More of the same ?

In common with the end of last week, much of the weekend and today has crossed farmland, ripening crops and some harvesting operations. Given the current spell of hotter weather, it's perhaps no surprise that I've seen more haymaking alongside harvesting of over-wintered crops.

First thing on Saturday, cutting of another kind was the order of the day as I treated myself to a haircut whilst waiting in the centre of Uppingham for friends Jane and Ginny to join me for the morning.   

Once they'd arrived, we walked south, mostly on the Jurassic Way, a long distance footpath between Banbury in Oxfordshire and Stamford in Lincolnshire, laying over rocks from the Jurassic age, producing the gently undulating landscape I've experienced over the past few days.

We stopped for lunch next to Rockingham Castle, finding some shade on the steps of the church whilst we ate.  The castle itself dates from the time of William the Conqueror, who set about building a large number of similar stone castles, with Rockingham becoming a base for administration and hunting.

After lunch, I covered the couple of miles to Corby, skirting the town to the west thanks to a path around the edge of a large housing estate. Unfortunately the route onwards to Kettering wasn't quite so simple and I spent a while trying to find the path which would lead me into the north of the town.  With the temperature rising, I was a bit disappointed to see an ice cream van driving away from a community fete that I passed (I did eventually find ice cream for sale in the town centre).  In common with neighbouring towns, Kettering was well-known for the boot and shoe industry, although that has now largely declined.

After a night hosted by a Methodist Church colleague, Sunday's walk continued southwards, crossing more farmland towards Wellingborough.  Although I had a shorter distance to cover in the day, I passed one of the five wells which led to its name, adjacent to the cycle route I was following in from the north of the town:

After a quick stop for a coffee, I passed the museum, hosting a fleet of vintage buses for the day, including these two (I planned to capture all five on show, but the free rides round the town centre were very popular)

The final highlight of the day was a few miles walking alongside the River Nene, which took me most of the final stretch of the day to Bozeat, once again to be recipient of generous hospitality, provided by friends of my Mum.  If you'd like to experience a bit more of the Nene than my picture, take a look at the following YouTube channel which has some recent videos of the inland waterways around this area https://youtube.com/c/MinimalList 

Handling the heat

I'm now right in the region of the UK that's got the current spell of hotter weather, so have been thinking through how best to deal with that.  I'd planned for a shorter distance today (Monday) and was able to set off not long after six o'clock, arriving in Bedford in the late morning before it got too hot.

I'm intending to be up and away before dawn tomorrow, again planning to stop before lunchtime.  Plenty of water is in the fridge.