A Man, a ‘Van and a Bike - Nothing to See

Today was the move from the Lincolnshire site to the Club site at Grafham Water. The only problem was I couldn’t find anywhere to visit in between! Every single attraction I looked at either hasn’t yet reopened, doesn’t open on a Wednesday or doesn’t open until too late in the day. 

I hadn’t particularly wanted to visit a town or city but in the end settled in going into Ely. I struck lucky on the parking, finding a 3 hour free street space just along from the cathedral. I had a wander round including finding a bike/model/DIY/ lots of other things shop. The bike part seemed mainly geared up to the serious side of things, one of the few bikes for sale was around £6,000! The model side would be very useful if it was nearer to home as they stocked a wide range of “bits” including paints and pigments. 

After a decent coffee from an outdoor stall I headed back to the ‘van via the front of the cathedral. 

Apologies if the tower looks a bit skew wiff, trust me, the camera was level! I decided not to go in the cathedral, it’s online booking only (and £8 a head) so I couldn’t be bothered. I don’t mind visiting them but more and more I feel such places have less to do with the Glory of God and more to do with the Glory of the so-called Great and Good. 

I wasn’t desperate for shopping but wanted to top up a couple of things which a stop at Morrisons on the edge of St Ives provided. I was running out of bread and, on the basis Man cannot live on bread alone, I also bought beer and salad. It’s handy being able to drop stuff straight in the fridge*. It’s also useful to be able to reach the fridge from the driver’s seat when you remember there’s a bar of chocolate (Divine dark mint crisp from the Oxfam shop) in your back pocket that’s not going to survive very much longer. 😊

After managing to negotiate my way to Grafham, with little help from the sat nav which wasn’t aware the old A14, now the A1307 was closed, I got on site to be immediately greeted with, “You do have a toilet?” Due to a boiler failure the toilet block is closed for the foreseeable future. I’d have thought they could at least make the toilets accessible even if the showers aren’t usable but it is what it is. I was already aware when I booked and it’s a minor nuisance using the ‘van loo as I have to close the curtains. I could have brought Our First Avowed In** but couldn’t be bothered with it so I’ll cope. 

Once set up it was very pleasant sat sitting with a beer or two just watching the world go by. Shortly I’m going to wander to the information kiosk to check out the routes to Grafham Water itself, there are 4 apparently. I’ll be staying in tonight as the community pub only opens Thursday to Sunday but that will be on tomorrow’s agenda. The current plan during the day is to pedal down to St Neots. I have a route programmed in but I noticed when I arrived there’s a cycle trail signposted so I’ll check that out. 

*I had a minor issue with the fridge last night, I noticed at about bed time that the temperature was getting a bit high. I’d also noticed a flicker in the LED lights. It turned out the mains cable wasn’t quite fully home so it had been running on 12v and the low voltage cut out had triggered (there’s no mains charging for the battery, it only charges when the engine is running). No harm done but it could do with a clear indication of the power source and a beeper for when the battery gets low would  be useful. If I fit the planned solar panel for next year it won’t be a problem. 

**As in the hymn, Our first avowed intent to be a pilgrim.  It’s the toilet tent we used at Church for events, etc.