Wonderful weekend on Wissey, then the adrenalin run to Middle Levels

Today – Wissey Bridge to Salters Lock, Rivers Wissey, Gt Ouse and Middle Levels
Bank Holiday Weekend – Moored Nr Wissey Bridge, River Wissey

Wonderful weekend spent on the quiet River Wissey, with plenty of time for walking and fishing.  Vic was busy with an oil change, trying to find an annoying rattle in the engine bay, redoing the floor as it had expanded and needed a bit off the end and making a new duck board for the roof to take the coal!  I just lazed about!

Oh coal!  Well I ordered some for this morning to be delivered to Denver along with a Tesco order as I didn’t know how long we were going to be there due to the problems at Denver Lock with silting..

Anyway, I was told that it would come in bags, they knew they were delivering to a narrowboat.  They turned up this afternoon with bags of 50 kilos that one would tip into a coal bunker!!  He went away with the bags not very happy at all that No Problem did not have a coal bunker to put in the 5 bags that I had ordered in to!!

Never mind, I will order some for Peterborough tomorrow now that we have made it from Denver to the Middle Levels.  It sure is a bit of a problem at the moment, you can see from the pic above, that the main channel is being dredged by EA, and they have been at it for a week.  The lock out into this tidal bit is on the right of the pic, and there is no way you can go straight down that channel where the dredging crane is working, you have to come out of the lock and turn left with that almighty sand bank on your right hand side, round that and then on down the tide.

Those coming from the Middle Levels to the Ouse also have to come into the lock that way.. here is one at a terrible angle to the lock, but he did it very gently and managed to get in with very little scuffing..

You can see the water is higher now, although not nearly high enough to be totally out of trouble with the short journey.. This is the boat that went down before us getting into a bit of bother trying to turn sharp left out of the lock…

 

The lock he came out of is on the right of the pic, so you can see how difficult it is to get round that sandbank, he needs to pass that on his right!  I was glad I watch him, gave me more of an idea of getting NP into the right position.. The lockie gave us the choice of going tonight, saying that it was on our heads if we did, the risk of grounding said he was small.  So I thought I would have an adrenalin run, and by 7.15pm NP was safely tied up on the Middle Levels.

I’m pleased that’s over to be honest.. I was a bit worried about it, not so much the bit out of Denver, but to get into Salters Lock on the Middle Levels the dog leg needs to be judged to perfection or the boat gets rammed into the wall… We will be in Peterborough on Thursday I think.. we are not keen on the Middle Levels..

Happy Birthday...

Happy Birthday Dad…

I hope you have had a wonderful day, been thinking of you, as always, but especially today xxxx

 

Back to my favourite Wissey.. 3 months later..

Littleport to Wissey Bridge, Rivers Gt Ouse and Wissey, 10 miles 0 locks

Well its not THAT boring the stretch from Ely to Denver.  Maybe it’s where I have got used to being here on the rivers of East Anglia.  In fact I did not find it boring at all!!  There is just so much interest even though the banks are quite high… here a really crooked house.. I don’t know how it is standing there!

Just look at those window ledges.. a lot of the houses on the banks of the river are actually lower than the river as you can see, and we have noticed a lot of them look as though they are about to fall over.  I dread to think what would happen if there was a breach through these high banks, all the water would just ‘tip’ into the fens leaving the river bone dry.

We passed the Ship Inn at the junction of the Gt Ouse and Little Ouse this morning and finalised our decision that we must come back to East Anglia next summer leaving the Little Ouse ‘till then to explore.  We have really enjoyed ourselves over here off the main system, away from the long queues of boats waiting to pass through locks,  hire boats, boats using BW like a motorway etc etc.. so here we will come again next year…

Anyway, today we cruised to the River Wissey, just a mile or so from Denver and the exit of the Gt Ouse to the Middle Levels.  We enjoyed this GOBA mooring way back last May and we were looking forward to spending the Bank Holiday here in these very quite and tranquil surroundings.  In fact only one boat has passed since we moored at lunchtime.. I don’t think many will come this way, it seems the tupperware people don’t like the narrow rivers during late summer because of the weed, but to be honest there is none!

