The drawing of perspective was explained with the use of the vanishing point. A piece of Perspex stood with lines drawn on it and a cross marked the spot of where to stand, showing how an artist draws. This needed a little explanation to Mick and others as nowhere on the instructions did it mention that you needed not only to be stood on the cross on the floor but also at the right height! This was not helped by two ladies stood in the way of the picture frame you need to line up with at the other end of the gallery!

A wooden box sits in front of Extreme Unction by Poussin. Through a spy hole in the box you can observe the scene seen in the painting. 3D wax figures take up positions around a bed, a strong light coming in from the left. The model in a box is used to help get the lighting right for the painting. At college, one of our first projects was to make a scene in a shoe box and to see how different angles and colours of light affected the mood within. High up on a wall opposite hangs a painting by one of my favourite artists, Caravaggio a master chiaroscuro (the effect of contrasted light and shade in a painting).

Use of a Camera Obscura is shown exceptionally well in the paintings of Canaletto. His perspective landscapes of Venice so intricate in detail and perspective, the box with mirrors a tool to assist in their creation.

Outside the museum is a much larger camera obscura in a hut. The image reflected onto a table of the passing scenes along the road outside. If you had a piece of paper and a pencil these could so easily be traced for the foundation of a picture.

A collection of small drawings by Ingres of travellers amuse and astound with their detail. Hockney after enlarging one of these found evidence that it was possibly traced, marks on the paper suggested the use of a Camera Lucida. Here the apparatus allows the artist to see both subject and paper at the same time. With this points of reference can be marked on the paper, distances between eyes, the relationship to the mouth enabling an accurate dot to dot as it were. Hockney has used the technique himself producing a fantastic portrait of Sir Ian McKellen.

A group of drawings/paintings made using a Camera Lucida and free hand drawing portray a group of gallery staff from the National Gallery who sit and watch the public. They are uniform in both style and clothes, yet unique in the accuracy of their portraiture.

**Green a coloured used a lot by Hockney as a base**

Hockney would send ipad paintings of bowls of flowers to his friends on a daily basis. Flowers that would last and not wilt in a vase. We saw his filmed footage of landscapes around the Yorkshire Wolds, these used to be painted onto large sections of canvas which were displayed together in a similar way. None of his composite photographs though that show not only a person from one sitting but also everything around them.

I overheard a young lady looking at a painting of Hockney’s from his college days when abstraction was all the rage. He wanted to go against the formal training he’d received at college depicting a romantic notion from a Blake poem The Tyger, the painting above by Stubbs depicting a similar romantic emotion in a different style. The young lady said ‘that’s rubbish I could do that in ten minutes!’ ‘It’s just all so insulting!’ Art and beauty is in the eye of the beholder, whether that be the artists eye or a young lady in a museum, she did not appreciate the strokes of Hockney’s brush and had tainted the whole exhibition as ‘insulting’

At least it provoked emotion from her. I hope that she and her companion had just arrived and that her attitude would be confronted elsewhere in the exhibition. Another lady looked down glumly at the paintings, not impressed either. But then again she does have a very chubby middle aged man for a baby!

We broke up our visit with lunch in the cafe, Mick having an egg sandwich with some tasty chutney whilst I had a slightly drab gluten free Mediterranean vegetable wrap without chutney which would have pepped it up a bit.

We maybe should have walked around the other galleries, taken a look at the objects on the lower floors, but the Hockney exhibition was what had brought us here and was well worth the trip out.

On our way back through town we were astounded that there was no queue at Jack’s Gelato, another reason for a day in Cambridge. A study of the menu and we both fancied trying the roasted banana, but sadly so had everyone else and they had just run out! Instead I had strawberries and elderflower with a second scoop of Mango sorbet, Mick Dark Chocolate with sea salt and a second scoop of Honeycomb, well we won’t be back in Cambridge or quite some time!

We called into Heffers for another birthday present, sadly the book in question was not on their shelves so we were directed to Waterstones. We were surprised at this until we found out that Waterstones bought Blackwells bookshops a few years ago. They were right to send us to the other shop, where we found one copy of a rather heavy book.

Thank you Cambridge for an interesting tasty arty day out.

0 locks, 0 miles, 2 guided buses, 1 art exhibition, 1 wrap, 1 sandwich, 2 scoops each, 1 heavy tomb, 1 very good day off, 1 blog post over a week late.

Sky, Family, Design, Dishoom, 40th. 8th August

Ely

The alarm was set and we were breakfasted, none boating clothes on and walking to the station by 8:20am. Mick had forgotten to bring with him a mask so did a quick dash into Tescos. Then we were on our way to London for the day.

A tube ride and a short walk brought us to the Walkie Talkie building where we joined the queue to head up to the Sky Garden. After security checks we zipped up to the 35th floor to join Marion, John and most importantly Fran, Mick’s niece who turns 40 tomorrow.

The first section of the viewing gallery really needs a good window wash as dribbles disturb the view across the river. What a view it was! My photos don’t do it justice.

360 degrees of London, all of it.

We paused for a sit down and a young lad was asking his mum what a flower in the garden was, a large yellow lavish affair with bright red stamen. She didn’t know and was suggesting they took a photo and found out later. My app came in handy and we discovered it was a Ginger Lily, the little lad was very pleased.

Next was a recce of Borough Street Market where we met up with Kath another sibling of Mick’s. A sit down whilst we considered what to have for lunch meant we had to have a drink!

The Wheatsheaf came up trumps with one of Mick’s old favourites, Young’s Original. They also had a couple of gluten free beers to choose from.

Fran and I had our eyes on the paella with giant langoustine, although the chap in front managed to get the last one! Mick and Kath had huge salt beef sandwiches, whilst Marion and John had empanadas.

A saunter along the south bank followed as we’d need to work off lunch. Mick pointed out YET again which buildings he used to work in along the river, along with all the pubs that he used to frequent when he was a yuppy!

Across the wibbley Millennium Bridge towards St Pauls to catch the tube out to High Street Kensington and The Design Museum.

