A morning in March then off to Upwell..

March to Upwell, Middle Levels, 11 miles 1 lock

March is quite a large town really.. there are many banks and building societies all down one side of the road next door to each other.  A very busy town indeed too with traffic, and the pedestrian lights sure are needed to get us all across the road safely.  Boots have a large store too as well as Sainsburys.. but best of all there is a fishing tackle shop.. so today I was able to get some bait!

Leaving March after lunch we enjoyed a pleasant trip out of the town.  We met a wide beam cruiser coming towards us taking up most of the room available.. we squeezed past and cruised on out into the open again along the ‘drains’  The high banks make it impossible to see over the top, and there is a feeling of wilderness… here one of the huge wind turbines, one of many on the left bank at this point..

Passing through Marmont Priory Lock, it wasn’t long until we arrived at the start of the sprawling village of Upwell. 

This was once thought to be the longest village in England.. here too the border is crossed from Cambridgeshire to Norfolk.  The bridges are a bit low though.. here Vic is having to take down the chimney and move all the flowers to the edge before we can pass under it..

It has been a boiling hot day today, absolutely lovely and tonight we are off out to the Five Bells pub for a meal and a pint with our travelling companions Ann and Chas on their NB Moore2Life.  It is their ruby wedding anniversary today, and tonight we are going to celebrate.

Its a bit cooler now, and there is just time to get the rod out for half an hour before going over to the pub. Maybe there are some decent fish in Well Creek..

Warm and sunny on the Middle Levels to March

Ferry Meadows to March, River Nene and Middle Levels, 20 miles 3 locks

I let Lucy swim this morning before leaving Ferry Meadows, she was happy in the water, and it will exercise her leg well. It was good there, she could just walk out of the lake rather than jumping out..

A huge lake, here Moore2Life over the far side, leaving behind us and making their way from the moorings to the cut that joins the lake to the River Nene..

It was a lovely day, and it wasn’t long till we passed through Orton Lock and arrived in Peterborough.  It sure was nice to arrive by boat instead of by bus!!  Over the last 6 weeks I have been up and down to Peterborough on the bus from various places along the Nene due to a serious injury to my beautiful dog, Lucy.  I nipped into the city to pick up a colour cartridge for my printer.. I have one on board somewhere, but can I find it?  No chance.  A narrowboat is only a small place.. but I can still lose stuff on here!!

Then it was off to the middle levels.  I had booked the lock for about lunchtime, and by 12.10 we were on our way with Ann and Chas of Moore2Life across the Middle Levels.  There isn’t really anywhere to stop until March, it is no good stopping on the visitor moorings at Whittlesey, it is outside the leisure centre and in the evening they can be as many as 200 young people wandering about.  Most are OK, but when we were there last year one or two were a bit intimidating. 

And so onward.. and across the meridian line at Flood’s Ferry …

The middle levels can be a bit boring, well from Stanground to March anyway, with high banks, but today the weather was just glorious, a lovely warm sun and a gentle breeze made it the most perfect ‘crossing’.  Hey look at this on one of the fishing pegs.. five fledgling swallows waiting for mum to bring some worms!..

March is most amazing.  It sort of appears out of nowhere from the emptiness of the last 4 hours since Stanground Lock in Peterborough.. it is narrow and there are many boats moored at the bottom of gardens.. This is the best garden along the waters edge though…

Complete with it’s own windmill too!.. We stopped by the services to take on water and do the cassettes, oh and to fish out a huge road cone.. then tied up this evening at the visitor moorings by the main road bridge.  Last year the youngsters of the town were all jumping from the bridge.. I do hope they don’t tonight, there is something under the water there.. Last year too we had a great night in the pub.. just getting nagged by Vic to go see if we can have an equally good night this year.. time for..

We pass my favourite lock at Water Newton.. but oh dear.. the rubbish!

