Too much chat, but thinking of winter too!

Oundle to Titchmarsh Farm Bridge, River Nene, 6 miles 4 locks

Into the Marina this morning for diesel then, oh what a pig of an entrance that Marina has, it’s so tight trying to get in and out of there, and there was a bit of wind today too.. just makes things that little bit more difficult, but hey ho, 50p a litre!  I wasn’t surprised though, it seems the price is getting higher and higher at the moment.  When we called here for diesel in April the price was 37.5p.. Picked up some antifreeze… grrrrr winter is coming nearer.. and also on the way out picked up some long lengths of wood from the grass at the entrance of the Marina after spying them just lying there last night.  I asked Mark at the Marina if we could put a few on the roof.. he told us to help ourselves on the way out

First lock today…

Upper Barnwell Lock with the The Mill Restaurant alongside.  There are a lot of these mill buildings all along the Nene, most built in the same way.  I wondered if just the one builder built the lot looking at them!

Our next lock was Lilford.. this one in a lovely setting.. here the bridge on the downstream side I just managed to snap before Vic dropped the guillotine gate.. last time we were here a car had almost destroyed the balustrade pillars along the top, and it was all fenced off, today it looked a treat, they have done a total repair job on it, and it looks splendid again..

It was here that we met a family taking a narrowboat to Huntingdon for their son to live on.  For the life of me I can’t remember the name of the boat, but what a lovely family they were.. far too much chatting meant that Vic left the keys for the security door on the electrics for this lock in the keyhole.. We had left the lock leaving it for the family to take their boat in, and had travelled about 400 yards when I said to Vic, “Got your keys?”  I won’t put on the blog what he said!… but a quick ‘shove it in the bullrushes’ and Lucy and I made our way back to the lock to retrieve said keys.  It’s never easy on the river going back for anything… there is never a path!.. so struggling through the undergrowth I eventually made it back just as they had left the lock, they reversed back and got the keys that they thought better to leave there, and the young man who is going to live his life on this boat, gave a good chuck and they landed safely on the bank!

Many thanks to that family, and when we are back in Huntingdon we shall go visit… I know what the boat looks like, but hopefully the young man will see this blog and enlighten me with the name that eludes me at this moment in time.

Going on down past Wadenhoe, where we had hoped to moor last night, I said a fond goodbye to the carp I nearly caught in the bushes there… I’ll have him next year!!

The locks are easy going uphill, especially if they are mechanical… here Vic stands unemployed no need for a windlass here, the river does the work of filling Titchmarsh Lock..

With a full diesel and water tank I knew Titchmarsh Farm Bridge was going to be a doddle, I wasn’t wrong, there had been no rain, the river was a couple of inches lower than when we went downstream in the spring…

Tons of room!!

Out came the chainsaw this evening.. so we have antifreeze, a pile of logs, and tomorrow we have coal being delivered… ah winter isn’t so bad.. I just have to keep thinking about all those lovely log fires.. makes me feel a bit better with the long summer days becoming shorter.