A cuppa and a sit down before some headed off to look round the Football: Designing the beautiful game exhibition, Kath headed into Holland Park to people watch whilst Mick and I looked round the rest of the displays.

Bethany Williams is a fashion and textile designer. She reuses waste in her work and involves communities. Several items were made from tents that had been abandoned at festivals, others are overprinted with bright bold designs.

She was one of the three designers who in 2020 founded the EDN (Emergency Designer Network). Using their knowledge of textile manufacturing they created a network that galvanised over 200 UK volunteers who made approximately 12,000 scrubs, 100,000 masks and 4,000 gowns for frontline staff. They created their own pattern for ease of manufacture, had factories cut out the fabric and assembled kits for them to be made up.

The top floor houses an exhibition called Designer Maker User. Here items are displayed to illustrate how important each element of their creation is, whether it be design for a wonderful looking item or a user suggesting an item should be a certain size, each stage is as important as each other. Chairs, Telephones, logos, all sorts of things.

Time for another sit down in another pub The Prince of Wales where we all congregated and refreshed ourselves before crossing the road to eat at Dishoom. Here we were joined by Richard (Fran’s brother), Christine and Paul, leaving only one of Fran’s Aunts missing Anne who is currently with grandchildren in Wales.

**Marion, Paul, Richard, Fran, Christine, John**

Dishoom is a chain of restaurants based on the old Irani Cafes of Bombay. They serve breakfast, chai, lunch and evening meals. Here the restaurant is based in the old Barkers Department store, 1930’s decor surrounded us. For every meal they serve they donate one to a child who would otherwise go hungry. So far they’ve donated 13 million meals.

The menu took a little bit to understand as the dishes don’t tend to be quite the size of your normal Indian restaurant, so you are encouraged to order a couple each. There was a good gluten free menu, from which Mick and I chose a good selection. At the other end of the table a Lamb Biryani with a pastry crust resembled a cow pie.

Paneer Tikka, Chicken Ruby, Bowl of Greens, Steamed rice, a roti for Mick and Kala Chana Salad, all very very tasty. I may have to put the Dishoom cookery book on my Christmas list. Oh and some Indian Chilled Medication of the mango variety.

A very lovely day to celebrate Fran’s 40th birthday, thank you for inviting us.

We made our way back to Kings Cross believing there to be a train every half hour back to Ely. But two disruptions had occurred earlier in the day with overhead power lines so the departure board looked a touch discouraging with cancellations and delayed trains. We toyed with going to Liverpool Street Station for a train which would get us to at least Cambridge, but then the board changed showing a slow train to Cambridge. A later train was still showing as heading through Ely an hour later. We boarded the stopping service and hoped the later train would still run so we could change trains at Cambridge. We were fortunate that our plan worked, arriving back in Ely just gone midnight. Tilly was very pleased to see us even though we’d left her with her magic food bowl.

0 locks, 0 miles, 3 trains, 3 tubes, 7 miles walked, 3 out of 4 aunts, 1 uncle, 1 nephew, 1 40 year old niece, 1 very lovely day with family, 1 Indian chilled medication.

Milling About. 6th July

Houghton EA Mooring to Hemingford GOBA Mooring to Houghton EA Mooring.

Last night we decided we’d head back towards Hemingford Grey to moor for the day and our visit to Houghton Mill. We knew where the mooring was and that it existed, where as if we’d have gone up the lock we might have been in a situation where no mooring opportunity showed itself.

After our cuppa in bed we rolled up the covers headed a short way up stream where the river was a touch wider. Mick then made use of the current and wind to help turn the bow round to face down stream. We pootled our way to the meadow and pulled in where there was maybe a touch too much goose poo, but it would do us.

With breakfast out of the way we set off to walk the mile and a half to the mill. On reaching about a quarter of the way Mick said he’d not got the National Trust cards, would they allow us in just with our booking confirmation email? Possibly, but he turned back to the boat. I said I’d walk onwards, we’d left just about the right amount of time to walk, would we make it in time?

I slowed my pace, took in the wild flowers on the verges. All the thatched roofs had straw finials, some quite amusing. Had Mick got back to the boat by now? Should I quicken my pace again, would we reach the Mill in time for the tour?

**Across the field that had been cut yesterday**

Mick appeared on the Brompton, I should have carried on walking at a normal pace and not slowed so he could catch me up. I had to quicken my pace now, the mill only open for tours on Wednesdays and the weekend, if we missed our slot then that would be it!

Thankfully we managed to arrive in time to stash the bike somewhere and have a quick comfort break, still with a couple of minutes to spare! Phew!!!

In 974AD the Manor of Houghton and the Mill were given to Ramsey Abbey, all the local farmers used the mill and a cut was taken off as payment, a mulcher, for the Abbey. The mill was kept very busy and the Abbey became very affluent. New sluice gates were added to the river to increase water headed to the mill, but this caused flooding in the village. After ten years of campaigning the villagers got their way and the river was returned to it’s old course.

After the dissolution of the monasteries, Ramsey Abbey was flattened, the mill was still seen to be very profitable and was taken over by the crown. Ownership passed to the Earls of Manchester who leased out the mill as a commercial concern.

In the 18th Century there was a rapid development in mill technology. The original mill had had one water wheel this was increased to three at it’s peak. Inside ten pairs of stones milled the flour operated by eighteen people. In 1850 the mill was run by the Brown and Goodman families and was producing a ton of premium white flour every hour. This flour supposedly improved if left for five to six weeks, just the right amount of time for it to have headed down stream to Kings Lynn, round the coast to the Thames estuary and in to London where it would reach the best price!

But in the later part of the 19th Century technology took milling away from mill stones and Houghton just couldn’t compete with steam driven mills. The repeal of the Corn Laws brought in cheaper foreign grain which was milled at the ports to help feed the growing work force of the Industrial Revolution. Houghton Mill moved to milling animal feed and the work force reduced down to two.

