Monday 19 March 2012 Holywell

Last night was a tad chilly, it was frosty when we took the dog out and latter dropped to-2.5°C so the boat was also a bit chilly over night 14°C as we didn’t turn the stove up. This morning we woke to bright sunshine and the temperature soon picked up. We walked the dog at 9-30 and I noticed a plane flying in a large circle around Ely at probably 10,000 ft. At first I thought it was just turning back or in a holding pattern but it continued this circle all day, the last time I noticed it was 3-30 this after noon, the circle was so large that it took 12 minuets to complete, that means he did at least 60 circuits.

We left our mooring 10 am and it was not long before we passed this old upturned hull that someone is replating, I think it was like that when we passed here 4 years ago.

By The Tame Otter bridge there is a notice that gives the opening times of Hermitage Lock. It advises to ring for use this time of the year, so it was reverse back through the bridge to note the telephone number. There is talk that the dry dock here will soon be back in business, if its true then it will be a great asset to the area.

Last week it may have been the Grebes that were taking centre stage but yesterday and today it the Oystercatchers that have it. They know its spring and they are telling every one else.

By now the clouds were starting to gather and the wind had freshened a bit, but no sign of the badly needed rain.

We spotter a few birds along this stretch including a Buzzard, Woodpecker, Kingfisher, White Egret and of course loads of Coots and Ducks. 

We arrived at Hermitage Lock at about ten past one, when does the lock keeper go to lunch, one till two, so there was nothing to do but sit and wait and read all the notices. One of them told us that the work at St Ives lock is over running a bit and will stay closed until into April, so that will shorten the trip a bit, it should have been completed in February.
Dead on two the lock gates opened and the red light was exchanged for a green one, so we were on our way again.

This lock lift you up onto the one and a half mile tidal section of the Ouse where the New Bedford River joins this section, connecting it to below Denver Sluice.

A short way further along is large sluice, this drops excess water into the Old Bedford River.

We pulled over to fill with water at Earith, there was a chap and his wife there polishing their boat in almost the same colours as our. We got talking and I mentioned the plane that was still doing large circles overhead. With the aid of a decent pair of binoculars he was able to identify it as an AWAC. Once full of water we were on our way upstream to leave the tidal section at Brownshill Stanch. The lock is on the left hand end and the lifting sluices give a very tricky current in the lock mouth. When we arrived we spotted the chap on the scaffolding against the top gate, our first thought was the lock was out of use, but it turned out he was only fitting navigation indicators to show when the lock was not in use. We just had to wait until he came down the scaffold and then he operated the lock to get us through.
We had planned to moor at the Fish and Ell GOBA moorings but as there were cattle running free the ground wasn’t in the best of condition we decided to push on a bit, the next two GOBA moorings the banks were a bit rough, OK for us but Magic can’t jump now so we have to have somewhere where its easy for him just to step off so we continued on to Holywell where there is a public mooring in front of the pub, unfortunately the Narrowboat we have seen 4 times this week was moored there,but he told us he was leaving when his wife returned so we dropped back and moored on the last GOBA mooring. About 5 pm. the Narrowboat left Holywell so moved up there, but as you can see from how we are moored there is a distinct lack of water, but what a lovely sky to end the day with.

Just across the green is The Ferry Boat Inn and what a lovely outlook they have.

Saturday 17 March 2012 5 Miles from Anywhere

This morning we woke to the tinkle of rain on the chimney, we it was forecast and we do need it, but by 9-30 it had stopped, so not a lot of good.
We took Magic for a work and met our first foreign fisherman who first engaged me in conversation and then nearly poked Diana’s eye out with his rod. He said it was the first time he had ever been fishing, I tried to explain it was the closed season with no luck, so we left him to it, I expect he will have less impact on the fish then we do in the boat, I can’t see him actually catching one.

