The wind drops as we leave Houghton and Hemingford Abbots

Houghton to Aldreth, River Great Ouse, 12 miles 4 locks

At last, a very pleasant cruise downstream with very little wind and lots on offer..

We pulled the pins late morning after Vic popped into the village for a fresh loaf and some brown sauce.. well we ran out of brown sauce, and I am sure without it we would get withdrawal symptoms!  .  Today on the river, lots of hellos and waves.. the weather has changed and so have the boaters.. all happy smiles as we have just our fingertips on the tillers with no wind to have to fight for the first time this August..

Other boaters were out on the Ouse today as well.. this chap not quite sure how to steer away from a 15 ton narrowboat baring down on him.. he was not too steady on this either, and he had a lot of passengers.. but he got it about right, and as I trickled past he managed to get it into the side albeit a bit wobbly!

Just downstream from our mooring of last night is Hemingford Abbots, there is in fact a side stream that leaves the Great Ouse and goes around this meadow.  There are boats moored along it, and a couple of residential boats too.. I was talking to one of the residents who told me that the council want shot of them although they pay council tax and seem to be quite legal.. Nice spot though.. .

This is always a lovely sight, coming round the corner and seeing the guillotine open like this.. straight in.. errrrrr but no.. suddenly the gate was being lowered just as I poked No Problem in closer..a quick slam in reverse followed by a blast on the horn, and the gate stopped coming down.. up it went.. “Sorry I did not see you coming”.. Ho hum… “Ah OK then” says I wryly.. I mean, 67ft of narrowboat swinging into a lock entrance not seen?.. Teehee.. OK then.. And now dropping down..

 

Then onward through St Ives which today, was full of boats, hardly a mooring space to be had.. but we had not intended to stop. we decided to have a longish day today to get all the washing done and out of the way.  We called into Earith to use the services and to top up with diesel, today 90p, it will be more than that in Ely for sure.. 

I nearly missed this pup….

It was Vic who spied him lounging on the bank after we had gone past.. at last I have seen a seal this year, I thought I was going to go past this area again without a sighting.  I was well pleased.. made my day just perfect today..

Moored this evening on the most quietest of moorings just short of Aldreth.. the cows have been to visit, and one stuck it’s head right in one of the windows that had no glass in this evening.. (we can actually take the whole pane of glass our of our windows when it is hot). It gave Vic the fright of his life! I was out walking with Lucy and Meg this evening.. As I left for my walk, I saw the cows approaching No Problem and wondered….

Perfect weekend around St Neots

Today Brampton to Houghton, River Great Ouse, 4.5 miles 2 locks
Weekend Brampton to St Neots and return, 16 miles 6 locks

Mooring at Brampton around lunchtime on Friday meant that we secured a spot on the GOBA moorings.  Here we used up the full 48 hours allowed with Wendie, Danny and Niamh along with their two labs Tilly and Buddy joining us for the weekend.  Once aboard and a quick cuppa, we were away late morning on Sunday not really knowing where we would be mooring that evening.

Well nothing can be planned really at Bank holidays, it just depended where I could find a mooring for the long 67ft that make up No Problem..  I was hoping beyond all hope that our very favourite mooring at Paxton would be empty, so made for that and I was absolutely delighted to see it was.

Soon the fire was lit on the bank, but not before a spot of fishing by Niamh and her Daddy…

BBQ time next…

Followed by a lovely evening out on the bank…

I don’t think Vic is asleep.. for sure he didn’t fall off that chair! .  We had a fantastic evening coming in well after midnight after watching the moon rise over the far bank at gone eleven. 

Up early on Monday.. well with two excited granddaughters what should have I expected.. but with breakfast done and dusted we pulled the pins to go to St Neots.  I ambled over to Waitrose to pick up a couple of bits, while Wendie took the girls for a quick trip around the town.  The boys stayed aboard and filled No Problem with water.. 