**A corner showing how the YHA had looked**

On the retirement of the last miller in 1928 the mill closed and the water wheels were removed. In 1929 the local council bought the mill, it was soon earmarked for redevelopment. In 1934 Houghton Mill Restoration Committee leased the mill and sublet it to the newly formed Youth Hostel Association, providing accommodation for fifty people. In 1938 the committee managed to buy the mill and then handed it over to the National Trust for £1, the same as the original mill had cost to build.

In 1983 the mill was opened to the public, repairs were made and milling could resume with use of the original stones powered by an electric motor. Millennium funding was then sought to reinstate the water wheel.

Sadly due to the mill having to close during the pandemic the water wheel was left idle for too long. The wood that sat in the water swelled soaking up the water and the wood at the top dried out. Once they got it started again the balance was seriously off! They were recommended to turn the water wheel as often as possible which had been helping, but sadly right now the wheel is in need of some tlc. The tour was very informative and well worth doing, thank you Sue from NB Cleddau for reminding me to check the days it was open.

A look around the village brought so many more chocolate box cottages and finials. Ducks, boxing hares, I couldn’t stop taking photos!

Then a round route brought us down Green Lane where both sides of the road were filled with fantastic Hollyhocks. Wow! We got chatting to a lady who is responsible for a third of them, they are wanting to rename the road Hollyhock Lane. She offered us some seeds, but the seed heads weren’t ready yet, maybe if we stop on our way back we might collect a few and leave them places to cheer up people next year.

Back at Oleanna we quickly pushed off again. The meadow as nice as it was really wasn’t suitable or Tilly with the number of woofers around. We winded and headed back upstream pulling in where we’d left five hours earlier, our end space still empty. In fact we had the island to ourselves for a couple of hours before three more narrowboats turned up, Tilly ended up having to share her kingdom with another black and white cat.

Act 1 of panto was read, props and setting notes highlighted with my neon pens left from #unit21. I did have to stop just as Queen Rat was proclaiming that the panto was over and the audience should all go home, she’d crowned herself Queen of England and wasn’t budging. We watched the news and caught up on events in London. I think real life events may run a similar course to those of Queen Rats in Act 2, but without so many belly laughs. Tomorrow will tell!

0 locks, 1.42 miles, 2 winds, 2 cards forgotten, 3 minutes spare, 10 stones, 3 waterwheels, 1 wonky wheel after the pandemic, I blog problem possibly solved, 1 Queen about to loose her thrown, 1 silent Whittington singing for the future, 1 country waiting.

Houses for Sale.

Houghton Thatched Cottage £550,000

Common Lane Hemington Abbots my favourite £1,500,000

Barnfield, Hemington Abbots £775,000, too boring to take a photo!

The Thing About Islands. 5th July

Dolphin EA Mooring to Houghton EA Mooring

The Norris Museum opened in 1933, purpose built to house the collection of Herbert Ellis Norris who left it and money to establish a museum and library in St Ives, a museum for the people of Huntingdonshire. A recreation of his study stands at one end of the museum.

The museum traces the history of St Ives from the Romans, through to Medieval times when the great fair was held every Easter, one of four main wool fairs in England, traders flocked from right across the country and others came from abroad. Mick recited the following rhyme to me the other day, although it could just as easily be relating to the other St Ives.

As I was going to St Ives, I met a man with seven wives, Each wife had seven sacks, Each sack had seven cats, Each cat had seven kits: Kits, cats, sacks, and wives, How many were there going to St Ives?

By the end of the 13th Century fairs were loosing their popularity in favour of places where goods were traded all year round, Flemish weavers out-competed the areas cloth making industry. Then followed poor harvests and the Black Death which killed half the population.

The Anglo Saxons settled in the area and founded the village of Slepe which became St Ives. Ramsey Abbey was one of the richest in the country and with a wooden bridge across the Great Ouse the town prospered. Oliver Cromwell was born in Huntingdon and for a time was a tenant farmer in St Ives.

There were freezes (good for skating), floods, a great fire which burnt down a large proportion of the town. Mechanical methods in farming brought about unemployment of farm labourers, the landowners grew richer whilst the workers rioted.

Outside in the courtyard a wonderful wisteria covers the building and lavender bushes line the paths. The museum may be small but it is looked after by very enthusiastic people, we nearly spent as long chatting to one chap as we did looking at the displays.

Time to move the boat, Mick umphed the stern out and we were soon reversing out of the arm. We winded and then headed over the other side of the river and up another arm alongside the Norris Museum to fill with water. Here were NB Casper and NB Mosi-y-Tunya. Brian and Ann on Casper invited us to breast up so that we could fill with water, the pressure not the best so there was plenty of time to have a chat with them. We seem to have a lot in common with them, Yorkshire and theatre. It was good to actually have chance to talk to you today and our paths will cross again upstream somewhere.

Backwards down the arm as there’s nowhere to wind, we then turned and headed upstream making note of the nice GOBA mooring on the outskirts of town. Up Hemingford Lock, another D shaped lock and past Hemingford Grey. Heather had mentioned the other day about the Manor House. Not quite so easy to just turn up as you need to book to go round the house and this is done either by email or phone. We’ll think about it on our way back.

We aimed for the Houghton EA Moorings. I’d spotted that they were really quite close to Houghton Mill a National Trust property. Last night I had booked us onto a tour round the mill for first thing on Wednesday morning, it’s only open weekends and Wednesdays. With a long stretch of moorings we tucked ourselves at the end and let Tilly out, four hours of shore leave.

During the afternoon we discovered that the blog had reached it’s maximum size! I’d been having difficulty uploading photos, so left it with Mick to see what had happened and see if he could sort things. We really can’t have used 20 GB this year!

I decided to head off for a walk, see where we needed to go in the morning and have a nosy around some of the islands that make up the area. The one we were moored opposite was being mown and the hay was rapidly being bailed up.

I walked with purpose to the other end of the island where the path petered out. Hang on!

I checked my map.

**Another lovely GOBA mooring, so long as you don’t want to get off it!**

We were on an island, with no means of getting off it without a boat. We have a boat, but there is nowhere else to moor Oleanna close to the mill. Oh B**er! I walked back and chatted to a lovely couple on a cruiser who knew the area very well. We could maybe go up the lock and pull in where a boat used to moor, they pointed out roughly where they meant as boats went past. Or we could tie up on the lock landing for our visit. Or we could go back and moor at Hemingford Grey Meadow and walk from there in the morning. Hmmm, what to do?

