Rainbows, Thunder, Sunshine and the Two Ds at Great Doddington

Moored Great Doddington, River Nene

Early morning squally showers kept me inside doing some paper work this morning.  It wasn’t too long though ‘till the blue skies cheered the day and I took the opportunity to exercise the girls across the meadow to the lakes to have a look at the wildlife.. plenty of it too.

Strolling back to No Problem I spied two narrowboats making their way along the River.. A huge smile then as I noticed the maroon cratch cover of Gypsy Rover and the Two Ds, Dot and Derek.

They are travelling the fens this spring and early summer with their companions Derek and Christina, and Vic and I welcomed them all aboard No Problem along with Chas and Ann of NB Moore2Life, our travelling companions for coffee before lunch.

What a boat full!.. not only the six of us but three K9s vying for space..

Dot and Derek told me of a diary that was in the box that has the push buttons to open the lock and how it invited people to put an entry in as boats passed the lock.  I didn’t know about that.. well being the person on the tiller I wouldn’t!  Vic said he noticed the diary but hadn’t looked.. Dot said “I am nosy so I looked!!”  “It tells of a water point available nearby” says Dot.  Now that would be very interesting to know where that is.. water is always important on the Nene if you want to travel slowly and stop a lot.

I went out after dinner tonight to take a look at this diary and walked back to Doddington Lock armed with a key to open the control box.. A day of mixed weather with thunder and lightening at one point, then as I walked, this rainbow across the meadows..

The diary was great reading.. “Boaters, Please help yourself to water from the tap nearby, and if there is any help we can give you please call in at the mill house”  It was a very friendly message typical of what we have found while travelling along this river.. Here is the tap pointed out.. there are two hose pipes there also for boaters to use.  Moor either in the lock or on the lock landing pontoon on the downstream side of the lock to get the water..

Nice one!

I have only just got back from an evening of total chat chat chat with Dot and Derek on Gypsy Rover talking about the fens, this blog is a bit late tonight!.. It is nice to know they are really loving ‘doing The Nene’ just like I do.