Very quick decisions on our return though, the river was just about to shut as there was one of those plastic duck races taking place in the afternoon.  Would we continue to Great Barford for Danny to catch a taxi or bus back to Brampton or turn back?  Quick, quick the firemen are about to put their hoses across the river.. pins were pulled very quickly and we turned tail just in the nick of time!

So back we went then, and found a fantastic mooring on the righthand side of the river as we went downstream.. a meadow where the dogs could just run free.  There was no footpath along the edge, so we had it all to ourselves.. It wasn’t long ‘till those two were at it again!!

No fish on this trip though, but I got to give it to them, they tried very hard!!

Taking the four dogs out for an evening walk with Wendie, we found loads and loads of field mushrooms all in a large semi circle.  I have not see so many field mushrooms in one place for years and years.  Not only large ones but button mushrooms as well.. so we collected a few, no need to be greedy.. gosh they were delicious, nothing like the ones you get in the supermarket.

Tuesday saw us back to Brampton, and we all went over and had a meal in the pub.  Once again, very good food on offer.. a few tears then yesterday as they bundled everything into car including Tilly and Buddy and the grandchildren.  I hate it when they all go.. but on the walk back from the road and across Brampton Meadow, I recognised the top of the narrowboat moored infront of No Problem.. Hey, Hey, Balmaha!

So Mo and Ness stopped the immediate effort to make No Problem ship shape and we joined them both for a cuppa before we started…. With bedding put away and piles of washing ready to do this week we finally brushed through the boat, had tea, and then joined our neighbours in the evening.  Smashing night as well, as always.. thanks you two!

Away early this morning they were.. we will no doubt bump into them before the summer is really over.  I had a load of paperwork to do this morning, catching up now that the family had left.. so pins for us were pulled today after lunch, and we made our way in the warm sunshine to Houghton.. Here a lovely pic of Brampton Mill taken as I turned No Problem to face Ely..

To the chappie who shouted across from his narrowboat if I was going to update my blog tonight.. there you go.. dunnit!!

Fish, Chips and Gravy at Brampton Mill..

Houghton to Brampton, River Great Ouse, 4.5 miles, 2 locks

What a combination, fish and chips and gravy.. but the most favourite of meals for Kiera, my eldest granddaughter who is visiting No Problem this week.. but more of that later..

We pulled the pins as early as possible this morning knowing that moorings this weekend were going to fill quickly in anticipation of better weather for the bank holiday.. perhaps for some, the last opportunity to take the boat out for this year..

Just the two locks today, and Godmanchester Lock proved very hard for Kiera.. she is behind this gate somewhere pushing and pushing to try and close it!..

She got there though, and it was then I knew I had to reward her with a slap up meal this evening as long as we could get on the GOBA moorings at Brampton Mill.. We need not have worried, just the one boat moored there when we arrived, so we picked the prime position away from the nettles and weeds, and here we will spend the next 48 hours..

This afternoon the girls Lucy and Meg had a good walk across the golf course and through the woodlands to Brampton Village.. Kiera came with me, and we were surprised at the number of shops in the village.. bakers, butchers, post office, hairdressers, fish and chip shop, chinky take away, chemist, animal food store co-op.. the list goes on.. magic place and only a leisurely 30 minutes away too..

This evening then it was out for a meal at Brampton Mill.. and here is the proof.. Gravy in the little pan!

And not too long after that….

An empty plate and gradma’s glasses.. a special wave and a smile to please anyone.. what a gal this is!!

She deserved it..

We came under a railway bridge today..

This bridge was painted pink with other bits painted light blue.. it really does look odd in the countryside, but why oh why has that pipe got a ‘u’ bend in it right in the middle of the river!?

The eagerly awaited British Waterways Stoppage Programme for the winter of 2008 and 2009 has been published, and I downloaded it today link here (3.4MB file).. just had a good look at it, and am disappointed that the Shropshire Union and Staffs & Worc canals have stoppages this side of Christmas.. this is where we were wanting to winter this year as the towpaths are much dryer than any other canal.. we will have to replan what to do I think, I really don’t want to be moored up for days on end between locks and the like waiting for maintenance to finsh..

