We had the best part of another day in Bedford, seeing the sights, before heading back down river.
From one of the locks the Airship Hangers at Cardington can be seen in the distance. The first, the nearest, was built in 1915 and airships were built for the Royal Navy by Short Brothers. In 1919 the business was Nationalised. When the R100 and R101 were planned they needed a larger hangers so No.2 was brought from RNAS Pulham bit by bit and erected here. With the crash of the R100 work halted until just before WWII when it became a barrage balloon factory and training school. After the War it was again mothballed but now is a film studio with Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and Starwars films being some that have been made there.
We had a really quiet mooring that night. This was an old lock island from the 17th Century that was made redundant by later modifications. Rough, with just enough water for us it made for an ideal EA mooring.
The next day we continued on just stopping briefly at St. Neots to top up with water and dash into town for some milk. We stopped at another rough mooring, this time a GOBA mooring by Paxton Pits Nature Reserve. Once again it made a nice quiet stop and a pleasant walk around the reserve before setting off again the next day.
The next night we were going to explore Huntingdon and Godmanchester. There is a mooring just by the bridge to the right and as there was room we pulled in there. The mill opposite was built in the mid 1800's as an oil cake factory. In WWI it was a warehouse for military closing and then a hosiery factory from 1924 until 1972 when it closed. It is flats now.
We called in to the Falcon on Market Hill in Huntingdon. This pub has a lot of history. The first mention I could find was in 1773 but it had been a recruiting base for Oliver Cromwell's Army. He was from Huntingdon. It was also a coaching house. J. Pomfrett was offering a reward of 2 Guineas for the return of a sliver tankard that had been stolen. It had the initials J M P on it so obviously his. It seems that this family were to figure heavily in the history of the pub as in 1815 a John Pomfrett Was it the same man?) opened a brewery at the pub. This went on to be the Jenkings and Jones Brewery from 1849 to 1919. Once again an avert in 1850 has a Stephen Pomfrett retaking over the pub that the advert states has been in his family for many years in the past. The pub was a little run down and the old layout had been altered a fair bit. It was busy and there was a great selection of hand pull beers on offer.
I tried a beer from the Great Oakley Brewery that is in Northamptonshire. It was founded in 2005 in the village of the name, by a skilled homebrewer and a businessman with a stable to convert. Tis was done and in short order the beers brewed were getting noticed. There was a need for more space by 2012 and a move was made to Ark Farm at Tiffield nearby. A 5 barrel plant was installed and all before stocks ran out from the previous output. The process was better integrated and there was a better bottling plant. They really started winning awards, local and national and had amassed 40 for twenty beers and more than fifty prizes to date.
I tried their Abbey Stout at 5%. The brewery's beers are named after local places it seems, but not sure which abbey this named after. It was hand pulled and had a very pleasing tan coloured head that slid down the glass as you drank. The beer had a nice black colour. The roast barley gives a nice smokey aroma when the glass is picked up, but the taste is a little sweet with coffee and fruit, When you put the glass down again you have a dry bitterness left in the mouth that just makes you pick it up again for another swig. I liked this beer, and will look out for the brewery to try other of their brews.
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