A day at Denver

After yesterday's failure of the lock I decided to stay on the Ouse for a while longer. The Nene is still on red boards and the embankment at Peterborough is flooded so no point in rushing back as I doubt the Nene will be safe for at least a fortnight. Once the rain eased I decided to travel a mile down to Downham Market to buy some kindling and catch the train to Cambridge. After dropping through the lock it was a straight run down the man made relief channel which is very wide and very straight.

Relief Channel

The garden centre was only a half mile walk and we'll worth it as I picked up a sack of kindling for £3.50. The supermarkets charge that for a small bundle about a tenth the size so I was very happy as I carted it back to the boat.

I then headed to the station and, as I had 40 minutes to wait, decided to grab a coffee and find the waiting room. I'm not normally a fan of railway waiting rooms as they tend to be occupied by old ladies who smell faintly of wee, but it was cold and wet on the platform. However I found the waiting room at Downham Market station a delight. It was like stepping into the 50's, I expected Bernard Cribbins and the Railway Children to appear at any moment.

The rest of the day was spent travelling to and from Cambridge with a couple of hours walking around the shops in-between. This included another expensive trip to John Lewis - damn your tempting clearance sale.

I'm now settled back at Denver quietly roasting at 22c as I seem to set the fire to blast furnace mode.

My latest revised plan is not to plan as it's pointless. I'll spend a week or so on the smaller rivers: Little Ouse, Wissey and Lark and have a trip to Ely to restock the larder.