Have yourselves a wonderful weekend whatever you may be doing, for sure I certainly will.  

 

Goodbye to Ely 'till the next time..

Stretham Old Engine to Littleport, River Gt Ouse, 10.5 miles 0 locks

Well after yesterdays constant rain it was nice to wake up to the sun again, although it was a bit breezy, it was coming from behind.  It didn’t take too long before the Fish and Duck pub at Pope’s Corner came into view.. a lovely pub this one, although during the number of times we have passed it this summer, we never actually tasted the beer!

Our last stop at Ely this summer too.  I had some library books to return that Kiera borrowed while she spent a week with us.  It’s very easy to join any library, all you need is a couple of bits of ID and a home address, which doesn’t have to be in the county that the library is in.  It’s great too because you can return books to any library in the county without having to go back to the actual one books were borrowed from.

Called in at the butchers to stock the freezer for a couple of weeks and got some winter pansies from the market.  My poor plants never did recover from a late frost back at the end of May.. I will put the pansies in early hoping to get a good show of flowers before the winter sets in.

I don’t like the bit between Ely and Denver, it’s just plain boring, well I think it is.  High banks on both sides and a very wide river… but I was lucky today to see a great egret.  It was the first one I have seen this year, and managed to get a pic of it in flight, albeit a bit of a long way off, but I got it!   Not long after that a Pochard..

We had hoped to get a bit further downstream today, but wet stuff started to fall just as we approached Littleport, and what with the two soakings I have had within the last seven days, didn’t fancy another one, so we moored and settled mid afternoon.  This gave me a chance to have a nice long and relaxing walk over the fens with Lucy.  I have grown quite fond of walking the fens, it is very different from normal countryside walks, so flat, but the views are stunning, and the way they farm the fens is interesting.  There is always a lot of wildlife with the ditches/drains surrounding very large areas of agriculture.  A thunderstorm passed across in front of my view, very stunning in the fens… here is the view I had with a rainbow behind the fork lightning.. amazing stuff!

I am extremely stiff this evening.. see I have got out of practice with walking, well it is either that or I am right off fitness with all the whooping it up last weekend with the family visit!

Family Weekend take us back to Wicken

Today – Moored Stretham Old Engine, Old West River
Tues 23rd – Stretham Ferry Bridge to Stretham Old Engine, 1.5 miles 0 locks
Mon 22nd – Wicken to Stretham Ferry Bridge, 8 miles 1 lock
Sun 21st – Stretham Ferry Bridge to Wicken Fen, 8 miles 1 lock
Sat 20th – Junc Reach Lode/River Cam to Stretham Ferry Bridge, Old West River, 6 miles 0 locks

We left early on Saturday and arrived at empty GOBA moorings at the Lazy Otter at Stretham… I was very relieved, and we moored right at the end where there was plenty of room for the tents and no footpath on down past us. 

By evening time everyone had arrived and it was chaos for a while until they all got used to the confined space available for people, dogs and luggage! After that it was organised chaos for the rest of the weekend!

Saturday evening was beautiful, had a barbie and once we had stuffed the kids into the tents for the night, carried on outside under candlelight enjoying until very late in the evening. 

Sunday we uprooted tents etc etc and cruised to Wicken Fen.. it was quite shallow this time, and NP was certainly much heavier with her extra cargo, but we got there…

  

Here the boys putting up tent city at Wicken before…

Yep, bbq again… phew I must admit I was fully stuffed after this weekend! 

It’s horrid when they all go, I had a bit of a tear this time.. but what a lovely weekend we all had together, it couldn’t have worked out better in the end.

Today we are just a little further downstream from the Lazy Otter and Tesco has just delivered here for me.. well my fridge was almost empty!  It’s very stormy today, and it has given me a chance to catch up on all the delayed email replies.. just one I can’t get through to Pat and Paul with an aol email account.. Pat and Paul it keeps on getting bounced perhaps you could send me a different email to reply to?

