Saturday 23 April

We set aside today and tomorrow for friends and family,  but we both noticed our lack of exercise over the last couple of days so we elected to walk to Alison's parents. The downside of this arrangement was carrying two loads of washing but, determined to do it anyway we headed off like two packhorse's up Comberton's well named Long Road. This is well named, although not long compared to, say the A1; its dead straight and soul destroying to trudge along on a Saturday morning, into the wind and facing the oncoming traffic. Cars seemed to either skirt us by driving as far away as possible or whiz past a hairs breadth away so it was a relief to discover that along part of the road Comberton Parish Council have negotiated a permissive path parallel with the road. Which was all very pleasant until faced with an abrupt end on a footbridge where an angry sign declared PRIVATE - KEEP OUT. Quite why the landowner presumably withdrew their permission is a mystery, especially as the section in question goes through a wooded area so is of little agricultural value;  and as it turned out is only for a few meters before it joins an official bridleway. 

Sadly for us this didn't go the right way so we continued sluggishly on Long Road and thence through a network of paths and pavements to emerge at the busy Girton Interchange on the M11/A14. This is one of those junctions that looks like a clover leaf on maps and our path took us under grim tunnels strewn with litter and graffiti and across carriageways reminiscent of the 1980s video game Frogger - where the sole purpose was to successfully cross continuous ribbons of traffic by avoiding oncoming vehicles by manoeuvring yourself into the spaces between them. 

Successfully across and spurned on now by the adrenaline rush of surviving the crossings we walked into Girton along a country lane and met our knight in a shining VW, Alison's father, at our agreed rendezvous for a lift the rest of the way.

The afternoon was as convivial as you'd expect with much exchanging of news, fine food and sneaky looks at the football scores for the gentlemen present. One thing that always astounds us is the abundance of wildlife in their back garden. in the space of 2 hours we saw a pair of green woodpeckers hard at work, Goldfinches, Blue or possibly Great Tits, sparrows, pigeons, grey squirrels chasing each other around, baby rabbits and at other times deer, foxes and black squirrels have all made appearances along with plenty of other bird life. It's like they have a Disney cartoon permanently projected onto their kitchen window and it was most becoming. 

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