Lady Lock Keepers on the Ouse.. we have our own!

Aldreth Flat Bridge to Houghton, River Great Ouse, 12.25 miles 5 locks

A very busy day today, although when we pulled the pins we still had the back canopy up because of the wind and the sky was a very dark grey colour, later it came down as the sun shone at last this month… Time to make some bread too before reaching Hermatige Lock, the only one on the river apart from Denver Sluice that has a lock keeper..

A Towpath Talk was thrown on our roof as we left the lock from the keeper.. this is a very good freebe mag that is distributed throughout the waterways.. then onward to the services at Earith not only to fill with water, but also to go check if we could see the seals.  We had reports that there were seals in the marina.. Kiera came with me to search, but no luck today..

Kiera sets free No Problem from her mooring..

And onward along the tidal stretch to Brownsville Lock.  Mo and Ness of NB Balmaha were not far ahead, and text me to say there had been a sighting of seals playing in the river within the last hour, but we were into Brownshill Lock without spotting them.. maybe next time.

Found at the moorings at the Pike and Eel, it was great to stop for a while alongside our good friend’s boat Balmaha, and we caught up with all the news over the last year.. gosh it has been that long I think since we had met them..

Note the party hat expertly worn by Mo.. .  We will catch up with them again somewhere on the river before we all return for the winter months to the canal system, so it was a brief stop today.. party time next time you two!!

Next lock was St Ives..

These locks do take quite some time to work through, and there is always plenty of time to chat to other crews.  The guys in the narrowboat ahead were enjoying their first time on this river and was over the moon that the locks have lock keepers.. “No, only one has a lock keeper.. Hermitage” says Vic.. “No, the last lock has a lock keeper, a lady lock keeper”… Ho Hum! … Vic held a straight face.. “No, I assure you, there is no lady lock keeper at the last lock!” “Oh well”, says he, “That was nice of her to do the lock for us then”…

Now this young lady was being a personal lock keeper for us today.  Here she is with the finger on the button working the guillotine..

And using back and leg muscles on the other end…

Yep, this is one lady lock keeper who earned her keep today!

We pulled alongside friends Kevin and Debbie who were moored at St Ives on the GOBA moorings, and had a cuppa with them bidding them a fond farewell as they are turning back for March on the Middle Levels tomorrow.. end of hols for them on their arrival home.  We will join up with them again when we pass their marina on the way back towards the Nene.. Bye for now you two..

Pins have gone in close to Houghton Lock tonight.. then the heavens opened…  

It's the best part of the river around Stretham

Hundred Acres Mooring to Aldreth Flat Bridge, Old West River, 9 miles 0 locks

Oh my internet connection tonight has been awful, I think I might now be able to post this blog albeit late.  I have, at last, managed to upload the pics for today.. This one this morning as Kevin and Debbie pulled their pins heading for St Ives..

We pulled No Problem’s pins about an hour later and battled once again with wind and rain to find a very remote location for lunch..

Before continuing along this delightfully rural stretch past the GOBA moorings at Aldreth to a mooring I spied the last time I past here. 

It is sheltered for sure, with bushes on the other side of the river sheltering the wind.. so out came the bbq much to Kiera’s delight.  And the rain held off while I cooked us a tasty meal!

I like mooring in remote places like this, it means I can let Lucy and Meg go free without worrying about upsetting anyone.. here they are enjoying the attention of Kiera.. oh and a frisby too!..

Just a very quicky tonight.. tis a bit late now, and I want to try post this blog so you can all see today’s pics..

Only 24 hours in Ely, then Mr Tesco upsets me in the rain

Ely to Hundred Acres Mooring, Old West River, 3.75 miles 0 locks

We popped through Ely to the water point at the far end, obviously recognised by many people who shouted across with a wave.. Here granddaughter Kiera is helping out making sure not only our water tank got filled but also that the flowers got a drop too..

