Homing Spiders!

I've had another couple of days away. I was aiming to go to St Ives but after I picked up some Diesel and sorted things out it was 6.00pm and the sun was quite low in the sky. This would have meant at least 2 hours cruising directly into the sun which is not good so I pointed myself to the east and headed for Ely.

I found a spot near the Maltings and busied myself on board including cleaning, polishing and painting - in between eating, drinking and chilling out. 

The sun was still shining and at one point, during a bike ride into town, the weather conditions forced me to take shelter in the shade of the cathedral. I then did a good impression of an old bloke snoring on the grass. I won't go into any more detail - you'll have to use your imagination.

Now, back to the spiders. As I said in my last post, it's important to keep on top of the spider situation unless you want to live in somewhere that could double as a Hammer House of Horror. Anyway, something I should have mentioned - if you catch a spider and send it over-board, you must watch where it goes, because, in my experience, they immediately start heading back to the boat. Of course, if there is a current or wind he may be forced elsewhere but if neither of these take him away, it's quite likely that the spider will return. So, be warned, your Spiderman may be a homing spider!

I went back to Lazy Otter yesterday morning, packed up and left. Lady Saga was working until 3.00pm and as I didn't want to get home to an empty house, I went down to Milton and cycled into Cambridge.

Cycling in Cambridge for the first time is interesting. For a city geared up to cycling, you would expect your trip to be easy but you have to be very aware of your surroundings - where you are, where you're going and the various priorities and dangers on the road. Most routes across parks or along the river are shared with pedestrians, which is not a problem provided everyone shows some consideration. Other routes are shared with cars, lorries, busses and motorbikes and you have to abide by the usual rules of the road. Some road signs and white line markings can be confusing with cycle ways appearing and then disappearing without warning. On some routes in the city itself, bikes are even prohibited and elsewhere you are forever having to negotiate with pedestrians wandering about in the road so you need your wits about you. One of the saving graces is that pedestrians and drivers do expect to see bikes everywhere so they are always looking out for you. Because of this, I would say cycling is a fairly safe activity and I would recommend it but would suggest, like everywhere, you never let your guard down.