Tuesday 27 July 2010

From Cogenhoe River Nene to Stoke Bruerne, Grand Union Canal

We made very good progress yesterday, 23 locks! Another day with virtually no rain, and none as we left Northampton and rose the 16 locks to Gayton Junction. Rather shallow pounds, but with a couple of narrowboats on our tail, we were very motivated, and they would have welcomed the extra water we flushed down.

A very noisy night at Gayton, with constant traffic and trains racing by - how envious are we!

Blisworth Tunnel, 1.75 miles long was its usual wet experience. No need to water the boat flowers today, the tunnel did it more than adequately.

Drizzle at Stoke Bruerne, but lucky to find a mooring for the day. Despite some quite unusually persistent rain there were many people ambling around the locks and musem area. After a Boaters Baguette in The Boat, we watched surprisingly few boats on the move. The usual gongoozler faction was present, and as always, it is so alarming to see young children allowed to run and peer over the lock edge completely unrestrained. Ugh!

Sunday 25 July 2010

From Thrapston to Cogenhoe, River Nene

Tonight is our final mooring on the river Nene, having spent 7 weeks away from canals, we feel we have given fenland a good going over for a while, and it is time to get back to the system. Today, we have been sorely tried with weed, especially above Wellingborough. Our pictures show some of the conditions we had to make our way through - it's all very well cutting the weed but it needs to be raked out and onto the bank. Some small cruisers spent more than an hour trying to get their outboards cleaned off and make progress through the fibrous roots and pea green soup. The lock gates opened sufficiently wide for us to get through.

Our last evening is at Cogenhoe, where we have moored before. We are alongside a quiet site of summer cabins, that look so idyllicly situated beside the river.

Friday 25 July 2010

From Ferry Meadows Country Park, to Thrapston, River Nene

We had a leisurely departure from Ferry Meadows, after a walk to the nearby village of Cherry Orton. A day that threatened to rain from the start, and it sure did just as soon as we moved off our lunch stop, under Wansford Station where we had been the afternoon before.

It was shower after shower through the afternoon, until we reached one of our favourite moorings on the Nene, at Fotheringhay. Since our last visit, a windsock has appeared in the farmers field. He says he hasn't acquired a helicopter, but why else would one fly a windsock, we wondered.

Today, we made a determined effort to get away earlier and were moving before 9am, as there were 9 locks and about 15 miles to do to get to Thrapston. Some of those locks were manual, requiring many turns of the wheel to lower and raise the guillotine gates. So that, plus an hours walk around Thrapston, will mean a good nights sleep ahead.

Wednesday 21 July 2010

From Denver Sluice, River Great Ouse, to Ferry Meadows, River Nene

Since our 'day off' on Sunday spent at Denver Sluice, we have made up for lost time and put our skates on. We had a long wait on Monday for the right moment of the tide, to leave Denver and go along the short tidal stretch to Salters Lode, which required a 45 degree left turn across the outgoing tide into the lock to return us to the middle level. All went well, and we moored with some Norwegians aboard a hire boat, at Outwell. These people were on their first trip, and so had our days adventure, ahead, in reverse. Totally charming people, whose English was faultless and who had no idea of what was ahead!

Early on Tuesday morning, we left Outwell and Upwell, where the villages are sliced down the middle by the river, and out onto the middle level, some stretches of which are just long straight, narrow lengths of water, where you see no one, no boats, no walkers, just acres of flat, cultivated land, often with wind turbines.

Our aim was to moor for the evening at Whittlesey, where we knew there was a jetty, which left a short journey tomorrow, on to Stanground Sluice before Peterborough. All was well, a space was there and we felt a sigh of relief, but it was not too long before narrowboat 'Benji' appeared, also seeking a mooring and we invited them to tie alongside. Soon the wine and beer was flowing, and we were sharing an Indian takeaway and swapping boating tales, with our new neighbours, Julian and Lynne.

So, today, as per our prebooked passage up Stanground Lock from the Middle level, we made our way back onto the River Nene and down into Peterborough. (The lady lock keeper at Stanground Sluice told us that she was the third generation of lock keeper, and had been born at that lock house.)

After using the waterside Asda with access gates exclusively for boaters, we made our way down the Nene to Ferry Meadows Country Park, that has a few boat moorings inside its grounds. The Nene Valley Railway has a station at Ferry Meadows and so we took the train (diesel unfortunately), to Wansford where there was a huge array of engines, and mail coaches, and lots of good intentions for the volunteers to work on, including Thomas having a facelift. A good trip, following the Nene in places, and we will be going under some of the rail route tomorrow.

Saturday 17 July 2010

Brandon Creek, Little River Ouse to West bank, Denver Sluice, River Great Ouse

A wise decision today to set off quite early, in reasonable decent conditions, because the weather certainly deteriorated this afternoon.

We were keen to secure a mooring near Denver sluice as we are meeting some VIP's for lunch tomorrow at Jenyns Inn. A fast run (5mph!) back along the River Great Ouse, and mooring just where we had planned. A short walk to the Denver sluice lock and we saw the queue of boats patiently waiting for the time the outgoing tide would allow them to travel the short tidal stretch down to Salters Lode. The wind is still blowing so we are glad we are not doing this bit today. As the levels dropped, an island of sludge started to reveal itself, which eventually became a huge slab of mud, mid stream. We watched a few craft make their sharp right hand turn out of Salters Lode and down toward us at Denver, and a few others going down stream until the skies went black and it poured down, so a mad dash back to the boat.

Look forward to a good day tomorrow, but the engine will be having a day off!

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.

Wednesday 13 July 2010

From Waterbeach to Wicken Fen

After a quick shopping trip into Waterbeach we set off back towards the Five miles from Anywhere Pub and turned right towards Reach Lode Lock. We assumed the lock would be about the same length as the locks that we have been used to on the Ouse and Cam. However on entering the lock we soon hit the top guillotine gate as the lock was only a couple of feet longer than the boat!

Once through the lock into Reach Lode we soon turned right under a "Cock-up" bridge (no idea!!) into the very very narrow Wicken Lode. For over a mile we squeezed between the reeds hoping that no-one would come the other way.

We were lucky and there was enough space for us at the GOBA mooring at the end. Wicken Fen is one of the oldest National Trust sites and to save £11 entry fee we spent £79 for a years subscription. A wonderful area of original fenland scenery complete with an original timber wind-pump.