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Tuesday 28 February 2012

Horseway Lock 28 Feb 2012

Last night after it stopped raining we walked into town to eat. I was all set to go to Weatherspoons but Diana thought the Indian Restaurant opposite  would make a change, so it was the Shah Jahan. I never know what to order so it was the special for two. The only problem is its not licenced so I had to drink J2O. They are very happy for you to take your own drink in with you and don’t charge corkage, it was just we didn’t know. The food was quite mild but very tasty and the portion size just right. When the bill came it was discounted for some reason so effectively the poppadum's and soft drinks were free, I have no idea why.

This morning we were awake early, I don’t remember booking the dawn chorus and ducks so we were on the move before 1000 hrs. We didn’t get far as I spotted a boater we had met at Outwell 4 years ago so we stopped for bit of a chinwag. It was just on 1000 hrs. as we passed the Town Moorings. We carried on along the Old Nene for an hour past the wind farm until we reached Pophams Eau where we turned right to go to Three Holes. We were now cruising down the Norfolk Cambridgeshire boarder. The local IWA branch are negotiating to install some moorings in the area of Three Holes, but I am not sure where. We turned left at the junction along the middle Level Drain` and went a short way towards Mullicourt Aqueduct. It is classed as Not Navagatable so I don’t know how far we could have gone, but we turned after about a quarter of a mile.

02We then headed south down the Sixteen Foot Drain, of plan was to moor outside The Golden Lion pub, we new the moorings were hard to spot but their construction made it impossible for us to get close enough for the dog to hop on and off. so we backed up a few yards and got the bow against the bank. The pub was closed during the day and there was nothing to indicate they did food at night, also the bank was quite a scramble even for us and the road was right along the top so again it would have been difficult for the dog, so we decided to give it a miss until we have more information.

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11At the end of the Sixteen Foot Drain we turned left along Vermuden’s Drain, again it was the first time we had been down here. It started quite clear and open but much narrower, through an arched bridge which makes a change from the flat concrete or steel structures we have 13become accustom to, through the bridge there were lots of nice fishing platforms and I made a mental note that one of these would suit us if nothing else was available. Shortly after this the right hand bank had been scraped clear to allow a crawler tracked dredger 22access and this had worked its way right up to Horseway Lock which was helpful. We have moored for the night on the lock landing which like the lock is in first class order. The bottom gats of the lock are chained and padlocked but both end gates are ajar with no level 20differential. The other side of the lock the cut just disappears into an overgrown mess, so I am sure no one will be wanting to lock through tonight and we wont be in anybody’s way.

1 comment:

Anne and Olly said...

Too lazy to go and get the map - how far have you got to reverse?