Little Oasis camp site

Tuesday 1 July

With Geddington behind us we had a long walk / ride ahead of us.  The first part of the day was very pleasant with quiet lanes and paths.  I rolled past the very interesting Grafton Underwood USA WW2 Memorial ( there had been a large USA troop camp here with 3 x runways also ), and then we both came to Cranford St. Andrew where we had a hot meal lunch at the Forge cafe so that we didn't have to camp cook that evening. 

The second part of the day was towards a more built-up area.  Tony observed 14 red kites ( bird variety ) above a waste disposal site near the A14. 

Tony continued battling with nettles as tall as him whilst negotiating a rarely used path around the nature reserve at Irthlington, although it forms part of the Nene Way. So once again arrived at the end of the day like a wounded soldier!

Our campsite was in what felt like a little nature reserve oasis in the middle of an industrial area on the River Nene, at Ditchford Lock just south of Irthlington, with a haulage company site on one side and a waste sorting site on the other. The roads to our site were particularly busy especially with large trucks which insisted on overtaking me with the minimum space to spare - very hairy.  Our campsite had a working canal lock, canal boats moored, and standings for fishermen too.  

We had a lovely shaded flat pitch for our tent just next to the water tap which we thought was very convenient.  Only in the middle of the night when I woke did I realise that there was an orange street lamp upon the post at the nearby water point, so in fact our night didn't get dark at all.

Distance - 19 miles
Total since Helmsley - 285.30 miles

Geddington - Eleanor's Cross

Dormitory House - Cranford St John

The Round House