Bedford Day Two

Today is Tuesday.

Off we went back to Bedford for a bit of exploring.
First stop were the banks of the river Ouse. I grew up in Bedford and Clapham, well until I was 10 anyway. I have memories of this river, it's parklands, bridges and white swans. It was just the way I remembered it.


 






 






 We walked along the river bank, grabbing a couple of 99's (ice cream cone with a flake) along the way, some childhood memories are hard to beat. And I didn't even hear someone saying that I would have to be good for the rest of day if I got an ice cream.
We then walked up the main road and entered the shopping district, past the area where they hold the weekend markets.

 










Some unusual sculptures, don't remember them.
After being away for some 40 years it's odd the things you remember when you see them. The multistory car park and the supermarket where my Mum used to do the shopping. It's a variety store now called QD (Quality Discount), we bought a fry pan.


 



After all the hard walking we decided to buy a couple of pork pies for lunch and found a pub on the river bank for a pint.







 
CLAPHAM

This is where I lived until the age of ten.
We drove around a few different streets, up Green Lane past where my Father used to work, it is now a guest house and restaurant. The main building is pretty much as it was.
We continued up the road to the old air force landing strip that is now fenced off. We got to the place where my Grandmother used to live at the gate. Beyond this is where the Hurricane Hawkers used to take off.

 
We then drove around to the other side of Clapham to see if we could get in from there, but that was closed off too. On the way there we followed the old concrete air force road that leads up to the research facility where my grandmother used to work, it was a wind tunnel testing facility. Sadly it is now a detention centre for illegal immigrants. 
 




This road runs through a cutting that our house used to back on to.
We did get to Browns woods which is exactly as I remembered it, we spent many good days in the woods, picking bluebells and primroses. We walked around the woods for a bit and then headed back off to town.

 We visited some of the buildings I remembered including the flat where my Grandparents moved to after Green Lane, the little shopping area and a few other streets.
But it was time for another pint so we went to the Star Pub that has been licensed since 1800 and had a chat with some locals. The publican took us out the back to show us the pubs Badger Sett. They have a permanent video camera set up that is shown on a screen in the bar.



Then to top the day off we turned up on my Auntie Catherine's door step and took her out to tea.
Auntie Catherine guided us to an amazing old pub (for a pint of beer) where we had a fabulous and rather large meal. It was great to catch up with my Auntie after quite a few years and we had a few stories to share. We dragged the barmaid out to take a picture.



 




We went back to Auntie Catherine's house for a cup of tea and a sharing of photographs before heading back to St Neots caravan park for the night