Wansford to Ferry Meadows, River Nene, 8 miles 2 locks

We pulled the pins early this morning.  I needed to get to the post office at Alwalton before it shut at lunchtime. There is a very handy place to moor up just to the side of the lock on the upstream side of Alwalton Lock.. then a short walk to the very pretty village of Alwalton.  The post office is also the local ‘coffee shop’ and local ‘grocery shop’ and local ‘bakers’.. run by a couple of ladies who both new that my post had arrived, although I did not say who I was!!  Maybe it was because I was ‘the stranger’ in town!

Continuing then on to Water Newton Lock.. the house there is something a bit special..

Although it says no mooring on the opposite bank, obviously some boaters have moored.  The amount of rubbish left was a disgrace, beer cans, spent bbq trays, bottles and even broken crockery.. 

This is just a part of the mess that was left behind.. This sort of thing really annoys me.. a wonderful location where people have enjoyed a bbq and a few beers.. then just left not giving a damn about how the rubbish leaves.. well I can tell you how the rubbish left.. It left in bags supplied by me onboard No Problem.  It has now been disposed of properly.

An awful lot of herons on this part of the river, they all seem relaxed and most don’t fly off when we pass like they do on the canals…  Here this fella really relaxing in the field today..

It was nice to be back at Ferry Meadows again.. an amazing place where the moorings are right in the middle of a lake..  

The cafe does a lovely fish and chips.. and I wandered over just before they closed with a couple of our plates to be duly filled.. and that did for our tea tonight.  Not been out and about walking here yet, spent some time fishing this afternoon catching some nice roach and bream just on a bit of bread.  There are a lot of people here tonight, they have Race for Life on here this evening.  It was also on last night, and between the two days there will be over 3000 participants, but what a wonderful place to run around. 

It is a really lovely evening now after a somewhat cloudy day.. blue skies, so I am off out for a wander about.. I shall make for the bird hides just to see what is around the nature reserve, then probably a nice walk along the bluebell trail with boardwalks and all!…

Big day tomorrow, moving on to the Middle Levels at lunch time..

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

Moored at Elton to see Elton in Oxford!!

Weekend and today – Moored Elton, River Nene

Wonderful, wonderful, but there you go he always is.. our once a year trip to see Elton John playing in concert somewhere.. Row 5 tickets this time gave us a magnificent view of the great man.. 16,000 were there in the Kassam stadium in Oxford.. but row 5 was THE place to be..

Ah but not my photo this time.. they searched my bag and spied my camera.. “No, no, you can’t take THAT camera in there!”… damn!

Never mind, it wasn’t important, and I knew there would be some nice photos about on the web at the beginning of this week from the concert, and I am not disappointed, this photo is from the the bbc, in fact they have put together a bit of a gallery right here….. BBC Elton Gallery.  I know a few who will be clicking on that link!  Wish I could have taken MY camera though, I bet I would have got some better ones than those!!

Got back yesterday just in time (30 mins to spare) to watch England beat Ecuador.. great stuff, then switched over to watch the start of the Canadian F1 Grand Prix… I am afraid I am finding the motor racing a bit boring this year.. seems to be the same at every circuit, just as last year…

Today, it was up early again to go into Peterborough.  Lucy had an appointment with Sarah the vet who had performed the operation on Lucy’s hip, for those arriving here for the first time please scroll down to find out why..

Sarah was delighted to see Lucy walk on all 4 legs into her surgery, not that Lucy was too keen on going into her room… ha but can’t blame her for that.. another 10 days of cage rest, and a 5 minute walk each day for that time then gradually making it a bit longer… and another visit to the vets in 4–6 weeks time.  It is gonna be a long process but I am still hopeful of a full recovery.

The vet has given Lucy the all clear to just mend basically, so we have made decisions today to continue on our proposed trip to East Anglia.  We had to wait, you see, it all depended.. but we are off, and everybody is excited that we are actually ‘on the move’ again… we should be on the River Wissey next week!!

