On the move while the weather delights us on the Nene

Ashton Lock to Thrapston, River Nene, 9 miles 5 locks

I was really annoyed at March on the Middle Levels.  It was last Friday night, and I had said on the blog that evening…

It’s noisy here in March this evening..no room on the visitor moorings by the bridge so have had to travel a little further under the bridge to moor by the pub.. lots of youngsters, why do they have to do everything so loudly!!.. Still it is Friday night and they are having fun!  Wish they would turn the volume down a bit though!

Well they didn’t, shouting and swearing, rolling wastebins up and down the path till gone 2.30am in the morning.  We felt quite venerable moored opposite the services in March, the path runs high above the narrowboats, easy target for chucking stuff down on.. never again will we moor in March..

Saturday then saw us go over to the otherside to use the services before setting off for the other half of the trip across the Middle Levels.. I phoned ahead to Standground Lock to say we would be there in the afternoon .. “You should have given us 24 hrs notice”.. darn it I thought “Oh dear, won’t anyone be there then?”  I thought asking that sort of question might be difficult for someone to say they would be out.. “Yes someone will be here but you need to give 24 hours notice”.. I quickly thought about what to say.. be direct Sue, I thought.. “Ah good well we will be there about 4pm then, see you then..sorry got to fly, byeeeee”.. teehee!

The day was fine on Saturday, and I took the opportunity to do a bit of baking while Vic took the tiller and tried hard not to dose off.. I had put all the ingredients into the breadmaker for the fruitcake… yes you can actually bake cakes in breadmakers , when I realised that I had run out of dried fruit!!.. a quick call on the walkie talkie to Annie on NB Moore2Life ahead of us and ……. the cake was baked!

Well this is the way we ‘pop next door’ to borrow stuff!  All on the move!

Soon over the Meridian line, through Ashline Lock, round the very tight bend at Whittlesey and so to the sight of Standground Lock..

The lockeeper was just fine, I think he remembers No Problem.. well the first time I ever came through this lock I dropped him a fiver as it was the anniversary of when the old boy had been a lock keeper at this particular lock, all of 40 years ago.. so a fiver it was then, and a fiver each time since.. so he was a happy chappy to lock us through asking if we would return next year, I assured him we would…

Ferry Meadows was our destination, so we powered on through Peterborough arriving at Ferry Meadows just as two boats were leaving, so a space each for Moore2Life and No Problem.

Mark and Lorain, their new boat Lorimar will be completed in May, joined us in the evening, along with Ann and Chas, party time!!.. Great night too! 

No pins to pull on Sunday, just a push back from the pontoon moorings on the huge lake just off the river, here a pic as we leave the lake to exit under the bridge in the distance to join the Nene again..

Smashing this place is.. before we left I took Lucy for a walk right the way round it.. and that took about 45 minutes, that’s how big it is.. anyway on the move again on Sunday heading for one of my favourite moorings on the Nene.. Elton..

Once again we had lovely weather, and now I will chuck a few pics on this blog for you all, here Yarwell Lock…

There is the most unwelcoming sign of all time on the River Nene “Passing Boats, this is private property.. No water, no rubbish, no toilets” Charming I am sure! 

I really enjoyed Sunday, but then again I simply love this river, it has a charm all of it’s own, it has a lovely unhurried attitude all of it’s own as it flows past us in the opposite direction.. a quick pit stop at Fotheringhay for water just the other side of the arched bridge..

Then onward to Elton. From the lock we looked across at the bank on the far side upstream and there was NB Balmaha.. I felt another party coming on!!…

Phew, I wondered if my kidneys were going to take all this partying stuff.. a great night again.. and Mark and Lorain popped by earlier in the evening with a present for Vic of 7 new mugs.. reason why is because the previous evening Vic had complained that our mugs are getting a bit tatty. Mark and Lorain are selling their house to buy Lorimar, and are looking for good homes for the contents!.. 7 mugs just in case Vic broke one!!

Nearly caught you all up with news ..

Quickie with the rest then, yesterday we ‘pinged’ up the Nene to Ashton Lock and the delightful moorings just above for the evening, and guess what.. party time!!  Balmaha also stopping for the evening!

Phew, no ill effects from ‘party time’ this morning! And after a quick visit into Oundle to get some bread, and some wine to replace all that had been consumed over the last few days, we were off again to Thrapston while the blue skies prevailed.. Five locks to do, but hey, really there is not much to do at all .. look at the water pouring over the top gates.. no need to open the paddles at these locks!..

Water crashing over the top of the gates.. didn’t need to get No Problems bows too close to that!..  So a big long blog for you all this evening.. but we have travelled quite some way to arrive  here at Thrapston, there has been a lot to tell.. If the weather is good, we will be on the move again tomorrow..