Saturday 12 May 2012

Our unofficial overnight mooring on the lock landing below Ashline Lock was much quieter than the official moorings above the lock as we were well below the level of the railway line. The only problem was getting the fenders sorted due to the water flow form the bywash of the lock.
We set off at 9 30 in bright sunshine and retraced our steps to Angle Corner, here we turned right up Bevell’s Leam This is only navigable for almost 5 miles and there are no branches or winding holes, luckily it is 60 feet wide so by picking our spot there should be room for us to wind rather than doing 4 miles backwards.

The first thing of interest we saw was a pair of swans both on the nest but nether actually sitting, I could only see a couple of eggs but I expect there were more. In the distance I could see a white band across the water, this turned out to be the discharge fro m Underwood’s Farm pumping station. At this point I was quite pleased that I was confident in turning at the end because navigating this cross flow in reverse may have been interesting. Just prior to the final bridge I decided to wind and do the last bit backwards as the banks looked more weedy over the final four hundred yards or so. At the end the Bevill pumping station completely crosses and blocks the waterway. 

We headed back towards Angle Corner passing not only an interesting little church on our right but also a disused pump outlet culvert. This is now used as a house for an interesting little vessel.

Almost opposite the modern pumping station that was spewing water all the way across the cut there is an old pumping station which has now been converted to a private dwelling.

When we reached Angle Corner which is actually a cross ways with the Twenty Foot River coming in from the north, Whittlesey Dyke flowing crossing east to west and Bevill’s Leam coming in from the south, we turned right on Whittlesey Dyke and soon passed under Angle Bridge, being Saturday the barge that had been partly blocking the bridge yesterday had been moored against the bank opposite where they are putting the gabions at the foot of the bridge.

We arrived back at our moorings in bright warm sun and a very light breeze which made turning through 90deg. a lot easier than it would have been when we passed this way Thursday. This was just as well because every man and his dog was sitting out in the sun. Following an oil and filter change it was in the car and off home.