Ely & Newmarket
Having read a lot of Dick Francis (well, okay, pretty
much all of Dick Francis) I went into Newmarket to see what it was
like. Managing to find a parking spot that may have been legal, I
wandered around the downtown area. The Horse Racing Museum was closed
unfortunately, although I did enjoy the various trophies and pictures
that were up in their cafe area.
When I finally found their Tourist Information centre
(hidden on a back street a block off of the main road), I discovered
that most of the local stables that did tours only did them in the
morning. But the National Stud did afternoon tours. I also found out
that Ely was quite near, with a number of historical sites. But I
wouldn't have time to do both. So I booked the tour of the National
Stud and my accomodations for the night in Matlock, then did a quick
trip to Ely to see the Cathedral there.
After the tour, I made the second of many missed turns
(the first was when going to the National Stud) and ended up driving
through Cambridge. Twice. Very sad when all I had to do was stay on the
motorway and head for Derbyshire. Then when I got to Matlock, I found
out that the 2 sets of directions I had been given by the Tourist
Information office were coming from 2 different directions. And neither
one was completely accurate. But I eventually got correct directions
from a petrol station and made it to the Riverbank House, where I
stayed the night.
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