Tuesday 9 February 2010

Laying concrete and a trip on the Cam.

I spent Saturday morning laying some concrete in the garden. I was re-enforcing the base of the Chicken coop to prevent vermin getting in. Several people in the village have told me that there are a lot of rats around at the moment, they come in from the fields and ditches during the hard weather. By replacing the wire mesh floor of the coop with concrete it just makes sure nothing can get in and gives the hens a nice dry floor to stand on.

Saturday was a strange day, when I went down to St Ives it was lovely sunshine, by the time I got back there was thick fog, it just went downhill from then just cold and grey.

The weather on Sunday was much the same, I had decided to go kayaking and wasn't going to let that put me off. I went to a place called Upware on the river Cam. Upware has an interesting history, in the 1850's it was the home of the Upware Republic formed by one of the Cambridge university clubs complete with it's one Parliament and money. This was replaced in the 1870's when Richard Fielder declared himself the King of Upware, he spent his time at the 'The five miles from anywhere in a hurry' Pub where he had a six-gallon beer jug known as 'His majesty's pint'.

Anyway I parked at The five miles from anywhere in a hurry pub where there is a public slipway into the river and went for an hour and a half paddle.



As you can see the river was running quite high and the weather was cold and grey. It was nice to get out on the river and unsuprisingly apart from a couple of fishermen I had the place to myself.

The weather actually got worse and after it started to rain I decided to give up, mainly because I had left my waterproof top at home, not very clever!

Later that afternoon we went to Ely with our neighbours for tea. We went to a little tearooms called Peacocks on the Waterside. It is a great place selling over 50 varieties of tea from all around the world and if you don't like the one you have ordered they will change it free of charge, well worth a visit.

3 comments:

  1. Well - apart from this being the most exciting post title I've come across in a long time . . . I'm getting worried about your safety. I went for a walk this morning and came back so cold I felt very sick, really unwell. I've been sitting in bed with my coat on ever since, hugging a hot water bottle and drinking tea. After a couple of hours of this, I'm beginning to feel human again. And this is just from walking by the sea in a North-East wind. I dread to think what would happen if you capsized in that water in such cold weather. I know it's wonderful being on your own . . . but shouldn't you have someone with you or wait until it's warmer? Gosh - I'm turning into a nanny!

    I'm hoping you like the honeysuckle picture I posted today because I thought of you when I decided to put it up.

    Lucy

    ReplyDelete
  2. Sorry you aren't feeling good I hope you warm up soon. I have just seen your phot, fantastic. Have you been looking at my Painting with Light site?

    Don't worry I am being very careful, I wear wetsuit bottoms and a short wetsuit tee shirt and normally waterproof over trousers and top (which I forgot on sunday) On top of that I have a very good buoyancy aid, in fact with all the gear on my biggest problem is keeping cool. The other thing I do is carry my iPhone in a special waterproof holder attached to me so I can call for help if I need to,it also has a GPS tracker built into it which sends a signal to a website. Sharron can see it on her laptop so she knows exactly where I am to within 60 feet if she is not with me. Thanks for worrying though I am quite touched.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Alright - you're warm! And I'm ok now I've thawed!

    Yes, I look at your Painting with Light (though you had a long gap!) - that is how I came to think you'd like the honeysuckle.

    Lucy

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for your comments.