We pushed of at about 10 past 10 leaving an empty mooring as the other boat had gone some time earlier, he was towing a work shop/ex lorry back and behind that a dingy with outboard so was the best part of 90 foot long overall. At Upware we turned right through Reach Lode lock, this lock is also used for flood relief so resets to automatic use 15 minutes after its used and can’t be used at all in some circumstances. Just through the lock is a run of long term EA moorings with a couple of visitor moorings just prior to the junction of Wicken Lode. Here we turned left up Wicken Lode that runs deep into Wicken Fen the National Trust nature reserve. The national Trust pump water from the Lode into the fen in the winter months to keep the water level up using a wind pump, years ago these fens would have flooded naturally in the winter time, but with all the drainage schemes the fen needs a bit of help. At the end of navigation there is room to turn and some very nice GOBA members moorings where we stopped for lunch, needless to say as soon as we stopped it started to tip it down with rain again.

Following lunch Diana wandered to the visitors centre in the rain and by the time she returned it had cleared out again so we took the dog for a walk finally starting the engine again at quarter past three. It is a slow run down the Lode as its only about 14 feet wide and has a few bends, but hour later we were moored outside The Five Miles from Anywhere and No Hurry for the night. We have also booked here for lunch tomorrow so it will be late afternoon before we are off.   http://www.freewebs.com/fivemilesinn/

Friday 15 March Upware

Last night we were moored right outside the “Fort St George” in Cambridge so we went there to eat. The food was good and they had a few beers on the pump including their own. We had just finished eating when half the crew of n.b. Lucky Duck joined us for drinks and a long chat about the Cam. We expected the mooring to be noisy but were pleasantly surprised.
Cambridge is very short of visitor moorings in the town, and we only counted 4, One outside the pub and three on the other side closer to the lock. One of the problems is the moorings are 48 hr. with no return in 7 days, so people who want to moor in Cambridge but can’t get an official mooring spend 2 day on one mooring then move to the other side for 2 days before going out of tow for 3 days and then going round again. If I come down again and can’t find a mooring I shall just moor on the common where you are supposed to have a permit, but it says if you moor without one they will take legal action to evict you, I would be gone by then.

This morning was spent wandering around town before setting off to fill with water. The services are up by the lock and it was a good job we didn’t want a pump out as it was U/S, the pump people arrived while we were still filling with water, well it took us an hour.

We made our way down stream meeting several rowers on the way, passing the Plough pub at Fen Ditton http://www.theploughfenditton.co.uk which is right on the river side. We did consider stopping but all their frontage has Private, No Mooring signs. I have contacted them to find out if this includes boaters who want to eat.

At Baits Bite Lock the little chap sprinted out of his office to take our number as we locked down. The EA Abloy key fits the control box on this lock the same as AE locks.

The next lock we came to marks the end of the Cam Conservancy navigation, its Bottisham Lock. When locking down in a Narrowboat take care as the upstream lock landing is cantilevered and is high enough to let your gunwales slide under the timbers so you could easily damage the cabin side paintwork.

After this we found that the river level had fallen a bit since we came up so that must be several miles of water that has gone down as the next lock down is Denver Sluice. We continued down stream in a very cool freshening breeze until we reached the EA moorings at Upware, and as it was 4pm we pulled in for the night.

15 March 2012 Cambridge

The day started very foggy and we couldn’t even see the other side of the river. We finally set of from this pleasant mooring at 11 am when the sun was out and the day quite spring like.

As we reached Popes Corner to turn down the Cam, Terry shouted out of his boat, he had been up early, driven to Sudbury to supervise the gas being laid on and was now back on the boat. After a bit of chat we headed off up the Cam. There were some quite interesting boats moored up here. I am not sure how he got under the bridge about 500 yards behind him. As we approached the Five Miles from Nowhere http://www.freewebs.com/fivemilesinn/ where Roger jumped out and insisted we stopped for a couple of beers. We sat in the garden and enjoyed some local   beer from a Brandon brewery called Royal Ginger. http://www.brandonbrewery.co.uk/bottles.php We finally set off again and had to negotiate a couple of Poplar trees that were half way across the river.

As we came into Cambridge we saw this fine old boat Jester from Lowestoft that had seen better days.

