Serendipity

Packed and away at 10am, we bade farewell to our cool chalet and headed to Holt for a look round the town - a pleasant up-market sort of place with lots of characterful buildings. Heading for Rutland for a family celebration, we had the day to kill and debated whether to visit relatives in Wisbech or St Ives (neither of which was expecting us), or simply to do some sight-seeing. Initially, the decision was the latter - to head towards Ely but, by Swaffham, there was still a mood in favour of an attempt to find the Wisbech cousin, despite not knowing her address or phone number.

We contacted a possible source of information who was only able to provide an area or street name. Well, nothing ventured . . . At Wisbech we asked someone for directions and found the street - it was quite long and we had no number; the only additional clue was that it was a Georgian house. Inevitably, they were mostly Georgian! The only thing was to start somewhere and chap a few doors. And the first knock was answered by our cousin!

Apart from a major hold-up, the drive to Oakham was uneventful. We checked in to the hotel and strolled out later to meet the relatives for a pre-event buffet - a leisurely aperitif for tomorrow's celebration.