2.16.2014

A Rather FENTASTIC Bimble with Carl and his two children round Fen Drayton Lakes

Sun 16th Feb 2014 - Fen Drayton Lakes

See what I did there with that title?

Grace Slick - White rabbit 
(But Orange Jelly Babies do the same)

T'was rather disappointing to not make the trip to Windemere
(we will have to do the Howgills as well, another time),
with Carl and Lynsey last week.

 Having said that, the weather was SHIT.

And my Calf Muscle was nowhere near ready due to my own repeated stupidity the previous week.

So since the water levels were up, and I had tweeted Carl for a short walk round the converted gravel pits (now Fen Drayton Lakes), we agreed to meet up at 10.30 (ish) and go for a short walk.

I managed to persuade my daughter Harriet to come as well.
It was a close call.
She had only got up just after nine, and getting ready for H (I love her really) does take place on a Galactic Timescale.

But at 10.15 only 10 minutes late, we set off on the short drive to meet Carl.
Luckily when we got there 5 minutes late, Carl was not there either.

But he turned up a couple of minutes later and we headed up to the small car Park along the track


It was under water!
So we turned around and parked up along the old track a few hundred metres (yards in old money)  and went for a short walk.
We had a look in the car park.
Just long enough for small children and one big one to wade in the flooded water. Carl's two children Hope and Ashley were getting used to my two dogs
 (Jasper 13 years & Hamish 21 months).

Well, Kind of.

 Jasper has a fine smile that is mainly huge teeth.

He was a lot younger in this photo.
BUT......
That is a smile honest.
Not ideally seen as a smile by the average small child I grant you.
"ALL THE BETTER TO ..... You with My Dear"

Hamish is young, exuberant and fundamentally MANIC.

We strolled a rather short distance up an extremely muddy track.

The dogs marauded.

I have pilfered a couple of Carl's Tweeted pictures here. Hope that is OK Carl


Carl's 2 little ones Hope & Ashley.
Great Kids.
(OK, he did take them home after)
Me (NOT IN PARAMO)
And Harriet behind stuck in the mud.
Carl's children and Harriet's feet got stuck in the mud.

Wellies were likely to get lost.

And after about 300 metres of MUD, we encountered 3 foot deep water all the way across.

Jasper (Right) and Hamish
That water is the path.
And the water was nearly 3 ft deep
About face and back we went.

Maybe that wider gravel track to the right near the cars may be a better idea????

We had a rather fine short walk along the track, observing a lot of water and bird life on both sides, and eventually after avoiding far too many people who thought it was much easier to drive bloody everywhere in a car (lazy bastards), we came to the guided bus crossover track.

We stopped here, and I dug out and fed Carl's children Jelly Babies.

More than one.

The special orange ones for optimum food colouring manic overload.

 They worked.

Especially on chatterbox Hope.

All the way back Puddle jumping :-)

Great kids Buddy

Here are some of the photos of the views





Somewhere up in the magnificent blue sky are 4 Buzzards.
There were actually 5 but one was on scout duty










After the Jelly Baby fix, we headed back.
I had a brief chat with a chap on the other side of the track about the flooding and the Fens, and then allowing just enough time for
the Orange Food Colouring to take effect, we splashed our way back through puddles to the car.

With some more rather fine scenery

Hamish having a MAD moment at the lake.
Just ONE of many






And then we were back at the car. Time to go home
It was a rather excellent short walk.

Carl's two had taken to the dogs.
Even the smiling one.

I was scheduled for a 28 mile off road bike round to Wicken Again in the afternoon.
Well, someone had to do it, and the weather was just too good to ignore.
Especially in light of the forecast for the rest of the week.

So, Thanks Carl, and I believe Hope and Ashley came down from
the Orange Sugar High some time later in afternoon.

 OOPS!

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