I headed off from Lazy Otter at 9 o'clock and, on my way down to Ely, I took some time out to add another folding step to the stern port side and a couple of small brass eyes to hold two more poly fenders near the back of the boat. In Ely, I had a wander around the market and then back to the boat for lunch (it's a hard life).
In the afternoon, still in a busy mood, I peeled off the thick black rubber strip that Mick had sealed the weed hatch with. The first time I used the hatch, it was so sticky I had to use a screw driver to prise it off and ever since, it has never kept the water out when I give it high revs. I had found a 1" black rubber strip in the local car boot sale which was fairly smooth and this worked a treat.
Over afternoon coffee, I watched 5 herons being hassled by a flock of crows. I can't imagine what threat a heron would be to a crow but it was an odd sight to see these relatively small black birds having dog fights with such large lugubrious birds.
Anyway, I needed to leave by about 3.30 so I turned Skylark around and left the town. I said the river was looking good...time for a photo looking back at Ely...
By the way, this is the spot, just south of the town, where the Highway bods are proposing to build a bypass with a nice new flyover to replace the little bridge in the distance. There is quite a bit of local opposition, as you might imagine. This is certainly a beautiful stretch of countryside but I guess it will happen at some time or other. In my experience, Highway Engineers with big budgets usually get their way.
Heading back to Lazy Otter at 4 o'clock into the low, hazy sun...
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