The flowers have suffered a lot this summer, it has just been so windy, the poor blooms have kept falling off and almost leaving one pot, the bizzy lizzies, bald!

Here I snap Vic giving Kiera the run down of the services on offer at Ely.. I wonder if he is trying to get out of having to pump out No Problem next week but explaining to Kiera how it is done!?

Leaving Ely now in the other direction after taking an age to turn due to the wind.. I was lucky to be honest, there was not much room left to turn before I would be pinned to the side of the river.. just enough room to get the front around today..

So a slow run against the wind and rain to Popes Corner to pick up a Tesco order to take us through the week with a hungry 10 year old!

But Mr Tesco was late, by three quarters of an hour.. and so the lady was in a hurry, the rain was absolutely tipping down, and although I told her to stop bringing stuff to the boat she just continued to do so.. I did get cross and shouted in the end, but it made no odds, and we could not get the stuff on the boat fast enough before it became sopping wet.

I gave her a lot of stuff back, it was so wet, in fact, when I gave her a bag of flour it just broke and flour went everywhere… grrrrrrrrr

It was after that I decided not to reverse from just inside the Old West River to get back out onto the Ouse where we could turn for the River Cam, our intended route this week.  The wind was just so high, and I doubted I would be able to get away from the side, let alone backwards!

Off down the Old West River then heading for Hermitage and south to St Ives maybe.. The Old West River runs between Popes Corner and Earith.. it is really the Great Ouse.. but that is what they call it.

Kiera has settled in well, and her friends from home, Annabell, Tinkerbell, Roxy and Slivers have a window seat on No Problem..

Friends Kevin and Debbie have pulled in behind us tonight.. so I am looking forward to a chat over a glass of something, and it won’t be milk!

Back in Ely after a long weekend down south

Today Little Thetford to Ely, River Great Ouse, about 3 miles 0 locks
Long weekend moored Little Thetford

We moored just off the official 48 hour moorings at Little Thetford as we were going to be more than the allowed time of 48 hours visiting my Dad and Vic’s Mum down on the south coast, making a long weekend of it by leaving on Friday.

Back this morning bringing with us young Kiera, my eldest granddaughter, who is coming to stay for a week.  We were back to No Problem just before 3pm, and decided to pull the pins and go down to Ely to fill with water, as I have planned to maybe go down towards Cambridge.  There is no water that way you see, well there is right down the bottom of the River Cam on the visitor moorings where the navigation ends, but I don’t want to go right down there, it is possible there will be no room..

We walked Lucy and Meg over the golf course this evening, and Kiera enjoyed watching and helping superstar Lucy find all the golf balls in the hedges.. 17 they had in a half hour of looking..

Fish and Chip supper tonight before watching the Olympic highlights.. then a DVD for Kiera in her cabin before she crashed for the night.. I must admit I am shattered too.. won’t be too long ‘till I do much the same!

Sun again as we cruise to Popes Corner

Stretham to Nr Popes Corner, River Great Ouse, 2 miles or so

My eyes opened this morning to some sunshine.. hooray, and it wasn’t long ‘till I took the girls out along the river bank.  Even the wind was beginning to calm down.  Just along from where we were moored is the Stretham Old Engine, which, along with all the tools and fenland relics, is housed in the pump house…

The engine was built in 1831 to left water from the fenlands to the Old West River, that is the part of river we are on at the moment.

I noticed that they have improved the moorings here since we last came, and there are spaces to moor and go visit this place which is open at the weekends during the summer.  They have special days too when they actually run the engine.

After getting back from the walk and not far from No Problem I was approached by two people asking if I was from No Problem.. Ha Ken and Karen from Cambridge had noticed Lucy and Meg and put the three of us together!

It was a pleasure to meet you both, and you sure are stars.. reading my blog every day for the last two years is quite some feat!  Thankyou for your fabulous support.. Here you are then as promised!..

Hopefully meet you again when we are in the area next year..

