A trip down 'Memory Lane', Upwell

Today – Upwell to Salter’s Lock, Middle Levels, 6.5 miles 0 locks

I haven’t been to Upwell for what must be 14 years.  It was and still is a special place for me.  I had been coming here regularly for 4 years previously to that with daughters and sons on their jumping ponies.  Mill Lodge was the venue… ponies that were not specialist when we bought them, but with the work we all did, we made them specialists.  Top class junior jumpers they were.  Little Nell went on to be at the Horse of the Year show in 1985, even came third there!

I strolled down the lane that used to lead to Mill Lodge, and here on the right the plum trees in blossom.  My eldest daughter loved our visits when the plums were ripe, making me stop so she could scrump a few!

And here, the lane to Mill Lodge that was… Wendie, I know you will enjoy these pics especially .  At the far end of here there is a fence, it’s still there too, and it was there in October one year that we braved out that hurricane trying to sleep in the horsebox!

It’s all gone now…. .  I took no pictures of the new housing estate being built, I will remember Mill Lodge as I remember it.

I can’t help but put just the one more pic here to finish off my day ‘walking back in time’….. this is a place we used to look forward to as much as Mill Lodge itself…

Upwell, and Outwell, the two villages, were once one village, in fact before they were separated by names, it used to be the longest village in Britain… It seems it was too long running along Well Creek… so they named one Outwell, (going out of Well Creek) and the other Upwell (going upstream of it).  Both villages have butchers, and I do believe both have Post Offices, although I didn’t see the one in Outwell when we passed.

Beyond the villages the countryside once again was very flat and featureless really… the main road running alongside all the way to Salter’s Lock.  The bridge at Nordelph was the lowest we had gone under on the whole of the Middle Levels, had to take off the pole that supports the sky dish, the chimney went under with a micro inch to spare, in fact I think it just scraped as the boat rolled slightly exiting… phew!

Arriving at Salter’s Lock, I went to have a look at the job in hand tomorrow, for now it is low tide …. tomorrow it will be high to go out of the Middle Levels and on to the tidal Great Ouse for the short trip to Denver Sluice.  It reminded me of when I first took a look at the River Ouse in Yorkshire from Selby Lock… actually this one isn’t that different to what I saw then…. 

I need to turn right, presumably after the yellow X…. but I am sure the lockie will give me all the hints tomorrow morning at 10.30, when the tide will be in, and I will get a different view of the river. .  I took a lot of pics today, some of the Denver Sluice at low tide, another of Old Bedford River and some delightful views of Upwell and Outwell, and others on the way today… they are all in the May Album…