Leisurely run to Elton and a barn owl entertains..

Fotheringhay to Elton, River Nene, 2.5 miles 1 lock

I never took a pic of the moorings at Fotheringhay, so here is one now.  The packet bridge in the background carries a road that leads to the village, but it is very quiet…

The huge stone in the foreground was taken from Fotheringhay Castle.  Pulling the pins this morning I was pleased that the wind had dropped, and we had a very pleasant short trip to Elton.  But it seemed to take an age to moor there today.. we are having to be careful that we moor where Lucy is at no risk of damaging her mending hip.  Elton is a bit difficult, the banks are high and there are trees too right in the line of the satellite, so it was “up a bit, back a bit, up a bit, back a bit” to get things just right for TV and Lucy!! (For those not following this blog, Lucy our border collie had a dreadful accident over a month ago and damaged badly her hip… on the mend now though).

We picked up a Tesco order from the road by the mill later this evening and after tea I decided that a walk was definitely necessary.. I am putting on weight!!

I have not done much walking, well not really felt like it without my dog alongside me.. but this evening I joined Annie and Molly.. Even Reynolds the fox was relaxing, sitting in a field of freshly cut grass..

Haymaking is going well around here, we have had no rain, and I guess they will all get the harvest in during this dry spell.  Of course going out late in the evening does have it’s rewards.. and a quick snap at a barn owl brought results!.. We spent about half an hour watching this barn owl hunt across the meadow, absolutely amazing, a wonderful sight.

Didn’t get back till 10pm this evening.. Lucy was waiting for me.. it won’t be long until she is by my side again across the countryside I am sure.

I am off to Oxford again tomorrow!.. not to go visit hospitals this time though, but Elton John is playing at the Kassam Stadium there, and I have some tickets.  Ann from NB Moore2Life is coming too.  We will meet daughter and son in law, Wendie and Danny.. it’s going to be an awesome night for sure!

Windy trip to Fotheringhay...

Ashton Lock to Fotheringhay, River Nene, 5 miles 3 locks

I was tired this morning.. I guess it’s the ‘day after the day before’ when it hits.  Well 12 hours of travelling in two days by bus, train and shanky’s pony will be tiring.. but I was pleased to pull the pins once again on the lovely mooring at Ashton Lock.  Chas had backed in to the backwater when we arriv ed last week.. I had gone straight in, so on the way out, Chas ‘picked me up’ with Moore2Life and took me backwards out of there….

Ah, the first sighting of the new hat!!  Here I am hanging on to the front of Moore2Life as No Problem gets pulled back.  You can see from the pic how lovely the moorings are here, and I fully recommend anyone on this river to moor a while in this delightful spot. 

There are some boat houses on the way from Ashton to Fotheringhay… and by boat houses I mean rowing boat houses!… They take it all very seriously you know, maybe some Cambridge light blues amoung them, who knows.. but they are a jolly lot.. well those in the row boats are, the guys in the speedy little boats with outboard motors are not so jolly, shouting and screaming ‘orders’ to the sweating crews!..

Here we need to dodge an ‘eight’ coming at speed towards us.. we are expected to get out of the way although as you can see there is quiet a wind to have to contend with..

We stopped for water at Fotheringhay again, well I had done 3 loads of washing since we left, so water was probably needed, but on arrival another boat was moored by the waterpoint and looked as if they were there for the night.. No hose pipe leading from their boat.. I cursed.. a hire boat hogging the waterpoint!… WRONG!!..

The reason this crew were moored on the waterpoint was that their boatyard had given them a key that wouldn’t open the waterpoints.. they had been waiting for a boat to use the water so they could get some themselves.  Awwwww they had even called out their boatyard to come and give them a key.. I think they were more or less out of water.. hey and a nice bunch of people they were too!

I then wrote a note to myself “Sue, don’t presume until you know the facts” !!

