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!