Touring Rutland, day 1

24 degrees, they said.  The whole week was forecast to be warm and dry, so it was an opportunity for a short tour.  I have never been to Rutland, so that became the plan.   

It's a small place; two towns and a lake, Rutland Water, so I took in some of the surrounding counties in my planning.  I designed a route that noodled around the marked cycle routes and some of the towns.  After the unexpected thunderstorms of Monday evening, I set off early to Northampton, about an hour from Euston.

White water park on the Nene

Northampton seemed nice, but I left it fairly soon on the Nene Way, twixt A45 and River Nene.  It was lovely, except when it got close to the A45.  A fresh westerly wind was helping me along, and despite the sun it was none too warm.    Northamptonshire is fairly flat, but as I left the valley I discovered  they have an annoying habit of building the villages on hills.  Wollaston, home of Dr Marten's shoes, and then Grendon were the highlights.  Grendon had Cotswold stone style thatched cottages and a beautiful church.  Also, a very well camouflaged battery storage facility for the National Grid. 

Grendon

Eventually I left the quiet lanes and gentle countryside for a quick tour of Wellingborough and nearby Rushden, "Historic Shoe and Footwear Town".  Not much to report back.  They were towns with shops, cars and traffic lights.  And hills.

Leaving Rushden was a delight, on a greenway directly out of the centre of town.  It led to the huge Stanwick Lakes park, a collection of, er, lakes, along the Nene valley.  Many different lakes cater for a variety of wildlife.  I didn't see Golden Plovers or otters, but I saw plenty of dragonflies and butterflies.  Nice cafe in the visitor centre too, so that was lunch sorted out.

Stanwick Lakes 

River Nene again

The next town, Thrapston, was actually quite pretty but they seem to be building a whole new town on its Eastern side.   As I continued east, the countryside opened out and became more fen-like, if not flat.  Some miles later I was disappointed to enter Cambridgeshire,  as I was expecting it to be Huntingdonshire.  Turns out it's been absorbed by Cambridgeshire.   Mind you, it still gets a full listing as a "ceremonial county" on the Association of British Counties website, which could confuse some people, me included.

There were very few villages, in fact nowhere to stop for tea.  After a very long time I reached a group of villages including Ramsey, where there were shops.  It was 5.30 by now, uncomfortably close to sunset, so I set about finding a campsite.  Fens are not good for wild camping - too open.  And it was still very windy.

My luck was in.   There was a campsite about a mile away, not answering the phone so I decided to just turn up.  Nobody was there, in fact it looked a little unkempt, but the toilets were open, so I campedcthere anyway, and left a message saying I was there.  Within five minutes, a car turned up, and a friendly chap took money off me.

6pm now.  I decided that food was the priority, and went into town before returning in the dark.  I'm pretty tired so hopefully will sleep well despite the whooshing of the nearby wind turbines.  80 miles today, a lot with full camping gear, even with a tail wind.  Tomorrow will be shorter, with a head wind I expect.

Day 1 · 2 · 3 · 4