We have moored by the castle again at Fotheringhay, Lucy loves it here, and has been laying outside this evening.  It has only just gone dark tonight, well I write this at 23.25pm, and still there is light..

Wendie.. bet my tubs beat yours….

Actually they are better than that now!

Back at Ashton Lock and its peace again..

Moored Ashton Lock, Oundle, River Nene

It was a round trip involving 12 hours of travel for a 10 minute appointment at the John Radcliffe Hospital at Oxford.  A quick check of Vic’s circulation found that things are certainly not too serious although he will need a scan to see what is going on, so it will be a return there in about 4 to 6 weeks for that.

That is one of the biggest problms when deciding to retire on the waterways.. if prolonged hospital attention is required you do need to stick to one bospital.  You see records are not yet on a national database, and we sure have read about that disaster lately!  This means that different hospitals are not keen on handing over scans and xrays etc to other hospitals.  We thought Vic’s appointment would have come through much quicker than the 3 month wait we had.  When we first knew there was a problem with his legs we were in Banbury..

But we decided to continue our summer visit to East Anglia, knowing that we would be near to Cambridge at the time of the appointment and there are buses from Cambridge to Oxford.  But we did not take into account an accident to our border collie Lucy.  Now she needed a hospital for herself and needed to be based round it for her to recover.. that place was Peterborough!

Hence our long journey over the last two days.. Lucy’s accident has put us back a month.. but hey, Lucy is recovering fast under her ‘doc’ in Peterborough, and Vic is being looked after by his ‘doc’ in Oxford.. nothing is impossible

Mink at Ashton.. but 'tis a lovely mooring on the Nene..

Saturday – Elton to Ashton Lock, Oundle, River Nene, 7.5 miles 4 locks

We thought we would do ‘the lot’ on Saturday.. well it was a lovely day.  Pulling the pins after collecting bread and milk from the village of Elton we stopped for water at Fotheringhay before making our way to Ashton Lock.  Some lazy boaters had left the guillotine down at Ashton Lock. all guillotine locks HAVE to be left empty and in the up position.. so this meant that we had to work the wheel three times.. once to lift it.. second to drop it.. third to lift it again as it should be left on the Nene.. we cursed the lazy boaters who had just gone upstream and left the lock..

Never mind.. another boat arrived to go upstream as we were locking through, a crew of lively youngsters and a keen mum and dad.. “Leave it to us.. get on your boats, we will help out here”… great stuff!

After locking through,  we turned left to moor in the cut just above the lock.. and now that the weekend is over, there is just No Problem and Moore2Life moored in this very quiet place..

Not so quiet though….

A mink is hunting in the area, and yesterday we watched in despair as it took two moorhen chicks, and while walking today, watched again in vain as he took two more a bit further downstream.. .. darn things..

But I suppose that is one of those things that we are going to have to put up with now.. mink are about in the countryside.. our native animals are going to have to learn to deal with them.. but here is an insect hardly likely to be bothered by them.. I was delighted with this pic I took as we waiting for the water to fill at Fotheringhay yesterday..

Lucy improves, and Ann and Chas on NB Moore2Life are going to look after her for a couple of days while Vic and I travel to Oxford.  Vic has an appointment with a specialist at the John Radcliffe Hospital to check out his legs which were giving him a circulation problem back in March.. we will be back on Wednesday..

East of England Country Show and Lucy is home again

Moored Elton, River Nene

Changed my mind this morning and decided to go to the East of England Show today instead of going tomorrow.  Well it was a lovely day, and Lucy was still at the vet hospital in Peterborough.  I thought it might be better to be at home tomorrow with her.  The showground is just outside Peterborough about 4 miles or so from where we are moored.  I could get the bus later on into Peterborough to pick Lucy up after the show.

I have been to this showground before with daughter Wendie riding in a pony class when she was seven years old, some… errrrr well quiet a number of years ago now.. I don’t think I better say exactly how many or I will be receiving a few words from Wendie down the telephone no doubt!

