Lockdown day 6 - A great way to achieve social distancing

I treated myself to an exercise walk to Cracks Hill yesterday. The weather was just right for it. I only saw two people. One was a jogger who overtook me on the canal towing-path, and the other was a baby-carrying woman who hurrying down the Crick Bridle Road towards me. We passed with two meters between us, but she seemed rather distressed. She was probably the owner of an abandoned small saloon car further up the path. It was up to its hubcaps in soft mud, and pieces of turf covered the ground around it, having been thrown up by her spinning wheels. She'd well and truly dug herself in. My problem was understanding how the heck she had got there, having had to cross three very uneven fields and gone through four farm gates. Odd.

Cracks Hill was silent, and I sat there for some time enjoying the sights, the fresh air, and the music in my headphones.

Back at the boat I continued the out-door theme and sat at the end of the pontoon with a cup of coffee, my music, and the beauty of the marina. This could become something of  a fair-day ritual. I've just come in from today's.

I did much the same walk today. This time I was intending to take the photos I didn't take yesterday of the mud-stuck car. Unfortunately - though fortunately for the owner - it had been rescued but, judging by the new deep ruts in the mud further down the bridle path, it hadn't been easy going.

This is where she gave up trying yesterday...

...and this is clearly one of several places where she got stuck again on her way down the track later.

Strangely, there were signs on Cracks Hill that perhaps this is some kind of local sport.

Social distancing is fine when there are walks like this to do!

I didn't pass this boat. Walkers have been asked not to go near moored boats in order to avoid
the risk of contagion should there be someone inside who has symptoms of the virus.

Our first visitors

Finally, our kids' work schedules allowed Naomi and Steve to come up and see Kantara yesterday.  Jess was worse than peeved, though, because she could not swap shifts with anyone, and had to work, as did Eddie, Naomi's husband.  But it was great to see Nome and Steve, and to spend time on board with them.  Oddly, we didn't take Kantara out.  Our kids are very familiar with canals and boats, so there was not the novelty factor with them.  Instead, they must have discerned our need for a bit of exercise, and we went for a walk together.  The weather was OK, the view from the top of Cracks Hill was superb, and the walk did us good.  Thanks, both of you!

That said, we both woke up this morning feeling headachy - nothing to do with Nome and Steve, I hasten to say! - and have had to cancel the visit of my sister, Jill, and her husband, Rod.  Sorry guys - we'll do it another time.

Tomorrow, Sam is coming from Foxton Boat Services to service the engine.  It will be very good to have it thoroughly checked and serviced, and to know that we will then have a healthy engine on which we can start to do the routine maintenance with confidence.  I hope to learn a fair bit from Sam - all part of the pretty steep learning curve we are in at the moment!