During the afternoon I’d had a much awaited for email. My Panto script has arrived! It is now printed out and awaiting a first read, all very exciting!

1 lock, 2.55 miles, 2 reverses, 2 winds, 3 familiar boats, 1 museum, 1 full water tank, 1 island mooring, 0 way off, 2 tours booked, 1 change of plan required, 1 ecstatic cat, 1 Mrs Tilly stamp of approval, 1 panto script, 1 boater about to change into a designer.

https://goo.gl/maps/BgBk2uEpw2jZ3yT79

14 Days Anywhere! 29th June

Burlow Lode EA Mooring to Stretham Old Engine GOBA Mooring, Old West River

Time to do some boating again and leave the Loades behind.

What a grey morning! The waterproofs were at the ready. After a long chat with the fishermen who’d set up behind us about the National Trust wanting to flood the land, how bad the fishing was and how much the house across the way was on the market for (£1,050,000, it comes with a building plot with planning permission), we were ready to push off.

Slow going again until the way ahead got wider, followed by the Terns again.

Is this a hovercraft sat in the field?

At the two bridges there were several dog walkers, one lady on one side of the water another two opposite, they were waiting for us to pass before getting their dogs to swim across to each other. The dogs were being very patient and loving it at the same time.

NB Ivy May turned out from Wicken Lode a short distance in front of us, they’d had two days moored at the end and really enjoyed it. Today there was space on the EA mooring despite some overstayers, but who knows their circumstances.

A boat was moored in the middle of the lock landing which is also a water point. NB Ivy May just about managed to get in front of them and we did our best to squeeze in behind, but had to stick out across the cut as we were about four foot too long for the gap. Our next water point wouldn’t be until Friday, a load of washing had just finished, so we needed to fill the tank. NB Ivy May disposed of rubbish and then made their way through the lock whilst we filled with water. Eventually the boat in the middle moved up after Mick had suggested that the owner may believe he can moor anywhere for 14 days even water points, but that it was very selfish to other boaters requiring to use the services. He didn’t have a hose and was going to fill up using jerry cans, I also suspect he didn’t have a key either as he looked a touch perturbed when he returned to see the water point closed and us heading off into the lock.

By the time we reached the lock it had reset itself. The top gate almost closed, letting a small flow through and the bottom gate open that bit more. It took a little while for me to work out what was what as you can see next to nothing of the lock from the controls at either end, but we were soon through and on our way again.

Straight on past the pub, the river view tables all full, people waving as we went past. A narrowboat came towards us, quite a long way over and heading for a big willow, thankfully the two dogs on the roof managed to stay onboard.

The heavens opened as Ely Cathedral showed itself again on the skyline.

Popes Corner, time to turn towards the west and onto the River Old West. There are several EA moorings on the first bend but we had our sights set on the GOBA mooring at Stretham Old Engine, hopefully there would be space for us and it be a suitable place for a supermarket delivery.

Another speed check, we were well within it at 42 seconds. Plenty of others were going that bit faster!

The chimney of the old engine showed itself, then the mooring. One boat and a handful of fishermen, but plenty of space for us. We pulled in and settled down for the rest of the day, making amendments to our big shopping order.

A little walk round late afternoon we had a little nosy at the museum. Sadly it is only open on Sundays, maybe every Sunday or maybe the second one each month! Too long for us to hang around to see inside.

Stretham steam engine replaced four windmills that had been trying to drain the surrounding fens for years, they’d struggled to cope with flooding and were at the mercy of the weather. The engine was built by Butterleys in 1831 costing £4950 and it scooped water up into the Old West River. The coal to drive the engine arrived by barge, chunks of 2 to 3ft piled high in the yard, these had to be broken up before they could be burned, the engine using a quarter of a ton an hour. It was one of only three drainage beam engines left in the Fens. It was used for over a hundred years and then was replaced by electric pumps. What a shame we won’t see it running.

1 lock, 8.05 miles, 2 straights, 1 left, 1 shower to be missed, 14 days! 1 full water tank, 1 empty wee tank, 0 rubbish,1 order completed after 12 goes, 1 closed museum, 1 fishing tennis fan, 1 looping the loop Spitfire.

https://goo.gl/maps/yyUbrGNLjXzpfTJ69

Not The One In Wales. 28th June

Burwell EA Mooring

Our neighbours were off before we’d even got our cuppas in bed this morning, heading off to make the most of being on a boat for a week. We weren’t tardy either this morning and found ourselves waiting for the No 11 bus towards Cambridge at 10am.

Sitting on the top deck gave us great views, it’s almost hilly round here! There are interesting buildings in many of the villages and plenty of thatched roofs to admire whilst passing at their height. If we had more time it would be interesting to have a look around St Cyriac and St Julitta churches, both share the same church yard. The Maltings in Burwell with it’s quirky roof line. Burwell Museum and Windmill, only open Thursdays, Sundays and Bank Holidays. Or walk round Lode where numerous thatched cottages require there to be boxes of chocolates on every street corner. Sadly they all passed too quickly for photos, well except the later where the bus has to do a three point turn to continue on its route!

We alighted and walked round the corner to the entrance of Anglesey Abbey. Not an abbey and not in Wales, but a rather fine house cared for by the National Trust. With huge gardens and access into the house we were to have a busy day. The offer of a garden highlights tour soon to start was not to be missed and we’re glad we went along as we’d have had no idea what we were looking at.

Jean was a very knowledgeable guide who first took us to see the wild flower meadow. The meadow is left alone for much of the year, the paths cut frequently but the main area only getting one cut a year once all the flowers have set their seeds. She pointed out Common Birds-Foot-Trefoil, known as Eggs and bacon due to its colouring, Knotweed in amongst the grasses.

Pyramid orchids and a rare Lizard Orchid that has appeared in the gardens this year.