 

 

A little further on we met a combined rubbish collecting vessel/dredger steaming down the river, by the way the driver was dressed he thought it warmer than I did, 

We were surprised the number of mooring spaces along the Common, I expected it to be end to end boats , but there were several spaces. After speaking to Amy we now know that the number of moorings let nowhere equals the length of bank so that the public always has access to the river from the common. We weren’t sure if it was OK to moor here so we carried on and spotted a place right outside the The Fort St George with a notice saying it was a visitor mooring, so we slipped in and drove in the stakes. By now it was 5 pm. but we had not been boating all day only about 4 hrs..

14 March 2012 Popes Corner

Well since I sent last nights blog we have had a hire boat moor behind us and a small fishing boat go by, so that was 3 yesterday and not 1 as stated. After dinner we wandered into the Ship for a pint and I must keep a good drop of Adnams, served not to cold.

This morning we set off at 10 AM on another dull and this time cold morning. Some of the older houses round these parts are built on peat and have suffered with subsidence as can be seen by their windowsills and lintels.

Not long after setting off we met the same boat that we have seen twice before this week and they are now moored on the next EA mooring from us.

The EA mark their gates on the bank tops in the same way as the Middle Level do by including their initials into the structure.

 

The EA are piling and spot dredging in several places around the Ely area and the second one we passed was being refuelled by floating bowser. 

I would still like to know who the E.B.S.S.C are and if the have the authority to ban Trolling and the powers to fine me £1000 if I do.

It was quite a bit colder and still no sign of the sun as we approached Ely.

We passed through Ely and the place was packed with fishermen all along the town moorings and even on the off side at the marina entrance, I don’t know if it was a match but its the last day of the season until next June. 

Just beyond Ely they look to be drilling bore holes just behind the flood bank, this is about 100 Mts. back from the river beyond the flood plane. Just as we passed what looked like compressed air started coming out followed by a large gush of water, I think it was expected as the chaps stood well back all the time.

On the Little Thetford EA visitor moorings a boat has sunk wit just the top bit of its cabin above water.

By now the sky was starting to clear a bit and as we arrived at Popes Corner the first thing we noticed is that the old pub,  The Fish and Duck has been demolished and the whole site tidied up. We spotted our friends moored on the corner so we pulled along side for a cup of tea and a warm beside their fire. It was handy seeing them as Terry was about to go to Ely Tesco’s in the car and invited Diana along to do a bit of shopping. We carried on on the Old West to just beyond the railway bridge to the EA moorings, there is just enough room to wind a 58ft. boat here, so we turned and moored for the night, Diana walking back to join Terry on a shopping expedition to Ely.

Tuesday 13 March 2012 Brandon Creek

Last night we decided to eat at The Angle in Watlington http://theangelpub.webs.com/, it was a good twenty minute walk each way along mainly unlit and pavement free roads, however the food was worth it with very good portion sizes and both Woodfords and London Pride on the pumps.

I have since discovered that what I thought was a sailing of rowing club is in fact a water ski club, which would account for the ban on navigation on safety grounds. The clubhouse looked in good condition but the rest quite run down.

We left the moorings at 1010 hrs. making our way back towards Denver. On the way we stopped of to look at The Heron or as I thought Pelican pub. It is in fact The Heron but anyone could get it wrong looking at their sign. They don’t do food on a Monday or Sunday evening and the railway level crossing is just at the end of the bridge. 
The next stop was at Downham Market where we visited the Factory shop and the charity store next door, being big spenders we cam away with Shortbread Biscuits from one and 6 glasses from the other. These moorings are defiantly long enough for 4 Narrowboats singled out. We had lunch while we were moored up.

The next port of call was the lock to take us back onto the Ouse, I dropped Diana off on the floating platform to work the lock and then turned the 90° into it. No one had used it since we came down yesterday. Diana went to the first control panel, unlocked it and closed the gates. She locked the panel, walked to the head of the lock and opened the second panel, but was unable to lift the slackers, the reason being the bottom doors had crept open a tad and was locking it out. So close the top panel, remove key, walk to bottom panel, unlock and close doors again, close and lock panel, remove key, hurry to top panel in case the doors creep, unlock and raise slackers, we are in business. We leave the lock with the gates open ready for the next user and head off up the Ten Mile Bank passing an interesting house boat with a human sculpture fishing from the rear deck.