You can see our lawn was cut this morning outside the boat… this is a very nice mooring at the Lazy Otter, but it was onward for us just after lunch to pick up a very small top up for the weekend order from Mr Tesco from Popes Corner.  We can just about get on the 4ft pontoon with a bit of careful mooring.. sadly the boatyard here is not selling diesel any longer and the pub, the Fish and Duck is gradually falling down through neglect since it closed..

Having collected that we settled not far away for the weekend hoping the weather will be a little better.. oh here is a line of geese… all 35 of them…

It's raining but it doesn't take away the beauty of the Great Ouse

Aldreth to Stretham, River Great Ouse, 5 miles 0 locks

The cruise between Aldreth and Stretham is perhaps one of the remotest on the Great Ouse.  Hardly any human habitation can be seen from the river as it winds round and round the seemingly flat countryside.

So. in the end this morning we decided to pull the pins and head off only for the rain and wind to intensify, and a lot of concentration was needed to keep No Problem to the outside of the bends making sure the wind didn’t blow us into the side.  There would have been no way that we would have been able to get away if we stuck on the bank I’ll tell you!

But even though concentration was needed, there were many times today where I was distracted from the job in hand to marvel at the diverse variety of wildlife on this particular stretch.. today seeing oyster catchers, golden eye ducks, geese and swans, and even a lovely pair of egrets..

Luckily enough I managed to capture one of them for my albums..   What beautiful birds they are too, I will never tire of this particular part of the river, and am almost tempted to turn around and do it again tomorrow!!

I saw a couple of unofficial mooring places too which I have marked out for a possible mooring next year.. ha, I have no doubt we shall return!!

Put the pins in at the Lazy Otter around lunch time and sat down to some soup I made earlier and some more of the superb home made bread made this morning as we cruised along, then sat down to watch an afternoon of Olympics.  I was annoyed the mens hockey team lost their match, they were very much the better team….

But I think the quote of the day came from our silver medalist in the ladies cycling road time trial, Emma Pooley, who, when asked by the reporter if she had phoned her family, said “Yes I spoke to Dad, but then my credit ran out on my phone”…. Gosh!!  And to think that Michael Phelps is gonna earn a million dollars from Speedo at these games!!

Sitting tight during the inclement weather at Aldreth

Moored Aldreth, River Great Ouse

Blimey it sure did rain last night, but by this morning it had stopped with the wind dropping a little.  I got some bits and bobs sorted on No Problem early then set off with the K9 girls, Meg and Lucy, across the fens, hoping that the wind would stay away for a while.

No chance, and I had only gone for about half hour when it started blowing a gale in my face as I walked.  I hate the wind.. well not totally hate, but hate it when it blows so hard… It was OK though towards the end of my 7.5 mile walk, it was behind me, then I got hot!!

The dogs had me for the morning, then it was feet up time to watch the Olympics in the afternoon.  I love that red button on my channel changer giving me a choice of which events I want to watch.. I like that, and chose the showjumping phase of the three day event.  Well, as a family, we have had showjumping competition ponies throughout our life, so it is of tremendous interest to me.. and hey two bronze medals.. great stuff!

Here is our mooring today, I took this pic this evening, you can see that there is still a lot of water about from the downpours of last night…. look at that black sky though! 

Dave Wood left a comment on yesterdays blog which reminded me, I forgot to say yesterday that No Problem got slightly hung up on the chains in St Ives lock.. not nearly as bad as the incident at Yarwell in 2005, but bad enough to wonder once again why these chains are in the lock.

I did speak to new boy Malcolm (started work with EA a couple of weeks previously) at Godmanchester lock the other day asking him why they were there.. seemingly to grab on to by boat crews.  I had quite a long discussion with him about them, and told him of the dangers of narrowboats in particular getting caught up on the bolts that secure them.  They do stick out a long way, and the little lip on the bottom of narrowboats can get caught.

I asked if a survey could be undertaken to find out how many people actually used the chains.. and if EA did that and found out that the percentage was very low, would they consider removing them.  Malcolm made lots of notes to pass on to EA, so I await a reply to that.