A rest day then for us today.. hopefully tomorrow we will be on the move again to find somewhere nice to ‘hide’ for the bank holiday rush of boats!

Shock, Horror - Our plans are dashed after getting a right soaking!

Little Thetford to Ely and returning Ely to Junc of River Cam and Reach Lode, Rivers Great Ouse and Cam, 9 miles 0 locks

Oh boy did I get wet today!

We left Little Thetford this morning bound for Ely to pick up some shopping and supplies for the weekend.  Most of the family are arriving tomorrow for a few days, so that will be 6 adults and 4 youngsters, plus the 3 dogs again..

NP hardly ever travels in the rain, but today she had to.. and it never stopped from the time I woke this morning till just about half an hour ago..

It was lovely also to welcome a good friend onboard as we arrived at Ely, and spent a very enjoyable hour in his company before I went shopping, then it was a pit stop at the services before turning back to cruise to the Five Miles from Anywhere pub where I had arranged with them to moor and to put up the tents… ha, there is no way NP could accommodate all that lot!!

On arriving at the pub, shock! horror!.. stunned silence!.. all the moorings were full of livaboard narrowboats with no obvious intention of moving… panic..

It was late, and Kiera was tired and somewhat bored with the rain all day long.. so we just shoved NP into the nearest bank on the far side and stuck some pins in deciding to settle there for the evening.

After Kiera was tucked up we got the map out and tried to think of another mooring fairly close where we could use the tents.  That having been decided, I phoned the family to tell them of the change of venue.. All I hope now is that the moorings I have chosen will not be full when we arrive tomorrow. 

I gonna take a break from the blog till at least Wednesday next.. my days and evenings will be full..

Have a good weekend all

Busy Day in Ely then on to the quietness of Little Thetford

Today – Moored Little Thetford
Wednesday – Ely to Little Thetford, River Great Ouse, 2.5 miles 0 locks

Ely Cathedral was fantastic, Kiera and I spent over 2 and half hours there.  They have excellent ‘kids stuff’ for them to look out for throughout the cathedral.. it is even worth picking that up if visiting, we probably saw and noticed much more than anyone else!

Here Lady Chapel, just one small part of the cathedral a very quiet place.. Completed in 1349, it once had splendid statues of saints all brightly painted with stained glass windows.  In 1541 after the dissolution of the monastery (A monastery this cathedral was before becoming a cathedral) windows were smashed and the beautiful sculptures removed or defaced.  There is evidence of that with headless figures in the alcoves and chisel marks on the walls.

We didn’t leave until late yesterday… I didn’t think we would find an easy mooring for the night, but was well surprised to find enough space on the end at the visitor moorings at Little Thetford.  One of my favourite stops this, the walks round here are wonderful, and today Kiera and I took Lucy out across some spectacular farmland, after finding the post box to send the all important post cards back home..

Not much time for blogging from me at the minute, and I have a ton of emails in my box too that I need to reply too.  I do apologise to all those waiting for a reply from me.. As you can see my time is really taken up at the moment.. Vic is playing dominoes on the bank beside the boat, giving me a few minutes of space to do this..

Bit of a panic, but on to Ely!

Prickwillow to Ely, Rivers Lark and Great Ouse, 6.25 miles 0 locks

We pulled the pins about lunch time from Prickwillow.  There is a museum there.. The Prickwillow Drainage Engine Museum.. it was open this morning and Vic took Kiera to have a look while I spent some quiet time on NP.

Vic was telling me that they have a mark on the wall where the high tide is at Kings Lynn… some 14ft from the ground!  A very interesting place by all accounts, and I wish I had gone and had a look myself.. never mind.

I sent Kiera forward with the radio at the junction of the River Lark and the River Great Ouse to let me know if any boats were coming as we came out of the Lark.. a frantic message from her that a boat was right in our path… she was so exited half the time she didn’t have the button pressed for send.. but I somehow knew that perhaps there was a boat about! 