We paused at a shrub covered in cobwebs, competing with Miss Haversham’s table covered. This was caused not by spiders but by a moth that weaves it’s silk, the caterpillars eat the shrub beneath before turning into small white moths. Today a few of the adults flitted about, a resting one on someone’s finger. This looked very much like the little things that have been appearing on Oleanna’s cabin sides over the last few weeks. Inside the cratch we’ve had incredible webs, that we’ve been putting down to new very keen spiders, but maybe we’ve got moths in there!

We walked through avenues of trees all given celebratory names, Coronation, Jubilee. Then areas of wood with perfectly positioned statues.

Into the rose garden, just finishing it’s first flush of blooms. Here we heard how the roses were cared for, planting in cardboard boxes is a new method to try to ease the influence of the soil in the beds, far cheaper than replacing all the soil every time new roses are planted. We took in the aromas from the blooms, very reminiscent of childhood making rose petal scent.

Around the exterior of the house we were shown the trained pear tree and then on to the herbaceous border garden where delphiniums towered high at the back of the flower beds. This was the garden currently in it’s prime. I could name loads of the plants but I can’t remember them all so photos will have to do.

The Fairbourne brothers who owned the house from the 1930’s loved gardens and the whole layout would have one garden coming into bloom as another passed it’s best. The next garden over had recently been planted out with Dahlias which would take over as the display garden in a couple of months time.

A very worthwhile tour to have done, one that will change through the seasons.

**The Oak Room for after dinner drinks influenced by Coe Hall in Long Island**

Anglesey Abbey started out as a hospital in 1135 and by the early 13th Century it had been converted into an Augustinian priory. Of course when Henry VIII came along (1536) the priory was dissolved. The ruins of the priory formed the core of the present house, which was built in the early 17th century. The house changed hands many times through the centuries, with not much changing.

In 1848 the Reverend John Hailstone bought the house and made various changes to it’s fabric, removing Jacobean dormer windows and creating the stable block. It was probably him who changed the name from Anglesey Priory to Abbey, the latter sounding far grander.

Urban Huttlestone Rogers Broughton (Lord Fairhaven) and his brother Henry bought the house in 1926. They had inherited £1million each when their father died, their family were very very wealthy Americans from oil refining. Urban was granted his Fathers Barony and became the 1st Baron of Fairhaven. The brothers agreed that the first to get married would sell their share to the other, so when Henry married in 1932 he sold his share to Urban. The house and estate complimented their horse stud at Barton and being close to Newmarket. Now they could enjoy the races in the summer along with shooting in the winter.

Between 1926 and 1930 the brothers altered the house, adding a new porch, spiral staircase and engine room. They also converted the stables into garages. In 1937 Lord Fairhaven extended the service wing and built the Library and in 1939 he added the Tapestry Hall. Money being no problem meant that anything that took Fairhavens fancy could be bought. This makes for an eclectic collection of objects and works of art.

Numerous paintings line the walls, collections giving rooms a theme. One corridor is filled with paintings by an artist Etty known for his historic nudes.

Numerous tapestries hang in corridors and down staircases. Some are old, others obviously commissioned with images of the house. There were one or two that seemed a little bit familiar as though elements had been included from the Marlborough Tapestries at Blenheim.

But all eyes are encouraged towards the Library. A large high ceilinged room, books line the walls, desks each end and sofas by the fire. Opposite hangs the main feature. A couple of months ago the largest known painting Constable painted returned from being cleaned. The Opening of Waterloo Bridge 1817, now reveals crowds waving from buildings and one figure is thought to be the Price Regent as it is the only figure wearing a wig. The volunteer in the room was obviously very proud as he talked about it.

**The Library was made from reclaimed ash from Waterloo Bridge**

If you peek through the leaded windows behind the desk you can make out graffiti, etched by Fairhavens guests. Several of the royal family’s names appear here, sadly my photos didn’t come out, Elizabeth R is there.

Down below stairs the kitchens are open for viewing. An old range is accompanied by several electric cookers. Behind the bars in the safe sit shelves of crockery and a bust of Winston Churchill.

When Fairhaven entertained, three guests his preferred number, dinner would be served at 8.03 in the dinning room, giving the guests three minutes to walk from where they’d had pre-dinner drinks. Then every evening just before 9pm a radio was brought through to the dinning table on a sliver tray so that the news could be listened to.

A house that went on and on, room after room filled with such an eclectic collection of alsorts and then a garden that stretches on for what feels like mile after mile and then some more. What a place, what a very rich chap!

After the house we retired to the cafe for a jacket potato each and a pot of tea. Another walk round the grounds, taking in the Mill this time, sadly it’s closed at the moment. Then it was time to walk back to catch the bus back and give Tilly a head nudge or two.

0 locks, 0 miles, 2 buses, 1 huge house, 1 even larger garden, 2 avenues, 56545378 moths, 1 lizard orchid, 8ft Constable, 1 cat up high, 1 parrot, 1 replica ceiling, 2 jackets, 1 mill, 1 very good day out, now it’s time to go boating again.

Fens and Flutterbys. 26th June

Wicken Fen GOBA Mooring to Reach Lode GOBA Mooring

Time to dust off the National Trust cards, today would be their first outing since before the pandemic when we visited the Back to Backs in Birmingham.

Wicken Fen is 254.5 hectares and is a SSSI protected by international designations as a Ramsar wetland site of international importance. It is one of the oldest nature reserves in the country and the first to have been looked after by the National Trust after it was donated by Charles Rothschild in 1901.

Here you can see an area of natural fen land, no pumping out of water to dry the land for agriculture here, in fact at times water is pumped in to help maintain the land. Where we are moored at Monk’s Lode, water is pumped under Wicken Lode and into the fen by a modern windmill (on the left).

The last surviving wooden wind pump (on the right) in the Fens sits proudly over looking the swaying grasses and sedge. It was built around 1912 and was moved from Adventurers’ Fen and restored in 1956. The windmill sails still have sheets wrapped round them ready to to be stretched out to catch the wind, the round shape at the back is where the wheel is to lift water from the drain into the fen to help maintain a high water table.

