Look East: Day 11

We should have lit the fire last evening, because it was freezing this morning!  Some of the grass on the bank beside the boat even had frost on it.  Consequently, we were up fairly early and set off at 8am.  It was a beautifully clear, crisp, sunny morning.

Between Perio Lock and Cotterstock Lock is a house which looks as though it’s been based on a cruise ship.  I rather like the big round window, which appears to be very deep and has a cushion lining the bottom half.

At our third lock of the day, Ashton, some Environment Agency guys were repainting the white bits down the lock sides.  We used the side they hadn’t yet painted, and while Adrian re-emptied the lock I reversed onto the moorings in the cut adjacent to the lock.  We walked in to Oundle, having heard that it’s a very pretty town.  It is, with lots of stone buildings, many of them belonging to Oundle School, and a large and impressive church.

The Talbot Hotel, on the left just up from the Post Office, is built of stone from Fotheringhay Castle.

The other reason for going into Oundle was to see a doctor.  I’ve been in pain for a few days, and the distinctive rash of shingles has emerged so I wanted to get it checked out.  We had to hang around for more appointments to be released, so first had tea and a cheese scone in a very posh ‘boutique brew bar’, then after a look at the church we chose another cafe for lunch.  Having secured an appointment for later in the afternoon, we went and found Waitrose.  It turned out the doctor has a narrowboat, which we must have passed the other day when we were in Peterborough.

5 miles, 3 locks.  (99 miles, 71 locks)