It really wasn’t going to be a problem, the Gt Ouse is very wide at that point.. but an important ‘job’ for my young crew member that was, and she didn’t let me down!

A distance view of Ely Cathedral as we cruised upstream to this wonderful town in lovely weather.  After the damp weekend we were back to summer conditions again.

Called in at the services for a pit stop, then finding one of the last places to moor, we spent the rest of the afternoon looking round Ely and visiting the library for local information for Kiera to digest…

Tomorrow we will be visiting the magnificent cathedral… I didn’t do that yet myself, and am looking forward to it in Kiera’s company..

A New Crew Member joins at Jude's Ferry Bridge

Today – Jude’s Ferry Bridge to Prickwillow, River Lark, 8 miles 1 lock
Sat ad Sun – Moored Jude’s Ferry Bridge, River Lark

A somewhat damp weekend at Jude’s Ferry Bridge cheered by the arrival of daughter Wendie and grandchildren on Saturday night.  The pair of them left me to babysit granddaughters Kiera and Niamh while they went into the pub for a couple of pints.. I was OK.. I had my own bar here on NP, and saw Chas and Ann of NB Moore2Life online on MSN, so we had a good ol’ chat!

Sunday was a family day.. and of course we all enjoyed each other’s company.. the two youngsters accompanied us for a walk before ‘finding’ the pub playpark which gave Wends and me time to chat while they enjoyed clambering all over the beautifully laid out rustic playpark here at the Jude’s Ferry pub.

Wendie left mid afternoon, leaving the eldest Kiera with me for a week, and when we had waved her off Kiera and I got down to some serious fishing!

Well we caught one!  But it is hard to keep a seven year old’s concentration on something so…. well in her words “This is getting boring grandma”!

Sooooooo I have an extra crew member now and very keen she is too… ah rest for me this week!!.. Ha, I don’t think so somehow! 

Still, she was good at steering I must admit, and soon got the hang of going down the centre of the river.  Earlier we had turned at Jude’s Bridge with no problems at all, and I guess even a 60–65ft narrowboat would be able to turn there..

See what I mean about being keen!  It didn’t take too long for Kiera to learn how to operate this push button guillotine gate “Much better than winding up those heavy lock things Grandma”.. Yep I have to agree with her on that!

We had a busy day today.. so many questions from such a tiny human being.. the one that got me though was “Grandma, you said we can’t pick wild flowers, but we have been picking blackberries, they are wild aren’t they?”  “Yes but they are not a flower Kiera” “They are before they are a blackberry Grandma”…..

She was a bit tired tonight though…. oh but so was somebody else!!

The delightful last two miles of the River Lark

Isleham to Jude’s Ferry Bridge, River Lark, 2 miles 0 locks

Wonderful, wonderful.. what an intriguing two miles that was today

Unfortunately there were no kingfishers ‘dripping’ from the trees, in fact we didn’t see one.  Mind you perhaps we missed them on the way up because it was very narrow.  My eyes were definitely to the front on this stretch..

It was very unusual too, the bank on the right was very high indeed, but covered in wild flowers, grasses and reeds, while the left bank was tree lined, again covered in an abundance of wild flowers.  We met nobody coming downstream, I think there would have been room, but only just in some parts.  No problems with weed either, although the plastic cruisers were struggling to get up this bit we heard!

So we arrived at Jude’s Ferry Bridge, the navigation limit of the River Lark.  We didn’t turn yet, but there will be just about enough space to be able to do that, although Imray’s guide says the maximum length to turn here is 13.7m (NP is 17m) I am sure I can squeeze her round to head back downstream. My backyard today..

There is a pub here, and I popped in at lunchtime to fetch a menu back hoping to impress Vic enough with it for him to agree to a meal out… and……   Yeah!!

