Day 32: Off to the Races...... Newmarket Style

(5:30 wakeup call and if we are going to make it to join up with the jockeys and a string of race horses coming out of stables in Newmarket then we need to move.

Newmarket, the home of British Racing since 1757 when Charles II would move his court to Newmarket twice a year so that he could indulge in his love of horse racing. We dash 5 miles across the flat fields of Cambridgeshire into Newmarket, take the second  left at the clock and head up the hill on the Moulton Rd. Pulling over in the large car park we accost friendly Australians who tell us whose horses are running when and where, whose colors belong to which stables and generally everything else we don't know. Below us on the edge of town, off along the rails the first string of horses appear and slowly walk onto the track to race up the field and across the ridge, on the Gallops.






Across the way on the course set with rails, another string of horses sets off racing up the hill. Incredibly strong, beautifully groomed and elegant animals pulsing up the hill at intimidating speeds.

Now I have been known to sit on a horse occasionally and even take a few jumps and canter across a field. However.....

THIS IS NOT ME..... 

We stay for some time chatting with our new racing friends watching horses and then, when we are too cold in this brisk early morning wind, take off around the town of Newmarket to see Tattersalls the historic auction facilities and the race course. Down lanes filled with training stables, some with their tenants looking out of stable doors. Along the way we pass the Multi-Millionaire's Club that sits  alongside the Cooperative Funeral Home. Is there some quirky humor in that?

And back to Burwell. It's a proper Sunday lunch at the Dyke's End 800 some year old pub down the road in the village of Reach. www.dykesend.co.uk

Sunday dinner is the more appropriate term here.

Soused Mackerel with sliced beet root and vinegar.

Roast lamb with Yorkshire Pudding and brown gravy

(Roast Beef Also) 

Lovely baby carrots,  Mint sauce!

Rhubarb Eton Mess

Chocolate Pot Au Creme with fresh raspberries

Rhubarb Eton Mess for those who are curious is freshly baked meringue crushed and mixed with fresh whipped cream,  add stewed spring rhubarb and you have a deliciously balanced sweet and sour. Can also be made with strawberries or any other fruit.

We roll out of Dyke's End and onto the Village Green to admire the aged architecture

and head off back to Burwell because George needs to be walked ......And SO DO WE

Through a grassy meadow where dogs and walkers have beaten down a path, we come across grass and tree covered mounds of castle foundations left behind by layers of Celts, Romans and other invaders and conquerors. This area of England, bordering the North Sea, has been one of the access roads to Britain from the neighboring northern countries. The evidence of Danes, Swedes and Norsemen is all around. Roman roads are the foundation of the straight roads..... The adjacent Church of .......   

hosts an original wall painting  (fresco)  from its origins in the mid 12 hundreds while the churchyard stones are a chronicle of life and death for centuries. It's also a good place to take a break...... George and Peter think that this is an appropriate idea.....while Penny and I scour for interesting tidbits.  But the day is not done yet... It's Fathers Day and so we head (on foot) for children, grandchildren, dogs and a sit in the sun. George gets to wrestle with fellow boxer Harry, Peter gets to pull weeds with his son-in-law and Penny and I play with the grandchildren. It is a truly beautiful early summer afternoon in East Anglia (East England).Warm temperature, slight breeze, sun shining and a garden to sit in with friends. Now who can ask for more...... the sounds of dogs and children's voices can lull one into a nap But NO..... we are off again and stagger home with George in the lead. Harry is still watching wistfully through the gate as we go.