Prince Edward was there today, we could have got a photo of him leaving in his car if we had waited around for ten minutes or so by the VIP entrance, but I thought that was a bit of a ‘sad’ thing to do, so wandered off instead and saw a magnificent display of birds of prey.  The peregrine falcon is the most wonderful bird to see in a controlled environment.. There was some good showjumping on offer too..

Here Michael Whitaker winning the ‘Area Trial’ and pocketing a nice £800 for the first prize…  But it wasn’t only showjumping, this was a very big show indeed, with vintage cars, tractors, steam engines, farming implements, gun dogs, well just about everything.. I even enjoyed watching the cows being judged.  What wonderful beasts these are…

The British Simmental cow.  There is great rivalry amongst the farmers for the top awards.  Yep a great day out.. oh I bought a hat, I just couldn’t resist it today.. I’ll get a pic over the weekend for you to see..

I caught the bus to Peterborough from the showground, while Vic caught the bus on the other side of the road back to Elton.  The vet showed me the xrays.. not a complete success unfortunately for Lucy.  The first xray showed the pin holding the bones together, but when the vet took the pin out the second xray showed that the bone was not holding in the centre of the hip socket.. sliding away from it.  It is still all holding together and may well be OK for the rest of her life, but again it is going to be time that is going to decide.. The vets want her back again in 10 days or so to take another look.. and are hoping that the hip holds and doesn’t dislocate in the mean time.

We are both feeling positive, and will give Lucy all the care necessary to give her a chance of that full recovery.. so more cage rest for her over the next three weeks.. Not sure what our plans are for the weekend, we will decide tomorrow.  It is difficult here at Elton to get on and off for Lucy during these next crucial days, so we might move..

I bet she thinks I dumped her in Peterborough again for a few days!

Moored Elton, River Nene

I am not happy this evening..

I took Lucy my border collie to Peterborough this morning to have the pin removed from her hip that she damaged three weeks ago in a dreadful accident. Catching the bus from here in Elton just after 9am before finding another bus in the city to arrive outside the vets.  By just after 10am she was booked in and led away.. gawd she gave me an awful look of despair..

Ann came with me this morning, and we stopped in Peterborough for a coffee before taking the bus back to No Problem.  I phoned at 3pm expecting to be given a time to pick Lucy up only to be told “Ah… I was just about to phone you”… “Oh yeah?” “Our xray machine is broken so we were not able to xray Lucy today, which means that nothing has been done”..

They had told me that Lucy would have to be xrayed before they decided whether to take the pin out or not.. fair enough, but now she would have to stay until tomorrow!!   I could have collected her and fetched her back to the vet in the morning, but how upset would she have been to return there once again!  That is why I decided to leave her there the night..

I just hope that the machine is fixed tomorrow. 

It is absolutely full here at Elton by the lock.  Not official moorings, but a field that has been used for a long time to moor boats.  The farmer obviously is happy enough about that…

There is a very friendly atmosphere here this evening, and people are sitting out on the banks.  There are some festivities in Peterborough this weekend for boats, and many are coming downstream for the event.  Talking of events, there is also the East of England Country Show on the showground just up the road from here this weekend, and as long as we get Lucy back tomorrow we have decided to go out for the day on Saturday.  Chas and Ann have decided to go to the show tomorrow, and we will look after their mutt Molly, while they return the favour and keep an eye on Lucy on Saturday for us.

I’m a bit fed up tonight though.. I don’t like Lucy being away..

We are organised at Elton!

Fotheringhay to Elton, River Nene, 2.5 miles 1 lock

OK, not a busy day cruising, but there is other things to do apart from cruising!

Like washing and putting water aboard, oh and getting a million tiny insects that are stuck on the boat off!  I couldn’t believe it this morning, gawd knows where they all came from, but the side of No Problem away from the river bank was absolutely covered in tiny insects.. Tried using the brush, but they just ‘drifted in the wind’ back on to the boat, so ended up sloshing water all over the side. 

