Bike, train, car, bike, boat, car

Despite the heat last night I'm glad I battened down the hatches. We enjoyed a sharp thunderstorm at about 0400 with some heavy rain, lightning and at least one tremendous crack of thunder that shook the boat.

We did a bit of car shuffling today, in that I cycled to Downham Market, took the train to Peterborough, cycled to Stanground and drove to Hilgay.

It was nice being in the air conditioned trains. I had about 40 minutes in Ely, so I cycled down to check out the visitor moorings. These are extensive and, when I looked, had plenty of space. I spoke to a couple of boaters there, one of whom was the person who had made the hash of entering Denver Lock. He told me he was dreading the return trip and the tricky entry into Salter's Lode Lock.

To today's boating, then. After lunch and a bit more car/bike shuffling, we set off down the Wissey. There didn't seem to be any flow in this downstream section, and progress was on the slow side. We passed this lovely steamer (complete with rain cover for the chimney).

Turning left onto the Great Ouse (or is it the Old West River here?) we passed under the railway line that I crossed by train in the morning, and came across this agricultural-looking activity.

Is it the outer skins of onions?

There are quite a few great crested grebes here. This is the best I could do with the camera while steering.

Despite leaving the boat in Norfolk it took an hour to drive home to Norwich. It's a big county. Our neighbour said there had been no rain for weeks. I did a bit of watering … and then we had a thunderstorm. The gardens certainly need the rain. Unfortunately the clouds meant we couldn't see the total lunar eclipse.