There are several walks around the area, we chose to walk the Boardwalk and then the woodland walk. Easels are located at places pointing out plantlife, dragonflies, damselflies, birds and in the woodland butterflies. Most of the time living examples wizz past.

In a hide we settled down, quieter than a mouse to watch to see what might happen. The bird feeders attracted a lot of Goldfinches, I think at one point we had about six of them vying for the seed. Such colourful birds the air filled with only their song. Sadly the noise of some people coming into the hide sent them all flying away until the new observers settled down, but only a brave couple of birds returned.

Parts of the fen have changed due to drying out. More plants have taken hold and in some areas trees have taken root. The woodland area a haven for butterflies. There were numerous easels about them. We spotted a Brimstone that flew by and then politely hung from under a leaf, showing off it’s perfect camouflage, if we’d not seen it fly in we’d have never have known it was there.

Flittering White wings occasionally haphazardly flew past us, the odd Peacock and Red Admiral all butterflies of child hood. Then there were masses of small brown butterflies, few wanting to take a rest long enough for the camera to focus upon them. A Speckled Wood, but plenty more without obvious markings. All we could see at the time was a yellowy cream outline to their wings. Later on studying the photos black dots could be seen meaning that they were Ringlets.

We walked out across the fen spotting Meadow Sweet that will soon be filling the air with its fragrance, a smell I will always associate with the Chesterfield Canal. We’d been told to look out for orchids, were these some?

**That’s a nice narrowboat over there!**

Back round to where we’d started after a pleasant walk. You could spend several quiet days walking the fen, seeing and hearing all sorts of nature.

Across the way sat an old cottage with a colourful garden. In the open door way an invite for you to take a peek inside. Nobody had mentioned the cottage and barns, but we did as invited and took a peek. A cockerel came over to show himself off. An outside privy, just as you’d expect except that the newspaper to wipe one’s behind is now photocopied!

Boats used for catching eels with wicker traps, nets for plovers (lapwings). So much crammed into a few barns that we’d nearly walked past.

**This could be Reach Lode or Wicken both narrow and amazonian**

A late lunch and then we were ready to push off, more Lodes to explore. The cruisier behind had left earlier thank goodness as the wind was going to make it hard for us to wind, the bow constantly being pushed over and the stern heading straight for the bank. Eventually we got round and aimed in the right direction, soon meeting the trip boat coming back to drop off it’s visitors.

The going was slow again, I headed to the bow to spread the weight more evenly which helped a touch. A family filled a canoe and so many dragonflies flitted about like fairies. Or do fairies flit about like dragonflies?

We got almost to the junction before we were caught up by the last trip boat of the day. Mick had considered pulling in here to moor but there was still no space on the EA moorings, so we turned eastward had a discussion as to which Lode we’d venture down first, Reach came out top.

Now deeper, or so it seemed for a while, the going was a touch quicker. The Lodes are higher than the surrounding land and without flood banks you actually get a view.

At the fork we turned to the south east towards Reach, reeds started to surround us, swaying in the stiff breeze. Then masses of blanket weed, the sort that tangles props up really well. Mick knocked us out of gear to glide through such sections. Was this only to get worse the further we progressed? We were now just that bit to far along the lode to reverse out again, so onwards we went, thankfully the blanket weed gradually diminished.

At Reach the lode splits in two, well it looks like it used to. Signs warn that this is the end of the navigation and permission should be sought to moor from the Parish Council. Just beyond there were the GOBA signs. Was there space for one or more boats, would there be anywhere in full sunlight? There was space for two or three, but it all looked rather shallow. We tried pulling in where there was less tree coverage, here would have been good last week for the 32C day. The depth prohibited access to land, we backed up and tried again. All the time the stern getting stuck on the bottom. We eventually made it back to the start of the moorings, the bow almost came into the side, just enough to get off, then Mick powered Oleanna round. The ropes were wrapped round trees, we were moored, our plank only just long enough to reach land. This however wasn’t a problem for Tilly!

We hope that tomorrow we’ll be able to get ourselves free again, as it may be some time before anyone else ventures down here!

0 locks, 4.08 miles, 1 wind, 1 left, 2 rights, 1 big fen, 2 windmills, 6531 butterflies, 431 damselflies, 311 dragonflies, 1 canoe, 1 cat tip toing along the plank, 6ft plank only just long enough, 1 very shallow mooring, 0 sight seeing from here, 1 supermarket delivery moved back.

https://goo.gl/maps/Re6B6stACL6d2AiD6

A Tale Of Two Colleges. 23rd June

Fort St George, Cambridge

When in a University city such as Oxford or Cambridge we feel we should visit a college or two. With a lot to choose from we chose two which couldn’t be more different from each other.

First was the tourist attraction of Kings College. I wanted to visit the college as it is where a chorister kicks off Christmas Eve singing Once in Royal Davey Daddies City. To be honest I hadn’t come across this until Mick came into my life, now every year either the TV or radio are on for us to listen. The chapel is also quite a visual treat.

Entrance is best booked in advance, if you can book a week in advance you’ll get £1 off your ticket. The entrance is down Senate House Passage which leads to the north door of the chapel.

As soon as you walk in the ceiling and stained glass grab your eyes. I love fan vaulting so I was always going to enjoy our visit. A sit down was needed to appreciate the pleasing structure way over head. One area caught the eye, a very smiley sun just off symmetry, a helium balloon that someone had lost grip of. I wonder how long it will take for it to loose it’s attraction to the ceiling?

King Henry VI laid the foundation stone in 1444, King’s one of his two ‘royal and religious’ foundations, the other being Eton. Both the school and college were to admit a maximum of 70 scholars drawn from poor backgrounds, boys from Eton were guaranteed entry to Kings. From his original plans only the chapel was ever built and that took almost a century. Subsequent Kings took on the college, it’s building paused during the Wars of the Roses.

The anti-chapel is overwhelmingly carved. Half crowns stand out from the walls, back lit. Tudor heraldic emblems fill every space left around the stained glass windows.