But everything about this river is laid back, and even taking time this morning to get water from the tap close to the packet bridge at Fotheringhay was enjoyable..

Time too to enjoy my surroundings, here right by the boat as we waited for the water tank to fill mum and kids looking for some scraps..

Onward then to Warmington, just the one lock there to do today.. A couple of narrowboats came upstream through the lock just as we approached.. handy!  .  But I was surprised when they moored up, that they were well sticking out into the river.  Last year when we moored here we were close to the side.. Maybe the river is down a bit even after a night of rain.. or maybe their draught is deeper than our 21 inches…

An odd view of them moored abreast from inside the lock!  It is normal for the top lock gates on the Nene to overflow like this, tis handy too when going up, because there is no need to open the paddles!..

We have moored just before Elton Lock this evening.  I really do like it here, perhaps this goes down as one of my most favourite villages of all that I have seen on the waterways in this country.. Elton, a village dating back from Saxon times, has a wonderful park and hall, I walked through the park yesterday while walking from Fotheringhay.  The village main street is a wonder, with thatched houses on both sides of a wide road flanked by grass verges and trees.  The gardens are just about all done in cottage style, but this one is a bit different and an absolute delight, with plenty of character to say the least!!…

I enjoyed a British Waterways stoppage alert today..  I get them to send alerts to my email box, well it keeps us informed as to what is going on, but it gave us a smile today when they warned of a lock closure due to “A car abandoned in the canal”  Me thinks that should have been “Dumped in the canal”..

So, “We are organised at Elton”.. yes well Lucy goes to Peterborough tomorrow to have the pin removed that has been holding her hip in one piece since her dreadful accident at Denford.  It has been three weeks since then, hasn’t time flown.. She is getting about just fine now, and we will go by bus from here to the city in the morning.  She is having xrays first to see how things have knitted together, then they should be taking the pin out.. I am confident that everything has gone well with her recovery in the last three weeks.. remains to be seen tomorrow..

No, No at Perio, but Fotheringhay is more welcoming..

Today – Moored Fotheringhay
Yesterday – Ashton to Fotheringhay, River Nene, 5 miles 3 locks
Weekend – Moored Ashton, River Nene

A wonderful few days since I came back from London.  The weekend was just so warm, well too warm for moving for sure.  The only thing to do was swimming in the river, oh what a way to cool off!   Here though, Vic not being as brave as me, just enjoying this really nice mooring dangling his feet in the river with Ann from NB Moore2Life..

Boats have come and gone again this weekend, and left their rubbish too just slung in the bushes across the path from where they have been moored.  It’s sad really that these people can enjoy this place, then before leaving, chuck their rubbish.  The Environment Agency really do need to provide more places to put rubbish.  I guess this is why people are dumping it instead of keeping it aboard and disposing of it.  It is unfortunate, but we are also having problems with the rubbish.  The last official place for us to dump rubbish on the river was at the EA services at Rushden and Diamonds, and we were there some one month and one day ago on 12th May.

OK so we are being slow, well we have reasons for that.. Lucy has been injured and we have to wait for her recovery working with the vets in this area, plus the River Nene is a very nice place to be in the warmth of the summer!!

Our rubbish does go into local litter bins, well what else can we do with it? If I get caught putting some in one, it could be a £200 fine I believe.. I need to be careful..

Oh, and the rubbish that the boaters dumped at Ashton was collected from the bushes and dealt with too..

These fellas get a bit hot in this weather… this cormorant sunning himself on the top of a tree ruffling the feathers on the back of his head..

