Rutland Belle

Cap'n Dan

Ahoy!

We woke early this morning and already the sun streamed in brightly through the curtains. This was to be the first day of my semi-retirement. If all goes well I'll get some pension at the end of the month, if not the overdraft will take a hammering! It's been a day to do stuff; but what? I wanted to go up to Rutland Water and see the ospreys there, but I also wanted to go and see the latest bargains at the Lands End outlet store in Oakham. Dan was lured along with the doubtful promise of a boat trip. In the end we tried to do the lot, and we almost succeeded.

Is that the bow or the blunt end?

Lands End is a clothing company, based in Spring Green, Wisconsin. It's a place we know well; but that's another story. This American firm has a UK distribution depot and a store in Oakham, close to Rutland Water and only 50 minutes from our home. We go there to get returned, rejected, old stock goods for knock-down prices and are seldom disappointed. Today we bought shirts for our son Dan.

Inland sailors

The rolling Leicestershire countryside looks wonderful at this time of year, especially compared to the flat-lands near our home. There's blossom. hedges, sheep, lambs, stone walls and mellow limestone villages. Then there is the Y shaped reservoir which now looks quite natural in its green valley. A lot of the shore is reserved for nature and there is always a lot to see. The big draw these days is the Osprey re-introduction project on the North shore. At least two birds have returned from West Africa and were in residence today but the web-cam was down and we didn't see them.

Normanton Church

What we did achieve was a very pleasant afternoon out on the lake aboard the Rutland Belle. We go every year and always enjoy it, despite the same old commentary about how many litres of water, how many tons of dam, how many thousands of trout and all that stuff. It's given out in a very pleasant tone and was genuinely interesting the first time.

Normanton Church is always worth a photo, but you have to remember that we only see the top floor. It was rescued from the rising water after the dam was built.

Todays visit reminded me that we don't go there enough. I've never fished it, so that's on my list too.