Oh yes, and do you remember this….

I said I would let you know how this loaf tasted.. well it was the first one that I had made in my new breadmaker.. one that only took an hour to make.  My last breadmaker took 2 hours on turbo to make a loaf.. this one is great. 

I had a lot of people ask what this loaf was like, well it was smashing.. lasted three days, and tasted really good.  I have made another since and once again it was perfect even after I had put the ingredients in the tin in the wrong order!

Eric Wilson from California (will reply to your email tomorrow Eric) is not having a lot of luck with his breadmaker.. but there are a few secrets to making these turbo loaves.. the recipes must contain at least 65% white bread flour, it is no good trying a brown loaf as there is no time for wholemeal bread to rise.. Here is the recipe for a large loaf..

350ml of lukewarm milk (cold liquids will make a shorter loaf, hot liquid will kill the yeast)
1 egg (beat it a bit)
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
600g white bread flour
2 tablespoons dried milk powder (skimmed)
1 teaspoon salt
4 teaspoons sugar
5 teaspoons easy blend dried yeast

Notice the amount of salt is reduced as it retards the yeast activity, and the yeast content is increased to ensure a rapid rise..

Put the ingredients in the tin in the right order, keeping the salt well away from the yeast.. try this out if you have a turbo button on your breadmaker you will be well pleased!

Probably gonna stay here tomorrow, although not seen the last forecast yet.. This morning the weatherman said very windy for tomorrow, we shall see..

Trickling along the Great Ouse during the Olympics

Houghton to Aldreth, River Great Ouse, 14 miles 4 locks

We don’t normally move at the weekends, but we decided to just that for once, and trickled back down the river in short hops so we can watch as much of the Olympics as possible.  We stopped at St Ives for one night, and popped into the town to replenish milk and vegetables before leaving the following morning.  We had just pulled the pins when we were overtaken by a canoe!!…

Some canoe!!  See how Meg enjoys nosing out the side.. this can be a real pain sometimes as she gets in the way when I want to hop off to moor!

Continuing on through St Ives lock I met blog reader Dave, who keeps his boat in the nearby Marina... hey nice to have met you Dave!

I wanted to stop at Holywell, and booked a meal at the Old Ferryboat Inn pub,  Their menu is available on the internet and their prices seemed very good.  Plus they were giving 10% off for GOBA members.  I say ‘were’ because we could not get into the GOBA moorings close by, they were too shallow.. very annoying to say the least.

Going on from there, it was mid afternoon on Sunday then when we approached the ‘upstream’ Pike and Eel GOBA moorings.. absolutely no chance, all full.  If we had been there an hour later most of the boats would have gone back to the marinas.. ho hum, so we had to stick No Problem into the GOBA moorings that are on the ‘downstream’ side of the Pike and Eel.  Now that was an art and a half I’ll tell you.. It is virtually impossible to moor on these totally inadequate moorings.  This is a flood plain and the cows have decimated the bank side, and with a little bit of luck our long plank just about reached a dry bit of shore… A couple of boats came in to try and moor, but gave up..

But interestingly, along the floodbank, the Ouse Valley walk actually crosses the Meridian line at this point, and there is a stone to mark the place..

The pic is not that clear, but it says “Greenwich Meridian Line” on there somewhere!

Moving on today, I was interested in what the Environment Agency were doing near Brownshill Lock…. “What do you think we are doing”.. he was teasing me!.. “Err fish survey”.. well I had seen something similar going on near Godmanchester last week, so thought that would be a good guess.. “Close!.. look at this”.. and he showed me what he had in his bucket thingy…

Now that was a big crab!.. It is a Chinese Mitten Crab which the EA are trying to track and control.  “We are looking to see if these have got to St Ives yet”

They have travelled from the sea up the river from the wash.  They live in the rivers, burrowing into the sides of them, and that is why the EA want rid.  To breed they go back out to sea, and after breeding the males die and once the eggs have hatched the juveniles travel back up the rivers.  They can even travel across land to infest other rivers.. I certainly wouldn’t put my toes in the water around here!!

