This afternoon we are being picked up by a friend in his car. We prepared by buying a picnic lunch at Sainsbury’s. We met at the hotel and set off at 2 pm.

Motorway view

We travelled on the motorway where we saw lots of this and…

Motorway

…a fair amount of this.

Stamford

After a long drive, we reached Stamford. As we spent a short time here, I didn’t have time to identify everything, so I will just show you the pictures, adding names where I know them. (I think you prefer the pictures to my words, anyway! 🙂 )

Modern replacement of the Eleanor Cross

Silver Lane

Public Library

Old houses

Stamford Theatre

Spire of St Mary’s

House of 1849

Houses of the 1840s

Lord Burghley’s Hospital
(Almshouses)

After our rapid tour, we returned to the car to hurry off to our next destination.

Rutland Water

We had come to Rutland Water, a large reservoir, for a ride on the Rutland Belle, a tour boat that sails on it.

The Rutland Belle

There are seats both on the open deck and inside under cover. As it was now beginning to feel a little chilly and threatening rain, we chose to sit inside, so all my photos will have been taken through the windows. The hope was to observe various bird species, especially ospreys.

There were ospreys and some people did see them. Unfortunately, with my less than perfect vision, I was not one of them,

Cormorants

I did see a tree full of cormorants, …

A yacht

…a small yacht, …

Flying geese
Photo by Tigger

…flying geese, …

Black-backed gull

…a black-backed gull and…

A fly on the window

…a fly on the window!

Then came the long drive back,

Speeding along

Happily, the roads were far less crowded than earlier and we were able to make good time. (Yes, I’m sitting at the back.)

In the hotel

We arrived finally at our hotel and ordered supper in the hotel bar-restaurant, bringing the day to a pleasant conclusion.

Good night, Cambridge, see you again tomorrow!

We awoke to cloudy skies, in contrast to yesterday’s warm and sunny conditions. We have activities planned for this afternoon but the morning was free, so we did not need to hurry. We made tea, chatted, showered and dawdled – we are on holiday, after all!.

Corridor

We set off at about 9 am, negotiating seemingly endless corridors and the lift that needs the electronic room key to function.

It’s raining

As we stepped into the street we found it was raining.

Caffè Nero

We went for breakfast to the nearby Caffé Nero which was, unsurprisingly, rather busy.

Coffee and croissants

We ordered our usual coffee and croissants.

The sun breaks through

While we were sitting in Nero, the sun broke through for a moment but I don’t think it will last.

Wet streets

I was right: the sunshine did not last. It quickly disappeared leaving us with grey skies and wet streets. We set off walking to the Grand Arcade.

Entering Grand Arcade

We had come, not for the shops, but for the public library.

Entering the library

The library, opened in 1975, is actually within the arcade. Tigger wanted to check some items of local architecture.

Books on architecture

From here we went to visit another famous local landmark.

Lloyd’s Bank

It is this splendid building, originally Foster’s Bank and today a branch of Lloyd’s Bank. It was designed by the famous architect Alfred Waterhouse and built in 1890-3.

Interior

Banks don’t like you taking photos of the interior for reasons that are easy to understand but I did sneak this view.

Ceiling
Photo by Tigger

On asking, we were given permission to photograph the ceiling though there was so much else that we would have wished to capture.

Side door

This is s side door of the building.

Entrance, Christ’s College

Nearby was the richly gilded and painted entrance to Christ’s College.

From here we took the long walk back to the hotel where we made tea and rested in advance of this afternoon’s outing. More about that later.