Wendie is arriving again tomorrow this time leaving my eldest granddaughter Kiera with me for the week.. Kiera came to stay for a week last year, her first time away from home that was.. This year I think she will enjoy more being the grand age of seven.  I haven’t planned anything, and will just take it as it comes for the week.. I know I will have to be inventive, she returned only two weeks ago from Disney World in Orlando… Ah but surely English Nature can rival that!!

Have a good weekend all whatever you might be doing

Around the Boating Blogs

Around the Boaters Blogs

Firstly, I have come across a couple of boating blogs this week.. Paul has started one on the MSN system of blogs.. Tafelberg is 70ft long.. only just started this one, but I just loved this which was put on as a comment!

 .....oooO...................
... (......)... Oooo........
.....).../. ...(.....).........
.....(_/.......).../..........
.............. (_/.............
.just passing through.
.....oooO....................
... (......)... Oooo.........
.....).../. ...(.....)..........
.....(_/.......).../...........
............... (_/............
................................

Another is Snowbird – Tom Leigh retired to Spain, but was unsettled out there

Then I remembered an old ambition of mind - to explore England via the unique centuries-old canal system. I began to get excited. Why not? What not buy a narrowboat instead of a yacht and spend a few years doing just that. A narrowboat can be just like a home inside and are stable enough for just about anyone.

Tom is fitting out Snowbird himself, and there are some pics on his blog showing the progress..

Being a yachtsman first and a narrowboat skipper second, I designed the layout as a yacht is usually done.

It’s always nice to have a boat just as you want it as a livaboard.. Tom certainly has the expertise to do a grand job me thinks.

….From Chas and Ann on NB Moore2Life..

At the top of the Adderley Locks and past bridge 66 we entered Brownhills Wood. It was so thick the suns rays found their way past the branches producing an eerie feel. It felt cooler in the shade. A lonely fisherman sat there on the tow path. Ann and Molly passed by the man who spoke but she did not hear the words. Somebody was cutting the grass using a noisy machine. He was dressed in protective mask and goggles so all you could see was his glowing eyes. Which one was the ghost which is known to haunt these woods? As I passed the fisherman I asked if he had ever seen the ghost. I heard his reply as the grass cutter had passed on. "It's too noisy for ghosts" he said.

Ha, well I think Chas was very brave to talk to the fisherman!  I wondered if the reply he got was with a smile or not.. still a good excuse for no fish caught today!!

…From Les Biggs looking for his new life on Valerie

This set me thinking would this be the way to go as i am not at all worried about fitting out my-self. Anyway further web searching brought up Liverpool Boats are producing a part fitted narrowboat wich has the kitchen and bathroom ready to use. So now i am doing my homework re pricing up all sorts of things to see if this could be an option for me.

All he has to do now is sell that house!!… He is nearly there with that though

… From Jo on her way along the Llangollen canal with Misty Lady

Why is it some people think they are above helping out at the locks, today we had a chap behind us on a hire boat from Anglo Welsh and he did not help one bit, not only that he pinched someone elses lock even though we held it for an on coming boat. Do the hire companies not tell their hirers how to use locks, and to be polite. it is not rocket science. If everyone helps each other out there would not be the ques, like we experienced today.

Everyone is in too much of a hurry this time of year… One or two weeks holiday in a narrowboat, must do it all.. must get to sucha pub for lunch then sucha pub for the evening!

.. From Andrew with Granny Buttons..

The further round the canal system I go, the more it impresses me that there are two waterways running parallel.  One set of canals is for boaters, walkers and cyclists, each of them looking at the others, smiling and laughing (and frequently cursing).   

And the other is for anglers.  Compleat anglers, we often call them.  And they (probably just as often) call us compleat and utter boaters in return.  We rarely look at each other, and my impression is that I'm lucky if get a surly nod from them in return for my smile.  They probably say the courtesy's all in the other direction.

Perhaps a canal fishing licence should only be issued on condition that you've taken an RYA-approved boater's test, and a canal boat licence should be issued only on condition you've caught an empire-approved fish.

