Sunday 6 May 2012

Last night we moored on the lock landing again right by Ramsey golf course. The golf course straddles both sides of the river with an old accommodation bridge running between the two halves. Two of the holes straddle the river with  elevated Tees on the north side of the river while the holes are on the south side. There is a notice by the Tees asking golfers to give way to boats using the lock.
I did manage to get a fleeting glance of the big moon last night at about 10-30 pm when it was right on the edge of the clouds.
This morning the Cuckoo woke me even earlier, I didn’t even bother to check the time but it didn’t look very light, this resulted in an early start for us at 9-15 am. We decided to go back down to Ramsey for a look round and Sunday lunch, the run down was quite pleasant and we noticed Bill Fen still had their flood gate closed. At Ramsey basin there was much less water running into the end of the arm than two days ago but there were a collection of drink bottles floating around as well as the Lifebelt from the quay. I had to put Diana ashore to retrieve the belt before I could wind as it had its line attached to it. Once moored we re-pact the belt and line into its holder. After a walk round town and lunch at The Angel we returned to the boat to see that the fair was on its way and that the boat we had seen yesterday was mooring on the off side. After a few words we moved on in less pleasant weather, cooler with light drizzle. By now Bill Fen had opened their flood gates so boats were again free to leave the marina, not that many seemed that way inclined.

Back at the junction it was right under the bridge on to the River Nene (old course) as far as Well’s bridge, here the river turns left but we carried on straight on the Forty Foot or Vermuyden’s Drain for about 8 miles to  Horse Way Lock. We winded at the unction with the Sixteen Foot Drain and reversed the last half mile to the lock, arriving a little before 5 pm. On the whole the day had stayed dry but quite chilly, also we had met a total of 3 boats, well it is Bank Holiday weekend.

Just before the junction with the Sixteen Foot i spotted this sign on the bank, is it just a farmer trying to keep people off his land or does it have a more sinister meaning.