Saturday 28th June

Another fine day today, although still very blustery. We decided to cycle back to the windmill and to Denver village. We must have looked true professionals as two young boys asked us to do a wheelie as we rode by! The village was much prettier than anticipated, as the lock area had been quite plain. At the windmill they were just finishing baking the bread, so we had a cup of coffee before collecting our loaf and heading back for the boat.

We set off about 1pm to explore the River Wissey, a tributary of the River Great Ouse. Parts of it are flat fenland but parts reminded us both of the Nene. It was very narrow initially but widened to a lake by the sugar beet factory and eventually narrowed again as we reached the end of the navigation at Stoke Ferry.

There were mainly cruisers on this part of the river and as it is the weekend there were lots of boaters tinkering although very few were actually using the river. One poor chap was out in a rowing boat and hadn't heard us approach. I had to hoot him as he was right in our path and he looked terrified to see us advancing on him and scuttled out of the way.

There was a very large willow tree overhanging the river and in trying to avoid it I managed to hit the boat moored on the opposite bank. Luckily it was empty and no damage but Tom took over at this point - he didn't say a word but the look said it all!!

The only place to moor was a busy caravan site which didn't appeal, so we turned and found a good mooring on the river bank, adjoining a farmer's field.

We then had a quiet evening enjoying the wildlife without a building in sight.