Friday 16 July 2010

From Wicken Fen onto Ely, and then right turn down to Brandon, along Little River Ouse

We like Ely and so considered ourselves fortunate to find a mooring there, even though it was alongside the canada goose and duck roosting area. After a wet and windy night the duck muck was well and truly stuck to the side of the boat!

Today we have strayed into Suffolk, having moved off the River Great Ouse, quite deliberately, and onto the Little River Ouse to get down to Brandon. Our passage today was a great deal easier than yesterday, although the wind still tried to dictate progress. The conditions yesterday were so unpleasant that we stopped at lunchtime and gave in to the strong wind and driving rain. Within minutes of mooring up, several cruisers also wrestled with ropes and tied up for the day.

The reason why we have made a a point of going down to Brandon is that it is the most eastern point of the inland

waterway system of the UK. Had the lock at Brandon not been so short, we would gone on further.

The Little River Ouse was not so little, quiet wide infact, but had some odd craft moored along the way, and passed through some very remote rural fenland stretches. On reaching Brandon, there was a short EA jetty below the lock. Fortunately, the 2 narrow boats already there were just about to move away, and so we shortly had the mooring to ourselves. After a speedy visit to Brandon for supplies, we decided to start our return back down to the Little River Ouse, and this proved to be a sound decision as we encountered some other boats making their way down to Brandon and we knew there was insufficient space for all of them to moor there.

We battled for almost 2 hours against the head wind back to the GBOA mooring spot. We might have been the first there, but it was not long before the mooring space was full. So, a good day, with objective achieved, but we feel this is a once in a lifetime visit to Brandon, by water.