A delightful day on the River see us into St Ives

Aldreth to St Ives, River Great Ouse, 11.5 miles 3 locks

I really did need to get to St Ives today.. the jobsworth bloke chap in the Post Office was adamant that my post could only be collected at the Sorting Office, which presumably will be closed on Saturday when we had planned to be here.. I really couldn’t be bothered to argue, its been an upsetting enough week without more to rock my life.  I will make a complaint later to Royal Mail, that this guy has to hold my mail at the Post Office..

Pins pulled this morning then.. the weather was better although the wind was high and caused one or two problems along the way.. none of which was major.. Hermitage Lock was the first lock we had gone through for a month..

This one was done for us, and as we left the lock keeper shouted over “Ha it goes well with a gear box eh?”.. Teehee.. A reference to our lengthy stay in Ely recently with a broken gear box.. Onward then to the Environment Agency Services at West View Marina at Earith, and while Vic filled No Problem with water, I went in search of the seals that are often seen here.. “She had a pup last weekend and is on the opposite side of the river at the moment” this in reply after asking as to the whereabouts of them..

These are the moorings by the Marina, and looking over to the far bank all I could see was the recent flooding in the fields opposite, no sign of the seals… pity..

On then to Brownshill Lock along the tidal bit.. it sure was blowy, and this abandoned boat was on the end of the lock moorings making life very difficult to moor in the high wind. 

Once I had got No Problem into the side, Vic moved the boat out of the way.. why on earth someone else didn’t do that I don’t know!!

The fenland has disappeared and is replaced by hills and trees.. and we enjoyed the river as it twisted it’s way through the lovely Cambridgeshire countryside..

Here the Pike and Eel Pub, where we were going to moor close to tonight, but changed our minds and continued on..

We passed some rush mat cutters on both banks of the river..

Here they were cutting the reeds, bundling them, then laying them over small punts which you can hardly see under the blanket of reeds he has already cut.  They would then take along the river to a collection point.  The reeds are dried and can be stored for several years before being made into rush mats and the like… each dried bunch similar to what that lad is holding would cost about £20!

This pair of swans have 8 cygnets all resting on the bank today in the dappled sunshine under a tree…

And on past Holywell.. a small hamlet nestled on the banks of the Great Ouse…

You can see the flow of water is quite high on the river, and in some places where the river narrowed our speed dropped an awful lot.. I suppose it will be a few days now that we will be against a high flow after all that rain of the last couple of days..

All too soon we arrived at St Ives Lock.. but Oh dear, just where the lock landing pontoon is that I wanted to use…

So instead of crushing the little wooden launch I went on to the high sided moorings nearer the lock.  I don’t like using those because they are too high for No Problem, and I have to get out the really fat fenders to stop the concrete scratching the paintwork above the gunnel.. the lock landing is so high up..

On through St Ives bridge with the lovely buildings on the waterfront..

The Environment Agency moorings were empty this evening.. I have never seen them empty!…

But we continued on to the GOBA moorings another half mile or so along the river.. it is great here for Lucy and Meg, they can have a good ‘ol romp on the fields.. I’ll collect the post tomorrow along with milk and bread, then onwards past Hemingford so that we clear the Hemingford Regatta which is held on Saturday..