Thursday 21st August

We spent the morning at the mooring - Linda and Ebony moved on to St Neots - we caught up with jobs etc.

This afternoon, although the forecast wasn't too good, we decided to go for a long walk to explore the surrounding villages which we hadn't visited so far.

The first one was Hemingford Grey, which has a spectacular church on the waterfront and some very commanding properties

Not so much a commanding property

more a" lean too"
We wanted to visit Houghton with Wyton but realised we had to cross the river at some point in order to do this. We ended up walking through a riverside meadow to St Ives which was about 2 miles away but was the first crossing point.

Luckily for us, "Sunrise" and "Mio Amore" were moored there and as we had met them earlier, they invited us on board for a cup of tea.

"Sunrise" and "Mio Amore" awaiting our arrival

for a well earned cup of tea

An hour later and fully refreshed we set off again and finally came to Houghton - a really lovely village and Wyton which adjoins it

Chocolate Box or what!

On our way back we came upon our ideal retirement location.It is called "The Boathouse" and is situated on a backwater off the Ouse with a mooring big enough for "Lottie" electricity for hook up and water. The trouble is it has only just been sold.

The Boathouse

We were so lucky with the weather as it just started to rain as we got back to the boat.

We got ourselves ready and then it was back to Hemingford Abbots to the pub for our evening meal.

The pub was the Axe and Compass and they were offering Cod in a beer batter with crispy chips and mushy peas which we had seen advertised yesterday on our walk. I made the mistake of ordering two portions of fish and chips as I thought that was what we had decided upon. Christine however wanted to see the menu which we were duly given then the waitress read out all the specials on the chalk board and after much deliberation Christine eventually plumped for the (yes you've guessed it) FISH AND CHIPS!!! It has been a bit of a trial on occasions, for the both of us I am sure. It was the right choice and lived up to our expectations so much so that there was no room left for puddings

This will probably be the last blog for a while (who said Hooray! take their names) as we will be going back over old ground as from tomorrow but will update now and again so watch this space.