Talking of wildlife, we had hoped to stop by Perio Lock.. well Bluebell Lakes actually, it is an outstanding area for all sorts of animals and birds.  It’s very difficult to get in to moor though, and after a struggle the pins were finally banged in.  I took the chairs and tea to relax by the lakes for the afternoon, popping back to No Problem for the camera, I was met by a ranger.. “You can’t moor here, it’s all private”.. “Oh, well I moored here last year and it seemed OK” “Not any more, you will have to move”.. “Err I have just made a cuppa, is it OK to have that?”  He hesitated.. “I will give you 20 minutes”…

How kind!  … So on through Perio..

It’s a lovely name.. Perio Lock.  There is a mill there, like there is at most of the locks.  The mill stream is different to most though, it tumbles back into the main river over large boulders making the most wonderful ‘babbling sound’.. And so on to Fotheringhay then, and a friendly mooring right under what remains of the castle where Mary Queen of Scots was beheaded.  Much more friendly was the chap than the one at Perio “Welcome”… “£3 please”… Haha!!

Always well worth the three quid here.  There are plenty of places to moor along some half mile of nicely kept river bank.  But we can get the sky tv at this particular spot.. just as long as I don’t see a lady with a head under her arm wandering down to the boat from the castle!

Mark Knopfler in London means a hot bus trip from Peterborough..

Moored Nr Ashton Lock, River Nene

Well I am back!!

Mark Knopfler and Emmylou Harris were fantastic at their ‘An Evening Together’ concert at London’s Wembley Arena last night…. I met daughter Wendie in London yesterday.. eventually (more of that tomorrow)….

Just a quickie blog tonight to chuck a couple of piccys on of the concert…..

As you can see by the views on the camera, we had super seats in row 2 in the centre block,  perfect..

Phew.. heat! But I ain't complaining as we cruise from Wadenhoe

Wadenhoe to Aston Lock, Oundle, River Nene, 5.5 miles 4 locks

A lovely cruise today in the sunshine.  I took Lucy’s stitches out before we left, well it would be a couple of hours before we reached Oundle and she would sit quietly on the back deck all the way.  Everything looks good around the area of the injury, the skin has knitted together perfectly

Here is a funny old bridge…

I have walked over this bridge and it really is very rickerty.  It is on a bend and I dread to think what happens if you get it wrong or the river is in flow.  Those are metal sheets you can see in the middle support.  Now that would do some nasty damage if you scrapped through there.

We were rather pleased to arrive at out moorings for the evening, phew it sure was hot today, and it wasn’t long after we banged the pins in before we got out the chairs to sit in the shade of the trees alongside the bank. 

I am off to London tomorrow.  Meeting daughter Wendie for lunch then it’s off to Wembly Arena in the evening to see Mark Knopfler and Emmylou Harris in concert.  Mark is/was the lead singer of Dire Straits for those not in the know   I can’t wait!   I will be back on Friday no doubt full of it, and hopefully a few special pics

Just so rural and beautiful around Oundle and Thrapston

Yesterday and Today – Oundle to Thrapston, then Thrapston to Wadenhoe, River Nene, 16 miles 8 locks
Weekend – Moored Aston Cut, River Nene

The most perfect weather at the moment, everything that makes the cold winter months worth it!

We are sort of ‘up and back’ for now, checking in at vets, or at least getting vets to ‘check in’ with us and visit No Problem to see how Lucy is coming along. 

We spent the weekend quietly at the delightful moorings just upstream from Aston Lock.  Quite a few boats came and went during that time, some had bbq’s.. and some just chucked their spent disposable bbq into the vegetation. .  Disposable it might have been, but ……..

Anyway, it was duly collected by yours truly, took aboard and properly dealt with in a proper rubbish bin.  I just can’t believe how some people can spend the most magical weekend in a magical place, enjoy their bbq  and just dump it and leave!

