A Walk on the Nene Way

Today I took my daypack, audio book ( A Tale For the Time Being) and an apple, and set off in the tradition of Wayfarers everywhere.

First, I had to circumnavigate the large field with the Large Harvester. No rollicking peasants with scythes here!

There are Hawthorn hedges, brambles, nettles and Scotch Thistles aplenty.

 

Then there is a large private fishing pond. I totally circumnavigated this, until I realised the fishermen were beginning to look familiar, and realised I was going in a circle, not along the river. A bit like life sometimes..

But there were diverting ducks and hundreds of electric blue Dragonflies. The latter were less easy to capture, and the photo doesn't do their colour justice.

I found my way to the village of Nassingham: a couple of rows of stone cottages, an Olde Pub, and a Store run by the inevitable lovely Indian whose child is a Professor of Rocket Science. I like the signage in Old Villages!

Heading back I crossed the river where there is a lock which controls water and boats into a side "harbour" where there is a quiet caravan park.

I almost sat on this to rest, before realising it was likely a Galapogos Tortoise a thousand years old.

Lucky I didn't, because this Swan was keeping an eye on me.

While it was posturing, Mum and the teenagers were enjoying the water.

Navigating between the river, the ponds and the Steam Railway was tricky and I found myself up a Dead End with a Tunnel. I decided to retreat.

The Track Switching Controls are very accessible, but fortunately I am not a terrorist.

So I went home instead, and practiced my watercolour painting.