Retirement with No Problem

Weekend – Little Thetford to Ely to Stretham Old Engine, River Great Ouse, 8.5 miles

We had a quiet weekend, in fact on one day I spent the entire day doing bookwork of some sort or another.. now my filing cabinet is looking much better, and my brain has been emptied of ‘must remember to to thats’.  It has been helpful that the weather has been wet to keep me in doors.. Here the skies are full of angry clouds as we sit on the moorings at Little Thetford..

Lucy and Meg still got their walks though, but not quiet as far as normal!

I ordered some coal for delivery further upstream on Wednesday, and it was a good job that we decided to go to Ely on Monday to top up the freezer after defrosting over the weekend and to use the services.  I say it was a good job because the coal company phoned and said our delivery would be here today..

I popped into Ely to change my new walking boots which had been leaking on one of the boots.  This time I went for the suede type walking boots instead of the leather ones that I normally get.. I didn’t have too much of a fight to get them changed, although the shop wanted to send them back to the manufacturer for testing.  This would have left me with no walking boots.. tut tut I wasn’t going to have that!  “But my contract is with you, not the manufacturer, I need another pair of boots right now”.  That seemed to do the trick, and I walked out with a leather pair.

Over the weekend too I had a call from Annie of NB Moore2Life, our travelling companions of late.  They have now gone back across the Middle Levels and are making their way back up the Nene… Well I say making their way.. For sure, not at the moment as they are stuck on the river waiting for all that flood water to come down the river.. read about it here on their latest blog.

On the way out of Ely a rather unusual sight which made me smile..

We decided to stop at Hundred Acres Moorings just upstream from Popes Corner.. well we had to stop really, because, right on the end of the mooring was NB Balmaha. 

So an evening aboard No Problem, and we all enjoyed putting the world to right, or at least trying to, and also interestingly, it may well be that Mo’s father and my father might have been at the same RAF base during the war.. Some investigation will follow.. watch this space..

Away this morning to Stretham Old Engine about a mile or so up river from the overnight mooring.. Here we stopped to wait for the coalman.  It was only a few minutes after we put the pins in that he arrived and the chap kindly carried all 10 bags down the bank and straight on the top of No Problem for us.  He earned a pint from me for doing that.. smashing.

Pulling the pins from there, we went through the bridge and moored on the 48hour EA moorings on the other side of the river..

You can see the top of No Problem is covered in coal as well as flowers and herbs..

Here a pic of the Stretham Old Engine taken this evening just as we saw a bit of sun at the end of the day.. the sky in the background is absolutely black!..

You can see where we were moored along where those fishermen are now.  You can also see the slope that the coalman had to go down, AND he carried two bags at once!

Lots of blackberries around now, and this afternoon I made a couple of pots of blackberry and apply jam, I am now trying to keep Vic away from it!  Tis very much a favourite of his, and he is suppose to be on a diet!

I was delighted to see the news that Bletchley Park has received some money from the USA.  I visited this place a few months ago and noted that it was in a very poor state of repair.  And while I welcome that funding from the US, it’s a pity that the UK Lottery Funding people have not come forth with money from the UK for this very unique and important place.  Let’s hope that this may make them think again, Bletchley Park needs looking after..