Bumpy ride through Titchmarsh Lock

Thrapston Sailing Club to Wadenhoe, River Nene, 3.75 miles 1 lock

A walk this morning around the Nature Reserve and Thrapston Lake took a couple of hours, before visiting the Post Office again to see if the post had arrived.. “Yep it is here” and out from the back came a huge box!!  I certainly wasn’t expecting that and had only the ruck sack with me.. sheeeeeesh I needed wheels!!

‘Tis my birthday in a few days time, you see, and all the presents and cards were in the box together with a reversing camera for No Problem..   More of that later.  Anyway, a quick phone call to Vic and he met me up the track that leads from the moorings to the town.  I managed to carry the box half way back somehow, more mind over matter than sheer strength I think.. but was never so pleased to see my husband come round the bend than when he did!

The mooring fits 3 narrowboats…it was getting too busy for me.. now there are 7 narrowboats and another trying to get in all moored on top of one another.. enough of that, so we had a quick bite to eat and extracted ourselves along with Moore2Life to go downstream to Wadenhoe.

Off came the chimney and the satellite dish as well as the barrel and buckby can.  The footbridge downstream is low, and still the river was up a bit, but we were OK underneath it, rather pleased with ourselves on our decision to remove the chimney, for sure it would have hit it.

This is Titchmarsh Farm Bridge, easily underneath this one.  If it had been the same bridge as was there in 2005 there is no way we would have got under it.. here is what it was like before it fell into the Nene.. or a boater broke it more like!! ..

Titchmarsh Lock was wicked today, so much water going over the back gates, I knew it was going to be difficult to hold No Problem against all that water while the lock emptied..

No need to open the paddles to fill this one when the guillotine is down!.. and once it is full, still there is too much water..

Here the water pouring over the front guillotine gate.  It was desperately hard to hold the boat from going forward once the guilly was raised.. Phew I sure was pleased to be away from that one..

Hiding in the undergrowth I spotted a mandarin Duck and quickly snapped a shot of it.  When I looked at it later I see there is another duck in the same pic on the top left.  I think it is sitting on a nest.  Does anyone have any idea what it is?  Could it be a female mandarin?..

We have been extremely lucky to get one of the two prime moorings by the church at Wadenhoe, Chas and Ann of NB Moore2Life have the other mooring, but they are luckier than us, they have a gardener cutting the grass outside their boat!..

Mind you, I don’t know how long he will stay.. Moore2Life’s next door neighbours have a dog called Meg sitting outside of her boat.  I wouldn’t be surprised if she is thinking of doing a bit of rounding up…

Lucy, on the other hand, seems to have spotted something else more interesting in the other direction!