catching up

Well you know what they say (who ever they are?) " dont put off till tomorrow what  you can do today" !!! or is it " put off what you can do today till tomorrow"? - no wonder I am so behind with the blog so here is the catch up...



Wed 27th April
Arrived Aerith - small village nothing much there excet two rather poor pubs. The mooring is handy as its on a floating pontoon outside a small marina with easy access to water and toilet pump out  if needed.  We decided to walk to a village which should have taken about 45 min.  Due to the poor signs on footpaths, we ended up on a wild goose chase across fields with very aggressive looking cows.  We continued on and walked about four miles negotiating the scary cows and their calf.    We passed through two small but lovely villages and eventually came to a lovely looking pub which was open to our surprise.  We stopped (it would have been rude not to) we inquired if food was still being served as it was 1.30pm, the landlord was Australian and more than happy to take our order.   We had a lovely and reasonably priced lunch in the garden enjoying the sun shine.  On the way back to Merlot, we passed a farm shop selling veg, fruit, eggs etc.  After stocking up we eventually made our way back.  The old legs were ready for a good sit down......

Thurs 28th
Left Aerith, arrived at Hemingford Grey, a small pretty village with a gastro pub called the Cook Inn. There had been plans to have a mini beer festival to celebrate the royal wedding, so we went to investigate but was told it had been cancelled  - never mind Trev,  he!he!  We did partake of a pint and a glass of wine which was very nice.

Fri 29th
Royal wedding - we left H Green early and arrived at Hemmingford where we moored up to watch the wedding on TV.   Wedding duly watched, we set of at 12.30 to a nice mooring we used before outside the town of Huntington.  We walked into the town via a footpath over fields, carefully dodging the nettles,  it took us about 35 min.  Did some shopping, bringing back a lovely steak pie for our lunch.  We stayed put waiting for the arrival of Alan and Ron on Sunday..  (we had arranged to meet up and visit a water festival in Northhampton.  Al kindly offered to pick us up as if we had made our own way there it would have taken 2 hours by buss and train.)  We watched a mother duck with 8 cute little ducklings swimming about then she must have decided it was bed time and ushered them onto the bank under a tree for the night.  So sweet.

Sun 8th
Al and Ron arrived to pick us up for North Hampton about an hours drive away.  Feels strange being in a car and moving so fast..
We had visited this water festival two years ago with Al and Ron however this one turned out to be something different and very poor with hardly anything worth staying for.  We had already booked and paid for a hotel in Northampton so had to try and find something to keep us amused for the rest of the day, bearing in mind it was Northampton on a Sunday, not holding out too much hope!!  The first couple of pubs listed in the good beer guide were somewhat run down and grubby to say the least so we trudged on ever hopeful.       Just as I began to think it was all in vain and Al even suggested we drive for an hour to a nice place he knew off,   we stumbled across a nice'ish looking pub and oh joy of all joys, not only was it a real ale pub, they had a beer festival on with a live band - sorted!!!!!
We spent a very nice afternoon sampling the beers (even Ron had a go at ale tasting,  beer is not her preferred tipple).   Al nearly died and went to heaven when he learned that the band were Beatles fans and played quite a selection of their music.  Anyone who knows Al, will know that he enjoys (not sure if anyone else does - only joking Al) singing along to his fav songs, he did not disappoint AND the singer almost lost the mike to Al's enthusiasm on a few occasions.  We finished off the day with a lovely  meal in a very good Chinese restaurant patronized by more Chinese people than English which is always a good sign.   The visit to Northampton had been rescued from disaster after all.   YEA!

Monday 2nd.

Alan and Ron dropped us back at Brampton where Merlot was safe and sound.  Thanks again for making a detour and collecting us you guys, it was great to see you both again especially Ron who looked so well.

We left Brampton mooring turning around and set off  back tracking towards  St. Ives.                                      We filled the water tank and did a quick shop at Waitrose then left St Ives center and moored up on a island called Offord Cluny near the lock.  There were lots of cows and geese with lots of lovely little chicks, a lovely mooring.  

Tue 3rd
Arrived back at Earith.  Stayed the night, topped up with water and not much else.

Wed 4th
Stayed at Earith and walked to farm shop, stocking up on fruit veg and two huge goose eggs.  The shop has no assistants and operates a honesty system - amazing.

Thurs 5th

Left Earith cruised for 5 hours towards  Upwear.   Saw a beautiful Coot sitting contentedly on a her nest next to the lock.   I was amazed at her pure white beak                                                                                           Merlot was followed,  for ages, by two Common Tern birds diving for fish, they swooped above the boat diving into the river catching small fish, it was lovely to watch them, I tried to get a photo but they were far too quick.

Fri 6th
We moored up at Upwear - in the middle of nowhere, hence the name of the pub - 5 miles  (from nowhere) pub.

We noticed that the mooring right outside the pub had electric hook up and decided to try for a mooring there on our way back from Cambridge (which is our ultimate destination in this area).  The pub has a band on so after Trev looked at the starter motor which has been a bit temperamental lately (not looking too good, he says) we ambled over to the pub and watched the band - not bad.  At 10pm the staff came around asking if anyone was interested in a plate of chicken curry at a small cost of 4 pounds.  We had not eaten much for supper so shared a plate - jolly nice and we thought it was a very good idea.  They also advertised fish and chips night on Thursdays for 5.50, we might just make that on our way back.  All in all a very nice pub with a lovely large landscaped lawn going down to the river.    