The dark oak screen which houses the organ was a gift from Henry VIII and bears his and Anne Boleyn’s initials. It’s not as elaborate as many choir screens, but not many date back to this time. He also commissioned the stained glass windows for the north, south and east sides of the chapel, split in two with Old Testament at the top and new Testament below. Sitting looking up at them there is a lot of bright blue sky.

The choir stalls line the sides, seats going on forever, no wonder the choir is famed.

Below the East window stands The Adoration of the Magi, painted by Rubens in 1634. During my A level Art I studied Rubens, I think the best essay I ever wrote at school was about his portrayal of naturally curved women.

You then get the chance to walk around some of the outside areas. Today the Front Court was off bounds as the May Ball was being cleared away. It appears that this years thing is bumper cars, we came across them elsewhere in Cambridge today too. The gatehouse and screen, separate the college from the city’s streets and it’s people, the architecture ornate and delicate dates from the 1820s.

Behind the court lies the Back Lawn, the majority grass. Don’t stand on it whatever you do! Then directly in front of Kings Chapel the grass has been sewn with wild flowers, a sea of waist high daisies with paths leading down to the River Cam. Very pretty and tasty for the bees.

As we crossed over the Bridge we looked back, the whole place shouted MONEY at us. We’d done THE tourist college with it’s spectacular ceiling and old masters, and Keep of the grass signs, now it was time for something very different.

On the north west side of the city, up Huntington Road lies Murray Edwards College. Originally founded as New Hall in 1954, the first year had just 16 women students in buildings on Silver Street, it set out to try and address the low number of women undergraduates at Cambridge University . It was able to relocate to Huntington Road when the Darwin family donated their home The Orchard. The college buildings were opened in 1964 with the capacity for 300 students. In 2005 the college was renamed after it’s first President Dame Rosemary Murray and Ros and Steve Edwards who made a large donation to the college.

Architects Chamberlain, Powell and Bon had designed the Barbican and Golden Lane Estates in London, they were chosen along with the builders WC French who had built the original motorway bridges on the M1. See, I told you it was completely different.

The dining hall known as The Dome is made up of precast concrete, 4 inches thick, flanged so that they overlap each other with glass panels in between. The dome soars high above the first floor, your eye naturally pulled to it’s centre. Four staircases spiral down to the ground and lower floors, one in each corner.

Large wooden glazed doors invite you into rooms where the texture of the concrete has either been left ruff almost like the sea bed, or polished smooth. Cream brickwork on curved walls surrounds the Fountain Court with its blue lined troughs of water and of course it’s fountains.

Long glazed corridors with large windows, many open today for fresh air create open walkways from parts of the college to the next. For me this was reminiscent of parts of York University and parts of the house my Dad built as our family home.

The Porter was very friendly, gave us both a sticker for the Women’s Art Collection along with a big white folder with details of where we could go and the artworks held within the college and it’s 14 acres of gardens, and yes we’d be allowed to walk on the grass!

The collection is formed of modern and contemporary art by women, the largest of it’s kind in Europe. It was founded in 1986 and has expanded since then with donations and loans from artists. The college houses more than 500 works, including pieces by Barbara Hepworth, Tracy Emin, Rebecca Fortnum to name just a few. Every corner you turn there is another work, at the bases of staircases sculptures sit.

As we left we turned round, numerous potted plants sitting on the front steps a black cat lurking in there somewhere, we decided that we preferred it here to Kings. More inclusive, relaxed, warm, arty, airy, grass between your toes friendly. Well worth a visit and it’s free! Thank you Bridget for pointing us in the colleges direction.

We now walked back into the city, one last thing on the list of essential things to do in Cambridge to tick off the list, Jack’s Gelato!

The queue was far shorter late afternoon and it was just the right length to have made the very hard decision of which flavour to have. To save any bickering between us we both chose Dark Chocolate and Sea Salt. Mick had a standard waffle cone, I paid the extra for a gluten free one, a rare thing! We sat down on the wall outside King’s College our backs turned towards the money and enjoyed our well earned chilled medication.

0 locks, 1 walked over twice, 0 miles, 7 miles walked, 2 colleges, 513 years apart, 1 spectacular ceiling, 1 mesmerising ceiling, 1 organ screen, 1 walkway of roses, 1 Ruben, 2 Tracy Emin and a Barbara Hepworth, £11, £0, 2 chilled medications well deserved.

Sitting In His Dad’s Seat. 22nd June

Fort St George, Cambridge

Last night Cambridge was treated to a firework display, sadly we could only just make out the wizz bangs and flashes from behind the trees on the common. This was soon followed by what sounded like a concert somewhere in the city. Maybe Bruce Springsteen!? If it was he did a bad cover of Live and Let Die, the other songs were unrecognisable as we tried to drop off to sleep with the aim of getting up early. The May Balls in Cambridge have started.

The No 7 bus was late arriving, in fact it was embarrassed of the fact and came incognito as the No 5, changing itself whilst we weren’t looking! As other people headed to the bus who’d also been waiting we went to check, managing to stop the driver from heading off without us. Then we wanted a Cambridgeshire Multibus ticket which the driver had never heard of, so this took another five minutes at least to sort. Would we make our connection? The answer to this was no! By the time we reached Sawston we’d missed the 7A by at least five minutes. What to do now? There was still quite a distance to go and there was over an hours wait for the next service.

Thankfully the next bus got us that bit closer, dropping us off in the village of Duxford. From here we found a footpath that took us across a field, from where we could see our destination, a very large hanger on the other side of the M11. After a mile and a half walk we’d arrived walking underneath the wings of a Spitfire at the gates of the Imperial War Museum Duxford.

With some birthday money Mick had decided to treat us to a visit to the airfield. The museum is vast as you’d expect being on an airfield, stretching out almost as far as we could see. Today would be a long day making the most of our visit.

First we headed for the British Airliner Collection, looked after by the Duxford Aviation Society. Mick had been in contact with them via Facebook a couple of days ago and a chap called Jim had offered to come and open up one of the planes for us to have a look inside, they are only open up when there are enough volunteers about. We loitered on the tarmac whilst Jim unlocked all the doors, then we were shown inside, the Closed signs put back in position behind us. We’d have the plane to ourselves for a while.