We stopped at the Environment Agency services at Earith, sighting a black swan there too….

The dogs are not too sure about this one!… But I spied a head in the water as we left.. albeit briefly.. for sure it was one of the seals that are in this area, but he was gone even before I could get the camera in my hand

Put the pins in at Aldreth this evening and met Heather and her three dogs.  Heather was very interested in our way of life, and she was delighted at a walk through.. After walking the girls I put up the back canopy, sides and all.. I think it is going to be very wet tonight and again tomorrow..

No Problem mooring in the rushes to visit Houghton

Today Brampton Mill to Houghton Mill, River Great Ouse, 4.5 miles 2 locks
Yesterday – Moored Brampton Mill

We were going to move on to Godmanchester yesterday, but there were a few boats about and I wondered if we would get on the visitor moorings down the little arm that leads to the town.. so I suggested we stayed put, and I walked over there in the morning with Lucy and Meg to get some milk.  The walk was across the huge meadow, in fact it is the biggest meadow in England.. ha it was quicker to walk across than it was to cruise from Brampton to Godmanchester!

Sure enough I was right, the visitor moorings were occupied.. NB Coleen and NB Kanbedun were there too, people that we have met over the last few months and I stopped to chat to both boat crews..

Time enough to return to No Problem, dump the milk, collect Vic and jump on a bus to Huntingdon for a browse round and lunch..

Pulled pins today late morning and cruised on to Houghton.. These guys had the right idea, the anchor was out and they were enjoying themselves fishing in the middle of the river..

Caught up again with Coleen, sharing Houghton Lock with them…

Before putting the pins in just a smidge after this lock on the right hand side in among the rushes.  There are no perfect moorings here, although on the other side of the river EA have some 48 hour moorings, but they are on an island, and you cannot visit Houghton.. I wanted to!.. And I did…

Beautiful thatched housing on the little lane from the Mill to the centre of the village, and the square in the middle also contained the bus stop and village information…

Note the red phone box, and the Post Office, come village store, just the other side of the clock tower.. just to the right was the most amazing building…

And to my right from where I was taking this pic is the pub.  Houghton is, and has everything that an English village should have, I am so pleased I managed to visit this place.. never managed it in 2005 or 2006..

But sitting in the rushes might not be everybody’s cup of tea… to me it was, No Problem was sort of hidden from view on the bank above, and with the glass out of the windows, I got a couple of nice pics… Here one of a damselfly…

And this lovely one of Meg looking to be mischievous on the river bank thinking I am not watching her!…

So being low in the rushes ain’t a bad thing at all!! .  The sky in that pic is actually very black, not blue, but it passed over and not a drop of rain fell!

Pauline and Gerry from Lowestoft, if you are reading this, Brian who also has a narrowboat and who also lives in Lowestoft would like to make contact with you both, his email address is ditchcrawler(at)googlemail.com.  Replace the (at) with an @

Tomorrow I shall hibernate, and try to do so for the next two weeks.. I need to plan when to pull the pins!  Well the games only happen every 4 years don’t they!!

An Anniversary meal at Brampton Mill

Mailers Meadow to Brampton Mill, River Great Ouse, Less than 1 mile. 1 lock

Lucy and Meg, the K9 girls, had a long walk this morning in the rain.  I went back to the lakes that I saw last night, and sure enough a lone black swan was there along with three egrets.  I did take some pics, but the light was not good this morning, and anyway, they were too far away..

Then I wandered further and had a look at the huge complex at Buckden Marina with its wooden lodges built on stilts overlooking both the Great Ouse and the huge lakes.. one of the lakes even has a ski water jump ramp.. but not much going on today, August it might be, but the weather is more like October!

So pins pulled after lunch today, well, we had hoped the rain would ease, but no luck so off we went to do the epic journey of just under a mile!

