Friday 22 June 2012

Last night diner was taken at Judes Ferry Inn and it  was slightly unusual, we has a Hungarian dish, I don’t know the name of it but it was a layer of rice, followed by a layer of pork mince, followed by a layer of cabbage, this was then repeated and topped with a topping similar to that used on Mossaka. It was made in a large tin and we had a piece about 4 inches cube. It was served with sour cream and bread. To go with it I had a pint of Elgood’s Olympic bitter that had the smell of raspberry Opal Fruits.

The weather overnight to put it mildly was rough with high winds and rain, most of the heavy rain had cleared by this morning but the showers were to last all day, as did the fresh breeze.
We were away a little after 10, dropping back from the moorings and putting our stern into the long slipway channel and letting the flow take the bows round. Just as we were casting of a chap walked down to the mooring who had arrived in a van completely covered in vinyl decoration with Made of Fibre written on the side. It wasn’t until he passed comment about the use of a bow thruster being cheating I realised he was a boater.
We set off down stream passing the steel cruiser looking forlorn on the bank.

Not far past this as we approached Horseferry Lodge there was a huge rose bush or bushes on the bank with several colours of flowers on it.

Next was Isleham Lock, the guillotine was open so we could motor straight in, there was less weed than yesterday and the boat on the lock mooring had gone but there were several reflective jackets with lifejackets wandering around the lock.

I had a word with the one from the EA as there is a sunken boat a short way below the lock, its been there for some time, but recently the EA have buoyed it off, but the buoys have disappeared. It wasn’t long before we noticed that the water level was down by about 6” from yesterday, so I expect the EA getting ready for extra water from the Cam catchment area. We continued through Prickwillow towards the Gt Ouse when we decided that we would stop at the Toms Hole Farm EA moorings for lunch and maybe even the rest of the day. As we approached we saw a Narrowboat, at first we thought he was on the mooring but then we could see he was coming towards us. As we passed it was the same chap that we had been speaking to at Judes Ferry when we left this morning and his entire boat was covered in vinyl decoration the same as his van, it was Made of Fibre. There are pictures of the boat and what they do on their web site at www.maidoffibre.com
We pulled over for lunch and when the weather improved, i.e.. it stopped raining we push off again. Out into the Gt. Ouse turning left for Ely. The weather behind us looked quite grim, but ahead was brighter. We passed an inlet on our right just before the waterway maintenance yard that leads to a nature reserve, the bay is full of water lilies with just a small channel connecting to the river.
In Ely we stopped for a chat with Graham on his boat before continuing on to the Old West. Leaving town passed the railway station I spotted all these Pullman Coaches, tomorrow Ely is due a visit from a steam train, the Titfield Thunderbolt both in the morning and the evening so I don’t know if that has any bearing on their presence. You can see the time table here.

A little  further upstream I had to blow the horn at a pair of rowers coming towards me. I had already met one boat who came round the bend nicely in the middle of the river but the second boat was running wider and wider. the first boat shouted at them but the wind just took his voice away so a quick blast of the horn made them tighten their line. It was just after this that a Grebe  surfaced with a small fish in its beak calling its family surprisingly loudly.

We rounded Popes Corner into The Old West river and passed under the railway bridge, the first lot of moorings were full but a cruiser we had met almost in the bridge had left the second lot, so we were able to get in there for the night.
The reason for making the effort to get her is to see the Titfield Thunderbolt cross the river in the morning on her way to Ely from Cambridge.