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Thursday 21st June 2007
Nassington to Downham Market
About 10 miles to the centre of Peterborough at the start of the ride today. Once we got to the outskirts 
of the town we picked up a cycle track which followed the River Nene and and Nene Valley railway until we got to the centre of the town. Along the way we passed Orton Mere. The first priority in the town was to have a cup of tea but then we made our way into the centre to look at the Cathedral and the Guildhall. But who should we bump into but the band conductor/leader from last night's impromptu concert. We chatted for a few minutes about her hobby - stained glass window work - and about the band. I mentioned that I would probably be back in a couple of weeks time when Christine and I continue with our cathedral tour.
After our look around the town 
we rejoined the cycle track as it left eastwards in the direction of March. The topology of the countryside was noticeably much flatter here in contrast to the undulating hills of Leicestershire and Rutland. Soon we crossed the Shanks Millenium Bridge - presumably built in 2000 - but in a dissappointing state as the metalwork was already rusty. The next section of the ride had quite a few grid squares to take photographs of for the Geograph site. But the scenery is so uniform in this area of the fenland that it was becoming difficult to find shots of interest. It was also more difficult to decide when grid boundaries were being crossed as there are not so many features marked on the map.
We soon came across the level crossing near Dodd's Farm, and as if to order the red lights started to flash 
and the barriers came down as we approached. Within a minute a train had crossed on it's way from Peterborough to March. The next level crossing (in the next grid square) was soon upon us and as we passed the lights they also began to flash and we were only just across the lines when the barriers came down. Another opportunity for a photograph. We passed a post office van several times along this stretch as he made his deliveries, and when we eventually got into March and were looking for somewhere to sit down to eat our lunch, who should come up to us but the friendly postman with the question "Has your SATNAV gone wrong?" I think the question was directed to Tony indicating that he (the postman) thought that I was lost! How dare he! Anyway he soon directed us to some park benches in the centre of the town.
After lunch we carried on the direction of Downham Market. Part of the journey was alongside the large manmade
drainage canal know as Sixteen Foot Drain. I am not sure what this dimension refers to - possibly the width of the canal, but it looked wider than that. Along here we saw Greater Crested Grebes with their families and also three dredgers at work clearing the weeds from the sides of the canal. Soon after leaving the canal - and looking again for something diffferent to photograph - we found a Strawberry sign beside the road. Just beyond was a tractor hoeing between the rows of strawberries and then a roadside stall selling them. The request for icecream to go with the punnet of strawberries didn't unfortunately produce any results, so we put then in the saddlebag to await the first icecream vendor. We had to wait until we came into Downham Market - another 10 miles!
The mileage for today was 49.5 miles making a total of 280.9 miles.