Apart from that though it was a good weekend, I left Vic watching Lucy while I went into Oundle with Chas and Ann of Moore2Life on Saturday for a spot of people watching in the warm sunshine, with a cup of tea and a tasty scone outside one of the many cafes in the town.  We also visited the local pottery, where we happened on a birthday party!  Young Ruby, who was just 7 years old, was entertaining her guests to a special afternoon at the pottery, and there they all were sat around a table painting mugs which would later be put  in the ovens to cure.  “They will pick them up next week, then they will look like shiney new mugs for them all” said the lady who owned the place.. amazing stuff!

A fairly early start on Monday then, well we needed to be in Thrapston for Renee the vet to check Lucy’s progress.. just the one low bridge.  I wasn’t sure about it this time.. well it was OK on the way downstream, but we had put on about 130 ltrs of diesel a couple of days ago which tends to make the stern go low and the bows go high.. plus the fact we had less water in the tank at the front of No Problem.. but with Vic just checking, there was to be no problem at Barnwell Bridge this time…

This area is well known for it’s stately houses, and if you’re not quick to spot a gap in the trees for a pic….

Then you will miss the sight of Lilford Hall, a Jacobean mansion built about 1645… and on the other bank is Picton vicarage and church with the same type chimneys and stonework as the Hall..

How about living here then..

Perhaps one of the most remote and beautiful locations on the Nene by Lilford Lock.  right on the forest edge. 

So tonight we are at Wadenhoe again, heading downstream.  Lucy is doing just fine, insisting that there really is no problem with using just the three legs.  We would all like her to use 4, including Renee the vet, but she is not overly keen on that at the moment.  In fact where we are moored there is quite a hill up to the church here, and this evening I have had her running up and down the hill trying to get her to put the ‘forth foot’ down on the ground and making her use it again.. but nope.. she is quite happy, thank you very much, to use just the three…  Stitches come out tomorrow.. maybe they are pulling a bit, hopefully taking them out might just make her a four legged dog again..

Tony enjoys the trip.. a beautiful stretch around Oundle

Today – Moored Aston Cut, River Nene
Thursday – Wadenhoe to Aston Lock, River Nene, 5.5 miles, 3 locks

We pulled the pins on Wadenhoe on Thursday morning.  I like it there, the village is lovely, the mooring is lovely, but it was a reverse out for both No Problem and Moore2Life..

The moorings by the pub are up a bywater, so it means reversing back past a tree that really is stretching a long way out as you can see.. once back it is just a matter of lining up for the lock to the left behind Moore2 Life in the pic.

It was great to have son Tony aboard the last few days, we spent some quality time together, and he was so helpful in looking after Lucy with us… Taking his ‘watch’ in turn with us.  He had ample time though to lock us through the locks yesterday…

We popped into Oundle Marina to do the cassette loos and fill with diesel and water.  A shock to the system because the diesel was 59p a litre.  Now that is the most we have ever paid.  At this marina we paid 37.5p this time last year.  “It’s the oil companies…”  I though “Yeah yeah yeah *sigh*” Well a hike of over 20p in one year, that has to be a huge percentage.  The road users of diesel have not had that percentage put on their fuel this year.  I wonder if the pink dye they put in ours has gone up in cost somewhat!!   Won’t be too long at this rate, that we will be paying the same price as the motorists do..

We have settled for the weekend at the delightful moorings just above Aston Locks, affectionally known as ‘Aston Cut’.  We didn’t stop here last year, promising to do so this year, and we are not disappointed.  The weather has cheered too, much warmer today, although that wind is still coming from the north, and there is a slight nip in the air….

Tony and I went walking this morning, it never fails to amaze me what surprises are round the corner you know…

High in a tree this peacock was. Tony went off back to Peterborough from Oundle around lunchtime for the National Express to take him back to Portsmouth.. I was sad to see him go,  it’s always a pleasure to have him around.  Oundle is a lovely market town, I might pop in tomorrow for a while as we are staying here the weekend.  Then on Monday is is hotfoot back to Thrapston.. Renee has to take Lucy’s stitches out and check her over..