I wonder how many people actually have taken that RYA test, I haven’t, but I qualify surely as a competent skipper, ah but I have caught the relevant fish required for this canal fishing licence!

I never seem to have any problems with fishermen on the bank, they are always friendly to me.  I make a point in saying hello unless there is a huge line of them, when I hope they pull that rod back in time for me to pass.. I remember on the K&A last year one desperate fisherman lifted his long pole too late and it got caught round the bow of NP.. he desperately tried to free it swinging the pole violently.  He did, but the pole swung straight into my throat almost knocking me to the floor… not even a sorry that day from him!

Anyway I have been wandering around the blogs a bit tonight and have thoroughly enjoyed it!

Prickwillow to Isleham in wonderful weather

Today – Prickwillow to Isleham, River Lark, 6 miles 1 lock
Yesterday – Moored Prickwillow

Yesterday we finished playing ‘do the watertank’. The paint on the tank was really dry and rock solid by lunch time, so we started the process of sanitising the system by adding a measured amount of bleach to 30 gallons of water.  This then had to be pulled through NP’s water system until I could smell chlorine coming through all taps.  It was all shut down at that point and a wait of 4 hours for the solution to do its stuff before flushing it all through until the water smelt and tasted like water should!

Everybody who arrived at the moorings were very patient with us, although we didn’t actually moor right on the water point, we were moored right in the middle of the 48hr mooring making it difficult for others to fit in.  Everyone was in happy mood though which was nice..  It was also lovely to meet Jennifer and Graham on NB Best O’ Mates, they were amazed when a Tesco delivery man stopped by the moorings delivering a few bits and bobs to us!

Anyway….

Today… We pulled the pins this morning and continued up this lovely river.  We found a bunch of keys yesterday left in the lock of the waterpoint.  I had stuck a note on the waterpoint last night saying we had the keys and to contact us.. but as we relaxed on the back deck this morning over breakfast a very warm chap asked for keys!  I say warm, he had cycled from Ely and it was pretty hot this morning too.. poor chap, his son had left them when they called for water… he was so pleased to get them back.. “I didn’t expect to ever see them again” said he.  We told him we were just about to leave to continue upstream.. “Ah you will enjoy that, you will see kingfishers dripping off the trees up there”… What a lovely saying!!

This is a very interesting building, known locally as ‘Pepperpot, it is eight sided and really quite crooked.  It is in fact a surviving fenland windmill.  This is now somebody’s house!  There were curtains in the windows.. The bank was too high to see anything much more than what the pic shows though..

On through Isleham lock…

We moored a little further on at the GOBA moorings.. the fishing was great this afternoon and the walk with Lucy spectacular this evening… my backyard today then….

I like it here… it’s very quiet.. but mind you I seem to like it anywhere we have moored during this summer.

Family Weekend, Ely, River Lark and the Water Tank

Today – Moored Prickwillow, River Lark
Mon – Stretham Ferry to Prickwillow, Old West River and River Lark, 12 miles 0 locks
Sat and Sun – Moored Lazy Otter, Stretham Ferry, Old West River

The whole family came up on Saturday to collect their two mutts after their holiday, so we had a great evening together, although with 4 adults 2 children and 3 dogs it was a bit of a squash for sleeping over, but we all managed somehow!

Sunday we all went walking in the morning followed by a fabulous Sunday roast at the Lazy Otter, well recommend that to anyone passing.. All too soon though it was time to bungle them all off in the car to head back south..

I was totally exhausted.. the responsibility of having George and Tilly for three weeks was huge.. I didn’t even have the energy to clear the boat on Sunday after they left, leaving it all ‘till Monday morning.  I can’t remember ever being soooo tired!

So Monday it was time to go through NP and get everything shipshape.  Actually it didn’t take too long and soon we were underway with the washing machine working overtime heading for the River Lark where we planned to moor on the EA moorings by Prickwillow bridge.  What a lovely name that is, Prickwillow.. but then some of the names of places and areas around here are.. names I have come across lately such as Snoots Bridge and Fidwell Fen Farm –  North Angle Farm and South Angle Farm, and in the middle of those two there is Triangle Farm! – Then there is Whitehall Farm and White Hall Farm with only a quarter mile between them!.. I bet the postie gets confused.