Sat 7th
Left Upwear, steady cruise to a small town called Burwell.   Found a nice mooring in a cul-de-sac 2 min walk from the town.   Yea! - lots of shops, well 3 small supermarkets, fish van, vegie stall, Chinese and Indian takeaway as well as a fish and chip shop and a few other small shops.  There are two nice looking pubs but for once we passed on by.    We stocked up on groceries and bought a few books from a friendly lady in lovely little charity shop, she offered us a cup of tea or coffee.  We then picked up fish and chips for our lunch which we had back on Merlot enjoying the lovely sun and warm weather.  Stayed overnight.

Sun 8th
We spent most of the day at Burwell enjoying the lovely weather and nice setting, then set off back onto the main river back to Upwhear to moor up for the night (it made the journey to Cambridge a little shorter for the next day.)

Mon 9th
Set off early heading for Cambridge.  Arrived without incident but as we cruised into the main visitor mooring area, Jesus green,  we found a distinct lack of space to moor and suspect that some of the boats had been there for a lot more than the 48hrs allowed.  Very naughty in such a busy city.  We found a spot near the lock also named after Jesus and walked into the city.  As I was looking for a Chines supermarket, we ventured further out of the city center and eventually found Mill Rd, very long with a good selection of Asian and Chinese food stores.   As I enjoyed buying" my funny stuff" as Trev calls the weird and wonderful ingredients I like to buy (am into Thai and Japanese cooking at the moment), he happily stumbled upon a small real ale pub and even more happily enjoyed a very nice pint or two.   We got taking to a couple of guys, one being South African and called Garrick just like my nephew, how cool is that!!!  One of them recommended an Indian restaurant offering good food at good prices and gave us directions.  Now, as usual I thought Trev was listening and Trev thought I was listening so when we set off, it was vaguely in the right direction which was taking us further away from the city and Merlot moored inconveniently too near Jesus lock due to the lack of proper moorings.  Like troopers we stayed positive (I was positive we were lost) and kept walking and walking and walking.   After about an hour not including  a small detour down the wrong road, we found the restaurant.   We were both starving and knackered.     The food was very nice (not as amazing as we were led to believe) and the staff very friendly.   Needless to say we had no idea where we were or how long it would take to walk back so we took the option of treating ourselves to a taxi ride back   We arrived back and spotted a free space on the other side of the river where the visitor moorings were, so moved the boat over and retired exhausted after our long and eventful day.

Tue 10th
We decided to split up and do a bit of individual shopping, I should have known better as Trev came back with a camera convinced that I needed one at the front of the boat whilst he had ours at the back.  I am not convinced of anything other than Trev cannot resist gadgets and loves having" more than one" of almost everything..  We met up in the city, had sushi for lunch then walked for another AGE to a pub Trev had goggled which overlooked the river.(all this walking must be good for us, though I have to say my legs think otherwise)
The Granta was very nice and we sat in the sun watching the punts sharing a bottle of very good value wine - lovely. 

                                                                                                                                                  Some time later we began our trek back to Merlot via another Indian restaurant -  diligent Trev had discovered it using trip adviser and of course, we had to sample this highly recommended eatery.  We enjoyed the food back on Merlot and agreed the resturant lived up to its reputation.

Wed 11th
We stayed in Cambridge and walked around enjoying the beautiful city with all the different colleges housed in amazing buildings.   A very nice city if you can avoid being wiped out by one of the many cyclists who all seem to cycle at speeds suggesting they have something rather unpleasant hot on their heels.
We bought a lovely whistling kettle, visited the Granta, again then made our way back via a wine bar which was right on the river in the city center.  We were treated to some of Cambridge's hoy-paloy (not sure how that's really spelt)' larking about' as they do.   A group of students and I suspect lecturers were putting one of the students through some sort of initiation due to being the newest (he was quick to inform us he was the newest not the youngest) what ever he was the newest too is still a mystery.  He was wearing a very very small skirt over a pair of small pants and nothing else, I have to add he was able to carry it off as can be seen in the pics.  Needless to say he ended up in the river much to the delight of at least 10 young girls all sitting on the bridge wall looking over the pub outdoor seating area where we where.  It was all very entertaining and the afternoon passed well.

Early to bed, early to rise to set off  leaving the lovely city of Cambridge behind.

Well that's enough catching up for now its taken me ages to try and remember everything and even longer to get it all down.   A while ago Trev spent 2 hours catching up with the blog and although he saved it to add photos at a later stage, it was lost, the whole lot.   We are in a dodgy mooring  - signal wise -at the moment, its just outside March where we kept the boat in the marina for the winter.  I am afraid if I dont post this now, I might lose the whole lot as the pics are taking tooo long to download onto blog.  Tomorrow when I catch up with the rest of our travels - updated till now - and hopefully I will have a better signal, I can put some photos in.   Not quite the same but better than loosing the whole lot hey.