Slow Way – Marpet one
I left my Airbnb and walked back to my Slow Way route. All these extras to and from overnight accommodation add extra kilometres to my walk. It was a straightforward walk into the city centre to complete yesterday’s route Petram one. Once again there were reminders of the past among the modern streets and shops.
As I crossed over the river I noticed several tents in the park beside the river. I imagined them to be homeless people. There didn’t seem to be any attempt at stealth it was all out in the open. Perhaps there was safety in numbers. The Cathedral was impressive from this angle.
Once I got into the city centre the priority was finding breakfast. On this occasion Greggs hit the spot.
The start of today was all a bit Deja Vue really. Peterborough was a nice place but it was becoming a bit too familiar and I would be glad to be leaving and finally feeling I was making some progress after my pause.
On my way to the railway station, which was the Slow Ways starting/ending point I passed a homeless man sitting on a bench and got chatting to him. He shared part of his story with me. It was a very precious encounter and I shall remember Christopher. It was good to renew my focus on why I was walking.
My route through Peterborough was really interesting. It was like being on a world tour walking up Lincoln Road, shops, restaurants and all kinds of businesses lined the street and were represented of so many nationalities and cultures. Immigration is such a positive thing for this country. I crossed over some major roads and stopped at a retail park to put all my rain gear on and my backpack cover as the promised rain had finally arrived. There were more suburban type streets to walk through leading to some parkland with a shared cycle path.
It was then over a railway line and into the countryside walking mainly on minor roads. This was my first experience of walking in the rain on this journey. It was such a contrast to the heat wave that I started out in. When I go to the village of Glinton I was so thankful to find and open pub which was serving food. I was able to get a nice meal and charge my phone while gazing out the window at the rain. It was coming down quite heavily. I did need to continue to my Airbnb room in Market Deeping though so I reluctantly got sorted and ventured out to complete today’s walk.
It was less than ideal and it was a problem trying to keep my phone dry while trying to navigate using my OS App. I did have a waterproof pouch but I couldn’t find it! I eventually reached Market Deeping. I had reached Lincolnshire, just!
I didn’t pause in the town centre to look around. I was more interested in finding my room for the night and drying off. It was a really nice house. I had warned my host that I would be wet so she had prepared so I could hang my wet stuff over the bath. It took a while for me to dry everything, including my phone but I was certainly glad I wasn’t camping. I would have been dry in the tent but its pitching and getting in and out and packing up which puts me off.