Anyway.. We stopped off in Ely for diesel (40p ltr), milk, bread and to empty loo cassettes before going onward to turn right along the River Lark. There were no other boats at the moorings with the water tap - we moored late in the evening yesterday and are still here… My backyard today then..

Last night we emptied the water tank, or at least bucketed it out, and although we had not filled up since before last weekend, there was still three-quarters tank left in there even after a couple of showers and three loads of washing.. We thought it would dry out quite well over night last night, and sure enough, it was dry this morning.

We were delighted with the state of it.. hardly any rusting coming through bearing in mind it had been two years since we did this awful job ..

So here he is then..

This is what is called getting stuck in!!… Nooo not literally!   It didn’t take Vic long to paint it all after preparing it earlier in the day, and by early this afternoon all was finished, and I hauled him out with no ill effects.  I remember two years ago it made him really high, and he appeared with a big grin on his face, but this year I insisted that 10 mins in the hole and 10 mins out was the maximum he was allowed to do, and bless him, he complied, albeit reluctantly.. I got my way!!

I went walking this afternoon, beautiful countryside here and the smell and taste of ‘harvest in the fens’ was in the air..

I met the drivers of these two later.. a couple of pensioners doing it all themselves.  They were telling me that running a fenland farm these days is terribly hard, they get very little for their corn per  ton… they said they would like to retire someday.. their day starts at 6am and ends at 8pm at this time of the year.. they were OK, they were happy with their life and said they wouldn’t swap it for anything else just as long as they could get along as they were.. they were happy with their lot.

So we wait here till the paint in the water tank is absolutely rock hard dry.. Vic says tomorrow.. we will see

Celebration Time at The Lazy Otter

Today – Aldreth to Lazy Otter, Stretham Ferry Bridge, Old West River, 5.5 miles 0 locks
Yesterday – Moored Aldreth

Spent a lovely day yesterday on the moorings about a mile or so from the sleepy village of Aldreth.  The dogs really enjoyed this place, there was plenty of room for them to relax there.  We were lucky to get their before any other boat moored, so had the pick of the spots along the bank.

Today we moved on downstream to the Lazy Otter where we have arranged to meet Wendie to collect George and Tilly, the mutts who have been on holiday with us for 3 weeks.. THEN it will be time for me to get NP shipshape again!!

There were tons of boats out on the river today, and I wondered if maybe there was some sort of festival on this weekend upstream.. one boat after another passing us, we are not used to that!

Just a quick blog from me this evening.. we are off out, tis our 16th wedding anniversary today and we are going to celebrate with a meal in the Lazy Otter!

St Ives, Tesco and what I hoped to see on the way up!

St Ives to Aldreth, Rivers Gt Ouse and Old West, 12 miles, 3 locks

Pulling the pins this morning, we cruised down to St Ives Quay to wait for a Tesco delivery….

A busy little place this, lots of mums out with their youngsters arming them with loaves of bread for the multitude of ducks waiting for their daily fix!   The town itself is just up a little alleyway from these moorings, the main EA moorings are upstream under the bridge in the pic and then to the left.  We are faced the wrong way because there was only a very tight space left this morning, with the wind blowing towards the quay.  Rather than flirt with that hireboat tart cart, I decided to swing round and come in the other way.

We left St Ives by 11am this morning heading for another of my favourite moorings at Aldreth some 12 miles away. I am enjoying this river very much, and today was again wonderful just drifting down stream on low revs.  On through two locks today and along the tidal part of this river before it reaches the manned Hermitage Lock.  It was here that my day was made… take a look at what I saw on a slipway!..