This Trident Two was flown by Mick’s Dad fifty years ago shortly before he retired from being a pilot. This year Peter would have been 100, so this was a visit we just had to make.

Jim showed us into the spacious cockpit. The Co-pilots seat would be easier to get into as there was no jump seat behind it, but Mick wanted to sit in the left hand seat, the pilots seat, saying ‘Hello Dad’ as he sat down.

Jim ran us through all the instruments, although Mick knew most of them anyway. Stories were exchanged and of course photos taken.

This Trident Two flew with British European Airways from 1968 to 1972, when it was leased to Cyprus Airways. Damaged by gunfire during the Turkish invasion of Cyprus in 1974, it was abandoned at Nicosia Airport. In 1977 the bullet holes were repaired and after a complete overhaul it re-joined the fleet in what was by then British Airways until it was retired in 1982.

**Captain Geraghty and Co-pilot Leckenby**

Tridents were built with ‘blind landing’ capabilities, the plane able to land in thick fog, enabling them to be a reliable passenger service. It had a range of 2,700 miles and could carry 115 passengers at a cruising speed of 580mph.

I’d been expecting Jim to be older, volunteers at museums like this tend to be. But Jim knew his stuff, he holds a pilots licence and has worked around airliners and is most definitely a plane enthusiast. As he showed us into the cabin a chap came saying he was wanting to give the Trident a wash and hadn’t expected it to be open today. With our leisurely tour over Jim locked the plane back up and moved over to open up the plane next door.

We walked up the line of British Airliners. A Viscount, Peter may have flown this plane too, along with the last plane in the line an Airspeed Ambassador which became known as an Elizabethan after the newly crowned Queen, it is the last one in the world.

Planes were taking off and coming in to land, the runway in constant use, we didn’t feel the need for a flight at £45 a go, what we now needed was a cuppa and a snack whilst formulating a plan for the remainder of the day. A cafe in the American hanger provided us with refreshments and we plotted ourselves a route back towards the entrance, picking and choosing what we’d see.

If Mick’s Dad hadn’t retired he would most probably have moved on to flying the BAC I-II which was designed and built in Britain and was the most successful, 244 were built. Jim showed us round this plane too, a much more compact cockpit, no navigator seat required. A much narrower plane with no first class seats. Having a door under the tail meant that turn arounds could be swift. The plane could land, luggage off loaded, refuelled, new luggage and passengers were on board and ready for take off in the blink of an eye.

Thank you so much to Jim for volunteering, opening up the planes and giving us a lot of your time.

The Battle of Britain Ops Block told the story of those who worked at Duxford. The base supported the defence of London with several squadrons flying out from here. The Dowding System was employed where the country was divided into groups, then subdivided into sectors, each sector having a Sector Station with an Ops Room.

Wing Commander Alfred ‘Woody’ Woodhall, who was found to be short sighted in one eye at the beginning of WW2. Pilots were not allowed to wear glasses, so he got round this by wearing a monocle and continued flying for some time, later becoming Duxfords Station Commander.

The Opps Room is laid out how it would have been and accompanied by a projected film, lighting and recordings relives what it was like as five squadrons took off to head off the Germans.

**Butternut squash salad and brisket burger**

Lunch was taken in the Workshop Restaurant as Spitfires and Hurricanes flew past.

We walked round the Battle of Britain hanger.

Around privately owned planes, a bus and a German one-man submarine.

Then we headed for the Air and Space Hanger. Lined up outside was a vast array of Classic Cars, there was an auction taking place. We headed to the balcony over looking the bids, below a few rich people bid for vehicles. Sadly we missed how much the star of the sale went for a 1969 Ferrari 365GT Rebodied in the style of a ‘Pontoon Fender’ Testa Rossa, estimated at £350,000 to £400,000! No wonder it had ropes round it!

Away from the cars we learnt all about man and flight. In 1853 George Cayley designed a man carrying glider which successfully left the ground for 130m, a British aviation pioneer from close to Scarborough.

Looking across the hanger at all the planes, some suspended above others, we spotted another we had to spend time with, another plane that Mick’s Dad flew, the Lancaster. What a difference from the airliners, at least he was a pilot who got some heating unlike most of the crew.

**Look at those Ugg Boots! Peter in the middle**

To while away a bit more time we went to have a closer look at the classic cars, one had shouted out to be owned by me so we had to see what it was.

A 1937 Fiat 500 Topolino. What a pretty dinky car. A closer look and I spotted a few things that would bring the estimate down from £12,000 to £14,000, a bit of damaged paintwork and a missing centre to the steering wheel. I wonder how much I could have knocked off, oh and a missing wing mirror, but it still had trafficators. The auction was way past Lot 52 so I’ve no idea what it went for.

A quick look at the tat in the shop before we headed out the front to await the 17:07 7A bus. We waited and waited, some road works delaying the traffic. We waited some more as did other people. We had options. Wait, get a taxi, walk back to where we’d got off the bus this morning, walk to Whittlesford Station and get a train back to Cambridge. In the end we walked to the station another 1.8 miles to add to our tally for the day. We hopped on the first bus that arrived at Cambridge station and hoped it would get us some way back to the boat, which thankfully it did. More reliability and some bus route maps around Cambridge would help along with Google giving you information about them!

It would have been Peter’s 100th birthday a couple of weeks ago, Mick wrote a post about him here if you missed it. What a great day out to remember him.

0 locks, 0 miles, 8 plus miles walked, 2 late buses, 4 planes with connections, 1 pilots seat, 1 star Jim, 3 cuppas, 1 coke, 1 flapjack, 1 millionaires flapjack, several millionaires bidding, 7 spitfire flypasts, 2 helicopters, loads of planes, 1 squash salad, 1 smoked brisket, £400,000 for a car! 1 submarine, 2 invisible 7A’s, 1 Lancaster, 1 Typhoon, 1 train, 3 buses, 1 very bored cat, 313 photos, 1 brilliant day.

Narrowboat Oleanna

Travels of Narrowboat Oleanna