Strawberry Plants at Wellingborough

Nr Wollaston Lock to Higham Lock, River Nene, 6.5 miles 4 locks

It doesn’t matter where you go in this area there are lakes upon lakes upon lakes where gravel extraction has taken place.  I know I shouldn’t complain…. these lakes, of course, create a walking haven for people like me and Lucy, but gawd knows how much they have taken out of the ground in total.  Still they want more!  There are many places where gravel extraction is taking place as well as the huge lake systems that are left behind.  It really is too much!

Before we left this morning I took Lucy across the fields for a quick walk as she has to say on the boat down this River.  I got to the other side of the field…. and…..

We moved on to just above Wellingborough, where there are excellent moorings on the left after the bridge.  Not far to Tesco from there, and I made a point of nipping into Homebase to see if they had any strawberry plants.  They sure did, I was delighted, and picked a variety that does well in dry weather.  On the top of No Problem it sure can get hot in the summer, so hopefully we will have a good crop this year.

I also took the opportunity to get some more pansies.  I had already planted this years selection in my pots, but they have died.  I think I bought them far too early and far too small, even though they are hardy, I don’t think they could handle the long cold snap that we had earlier last month.  One thing I do like is a nice splash of colour in ‘my garden’!

We were disappointed that there was no place for us to empty the loos, but there was water…. so filled up a very empty tank.  Nowhere to dump our rubbish here either, so I put a few carrier bags full in the many bins that were around the park like area.  Hopefully the Council will be along shortly to empty them!!

It was noisy there, so we moved on into the countryside for the evening, passing Stan and July with NB Sophia who had stopped there for today.  It really is difficult to moor along the Nene… it’s not just trying to get in the side that we have to think about, but at this time of year, the stinging nettles are around 4 to 6 inches high, and are rampant along the banks in places.  Poor Lucy gets her paws stung with this pesky things… and she does just love to lie outside on the banks during the time we are moored.

Finally we decided to stop just short of Higham Lock for the evening, well it was getting late..  Went for a late stroll with Lucy for an hour or so once again over some delightful countryside before settling for the evening.

After tea, Lucy barked…odd that because we are so remote again here, no way would anyone be walking past the boat… I went to investigate just to be sure, and this is what I saw peering into the boat….!   So this is ‘my backyard today’ pic for you…