Yarwell is good to us this year..

Elton to Wansford Station, River Nene, 5 miles 3 locks

A quick trip into the village this morning to pick up any remaining post from the Post Office, a couple of freshly baked loaves of bread and some milk before saying a fond farewell to a lovely village, the residents of which have made us most welcome over the last few visits.. and so we pulled the pins with a rough itinerary for the next month or so.  It sure was great to move on..

Yarwell Lock, still as pretty as ever, but Yarwell does not like passing boats.. least the large caravan site does not.  It occupies a long stretch of the river and has a lot of ‘anti boat’ signs along that bank.. no rubbish, no mooring, no water… yeah yeah yeah.. If it wasn’t for the river and the boaters who keep it alive then there would be no picturesque caravan pitches to sell!

No harm though cos the Environment Agency have put in a new water point on the lock landing.. and as you can see in the pic, we take the opportunity to fill No Problem’s tank..

This time we were through Yarwell Lock with no problems at all, but I was a bit nervous I must admit.. Last year we did not have such a good time through this place.. NP got stuck on the chains.

Wansford-in England.. what a wonderful name, but the way it came about it’s name is wonderful too.  It was Barnabee who was fleeing from the plague during the reign of George III.  He arrived in the parish, but was too afraid to sleep in any of the inns for fear of getting the disease.  He decided to spend the night on top of a haystack close to the river.. but while he slept, the river flooded and the haystack floated away down the river and got stuck in the buttresses of the Old Bridge.  When Barnabee woke the next morning he had no idea where he was and enquired.  On being told he was in Wansford he said “What, Wansford in England?”.  And so the name stuck..

Tis a pity there is nowhere to moor at Wansford in England though.  I am very surprised that the meadow upstream of the bridge has not been turned into moorings.. they could charge a few pounds a night, I am sure there would be many takers.. Here Moore2Life coming under the lovely bridge..

The only possible place to moor is on the left in the pic… but the banks are so very high, it would be very difficult.  We moved on to Wansford Station where the Nene Valley Railway makes it’s way to Peterborough, there are some lovely moorings just upstream from the bridge.. here No Problem is settled into the meadow with the signal box of the steam railway in the distance..

I strolled out for a few miles after tea.. I like it here.. but then I like everywhere on this river