Mystery shoppers (or beer drinkers)

After a tiring tour of Whittlesey in the wind and the rain, Lesley and I fell gratefully through the welcoming doors of the Black Bull (circa 1650s). Our eyes fell lovingly on the pump marked Bombardier - one of our personal favourites. Two pints were deftly poured by our very amiable host and I took an appreciative slug before doing my best not to spit it back out as the taste of detergent hit the back of my throat. Mine host disappeared into the cellar and came back stating (rather obviously) that the Bombardier was off.
He swiftly poured us a pint of London Pride and the conversation around the bar was friendly and inclusive - such a very warm welcome. Only trouble was, as I sipped the replacement pint, it didn't taste an awful lot better. As we had already learnt that the landlord had been there for 17 years, I kind of felt that my taste buds must be up the creek as he surely couldn't have stayed in business that long if both his real ales were off - so the convivial conversation continued as no-one mentioned the barely touched pints on the bar.
In the end, I managed to catch Lesley's eye and she confirmed my thoughts so I politely informed him that this pint was no better and suggested that he tried it. He declined and these 2 pints followed the first two down the sink with questions about our beer drinking credentials and suggestions that we were under cover agents for CAMRA. He put on a new barrel and presented Lesley with a pint to try - her face was  a picture of disgust and I was half way out the door when she grinned and pronounced it fine - phew!!!! Does raise a few questions though.

This is the museum - sadly not open on Thursdays - and the original fire station.

Nice little town with just about everything you could want - had a good Indian meal at the restaurant on the market square, the Chinese wasn't tried but included smoked chicken on it's menu which is usually a good sign. Butcher, deli, 8 or 9 cafes, fishing tackle/pet food shop and a rather nice gallery at sensible prices where I was able to pick up some unusual presents.

Peterborough to Whittlesey

From the wide open spaces of the Nene to the dykes of the middle levels. Tina, the lockeeper at Stanground Lock, welcomed us through with animal chat - she is, bless her, the local soft touch for any homeless animals: Shetland ponies (going for dog food at £20 each), 4 hand reared kittens (mum was attacked by a fox), another cat (wouldn't settle on a boat), etc.,etc. She is the 3rd generation lockeeper in her family.

 

Funny to be so 'up close and personal' to the 'sides'.

This needs a long hard look, but it's my best lousy attempt at photographing a tern that used our stern to catch fish as we cruised. It must have dived ten times along side of our stern, coming up with a fish on 6 of it's attempts. You can see the water circle left  behind as it comes back out of the dive ....a.m.a.z.i.n.g.

Phew that was the infamous Briggate Bend...tight!

...and the view behind as we left it. It's much sharper than these photos suggest and it could be very exciting if you were full length.

The blue pub sported a sign saying, "voted best pub in Cambridgeshire 2009" but had no moorings...grrrr!

Cottages on the final approach onto the Whittlesey moorings.

Around the Nene

These photos were all taken on walk about around the villages of Elton, Warmington (not on Sea 333) and Castor. Great walking and lovely villages - 2 having butchers and all 3 having pubs and shops.