Right pair of posers too!  I had hoped last winter when this trip was planned that we would see some seals on this stretch of the river.. being tidal from this point it is possible to get right through to Denver on the New Bedford River without having to go through Hermitage Lock.. but we will bide our time and take the Old West River through Ely.

The moorings at Aldreth are so very quiet and remote… a couple of days here would suit me, but we need to be somewhere accessible soon.. the holidays are nearly over for the two visiting dogs.

Without Wyton, St Ives I wouldn't be here!

Godmanchester to St Ives, River Great Ouse, 4.5 miles 3 locks

Today was going to be a special day for me.. I had planned my walk for the afternoon.. You see my Dad phoned when we had just passed St Ives on the way upstream, he told me that he was stationed at RAF Wyton during the war, and that is where he met my Mum!.. So, on the way back I was hoping for a good day to be able to walk over there and have a look at where they first met.  I had no idea he was stationed there.. It’s amazing all these years and I never knew where he was stationed.  He might have mentioned it in passing I suppose.. if he did then it didn’t stick at the time.. It has now!

Anyway a truly delightful trip downstream this morning.. the weather was warm and I was feeling good.  On our way upstream EA were working hard on Godmanchester Lock putting in new landing stages… it was a hell of a mess when we went up, but hey look at it now.. lovely new landing stages.. and notice that the sides are low enough to accommodate a narrowboat!

Its a lovely name, Godmanchester… such a big name for a small town I thought.. Onward then to Huntingdon Bridge where we stopped for a pot of paint,  through Houghton Lock ….

Then Hemmingford Lock to the GOBA moorings just before St Ives.  Then I was off after checking the map for the best route to RAF Wyton.

I found it.. A grass runway with some little trainer aeroplanes buzzing around.. I walked for miles round the place.. It is all very secure, and I wondered if I was chancing it by pointing my camera at the place in these times of high security.. but there was a gap in the hedge, and I just managed to pull the plastic chain linked fence down a bit (sometimes I do wish I was a couple of inches taller!) and took a couple of photos.. here is one..

I stopped for a while here wondering if my Mum and Dad met in any of these buildings.. No doubt you will tell me Dad!!   But I have some more photos for him to see.  I’ll put them in an album for you Dad!

Anyway, not much about our travels today, but for me it has been rather a special day… I lingered long at RAF Wyton.

A windless trip to Godmanchester

Remote below Offord Lock to Godmanchester, River Great Ouse, 4 miles 1 lock

They are very brave, those with tupperware tart carts I mean, to go into a lock and let me come in afterwards.. I wondered if I had trusting eyes, or maybe they needed a bit of a touch up done on their boats.. an insurance job if I had bumped them.  But I took it steady and the ‘torpedo’ fitted in well with the tart carts.. everyone was very friendly too

Hey, you can see the roof well from this pic, looks good eh?  Vic did a wonderful job on it.. well I did help a bit and fetched tea at his lordships request

Not a puff of wind today which makes for good boating on NP.. just sit back and let her go with the flow as they say.  Actually there isn’t much flow at all on this river at the moment, in fact while I was fishing yesterday it was flowing back upstream!  I guess they  must have been taking some water off the river for the reservoir half a mile upstream from us.. but it was odd to see it flow the other way!

Godmanchester is a lovely town.  It has a Post Office, butcher, baker and general store, oh and a couple of pubs too.  It also has a smashing fish and chip shop.. I know that because I tested it out for our tea tonight.  Godmanchester, it says in my Imray book, is arguably the oldest town in Cambridgeshire, possible dating from the Neolithic settlement of farmers developing the light river soils and gravels.  There you go then!

I believe the bit about the gravels though.. loads of old and new pits, and again walking this afternoon came across yet another of these lovely Nature Reserves that are all over the place along this river.  It is a lovely town though, full of timber framed 17th century houses, a real delight to wander round.  We didn’t come here on the way up river, but we are very pleased we stopped on the way down.  The moorings are lovely too, off the main river in open parkland where we are the only boat here on the visitor moorings .. so no passing boats today!

Here is my backyard today….