Along this stretch of river we saw some strange cages made from about 1” weld mesh and fitted with floats on the inside, they are about 3’ by 2’. I had noticed some cages made of the same material suspended between the floats on the mooring walkways.

We passed a very jolly fisherman who took great delight pointing out his beard was better than mine, on his bivi he had a TV aerial so I guess he is planning to stay all night. you can see what a clam day it is from his reflection, In the words of Jeff’s song “Not a ripple to be seen”

A little further on is the home of The Denver Cruising Club, they have a large floating clubhouse carrying an advertisement for new members with moorings available. I could only see one slot amongst the mixture of cruisers with all their TV aerials looking like a colourful shanty town, maybe the don’t cruise but watch TV.
Our stopping place for the night is The Ship at Brandon Creek, we had only just moored up when another Narrowboat went by, they were the only boat we have seen on the move since we left our moorings, well not quite true, there was a chap in a rowing boat filling his bottles with water.

One of the things that has struck me is the number of Great Crested Grebes in the area, also how much tamer everything is on the river than they  were on the relief channel. This chap was sitting just across from where we have moored.

Monday 12 March 2012 Wiggenhall

Following some feedback I am changing the layout of my log.

We woke this mooring to a ucky with very low cloudy damp mist, even at 10 o’clock you couldn’t see Denver from Salters Lode.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was high tide a Kings Lynn at 8 51 am (Tide Table) and Salters load is between a hour and a hour and a quarter later, so at 10 am was just about the top of the tide, but with this much water in the river, it was a 7.5 Mt  tide we wouldn’t be able to get through the guillotine and we had to wait another hour before we could lock out.

We finally entered the lock at 1105 hrs. and as you can see it was a very close thing even then. 

The water was within 2” of the top of the bottom gates and we were almost against the bridge roof, well into the arch.
Had the water been any higher then the Ouse would have been flowing down Well Creak which probably wouldn’t have been a good idea. By the time we left the lock the tide had been ebbing for a good hour and was traveling out a a fair lick, I had to give her loads of welly to get the stern round and we still ended up close to the far bank.

By now we could just see Denver Sluice in the mist. The mud bank in the mouth was just as it was before but with this big a tide I knew we could go between the mud bank coming out from the left and the now submerged island in front of the sluices. When we arrived some 15 minutes later there were three chaps with lifejackets on with a bucket on a rope at the end of the landing stage, this is the one you can’t use because its actually sitting on the mud bank. They were collecting mud samples for analysis prior to dredging the lock mouth, maybe next time we come we will be able to sail straight in.

Once locked down to the none tidal Ouse we turned left at the sailing club to fill with water and empty the toilet tank. Thanks EA for free pump outs. Once this was done it off to new grounds for us into the relief channel lock and down onto the relief channel. This lock is all button operated and hydraulically powered with a control station at each end. As we we were leaving the lock I spotted a crab sitting on the lower safety chain below the surface. I have never seen a crab in fresh water before.

Once out of the lock it was hard right and down the very straight relief channel.
This channel is wider than the river but with the sluices closed has very little flow on it. I wouldn’t want to be here in times of flood.The banks of the channel are very high and you probably see less than on the Middle Level. The railway runs parallel along the right hand bank but nether can see each other over the bank, just the tops of the electrification wires show you where it is.

There are tree very good floating moorings along the channel, each by one of the bridges. The first is at Downham Market probably about half a mile from the town centre. The next is by The Pelican or Heron Hotel, at Stow Bridge, The sigh at the front says Pelican but on the end wall Heron and the third at Wiggenhall. They all have water taps and you could probably get 4 Narrowboats along side the first but only 2 at the third. 
We carried on in the murk to the official end of navigation although I  see no reason why we couldn’t have continued for at least another half a mile beyond this point and through the next bridge. The building behind the sign looks as if it was an old sailing or maybe rowing club but all their pontoons have disappeared, maybe they will replace them next season.

We headed buck up the channel and have moored up with another boat on the Wiggenhall moorings for the night.