I went slow enough to make sure the whole trip took an hour.. we had a lock to go through too.  I had a reason for that hour.. I have bought a new breadmaker which, on it’s turbo program, will bake a loaf of bread in just one hour!..

This is the only lock of the day, and you can see the extra bit that has been built into this lock, like many on the Gt Ouse they have been extended sideways…

To the right is the cut out bit, and on my left is Moore2Life, so you can fit in 2 narrowboats and a couple of cruiser boats all at the same time.

My hour was just about up as we put the pins in just the other side of Buckden Mill.. and I was delighted with the outcome…

Now that looks delicious.. not tried it yet as we went out for dinner this evening at the Buckden Mill Pub to celebrate 19 years of marriage. 

I really do recommend this place.  One of the best steak meals I have had in ages, and if you order the meal before 6.30 you get it as a very much reduced rate.. it went down well with a couple of pints of Abbots Ale too!

We've pounded Paxton and now moving north

Paxton to Brampton, River Great Ouse, About 3 miles 1 lock

Well most of the walks around Paxton Nature Reserve were travelled since we moored there last Thursday and the few days we were here on our way south.. Something in the region of 45–50 miles in total.  At least it is keeping my weight down, and the fitness up.. Yep still 9 stone 6/7lbs since I ended my diet last April after having achieved my New Year’s Resolution of loosing 2 stone by 31^st July, so I am really pleased, and now I can eat ‘normal’ food.. well within reason.. ish!

First and only lock of the day then was Offord…

Nice too that it was already open for us just to ‘sail’ in.  On the River Gt Ouse you leave the locks as they are when you have finished using them, but making sure you shut all the slackers (paddles on the canal system).  On the River Nene the guillotine gate has to be left open, so we could leave this lock with the bottom gates left open..

But they do take an age to work through, the guillotines are very very slow.. Here Vic is getting a very numb finger pressing on the down button..

Even the girls are getting bored!!  I got the backend on the cill at this lock in 2006 trying to squeeze in behind a cruiser.. the white line for the cill is not in the right place, the cill is about 18inches further into the lock than marked.  It didn’t do any harm, and the lock empties so slowly it didn’t take long to drop the front slacker and lift the guillotine to free ourselves.. Was in on my own this time and make sure I was well close to the front gates!

I had a wander around the internet on Saturday morning, well it was raining for most of the day, and I came across a rather good deal for mobile internet connection.  It uses network provider 3 Mobile with a very fast internet connection that, at times and with good reception, can reach speeds as fast as normal broadband.  I have T-Mobile on much the same type of system, and have had speeds of 2.1Mb/s.

Anyway, this deal is for unlimited (capped at 5GB) for £7.50 a month with a free dongle.  To get this deal you need to go to this clicky at quidco and scroll down the right hand side where the special offers are, and click on 3 Mobile BB 5MB promotion.  You can only get this promotion by clicking through quidco.  (Unfortunately offer has now finished) If you have not already joined quidco do so, I have had so much money back by clicking through their site to buy stuff.. and they are offering £12.50 cash back on this deal too! I will let you browse to find out more about their cash back stuff..

There have been good reports on the 3 Mobile Network coverage, it seems they are really making an impact in the UK now with more and more of the country now covered by their network..

We are moored on the GOBA moorings at Mailers Meadow this evening.  A lovely quiet mooring this and there are some lakes close by which I have enjoyed walking round this evening.. In fact I think I saw a black swan over there, but it was a bit on the dark side, I’ll take another look in the morning.. although it looks like swans are pretty well respected around here….

These young cows line up to watch a couple going by.. they just need some flags to wave now!!

Oh PS by the way, I have updated the July picture album..

Edit – Would you believe it, the offer from Quidco has been taken off their site.  It was there when I wrote this blog last night, with the offer continuing until August 31^st, but now Lesley of NB Claxton correctly points out… “ Sue, I believe the 3-Mobile deal ended on 31st July.”  Seems that way now Lesley – Thanks for letting me know.