Thursday 21 June 2012

Yesterday afternoon and evening the weather just got better and better. When we took Magic out we walked down the far side of the river and Diana took a couple of photos looking to the west.

 

As forecast it started to throw it down with rain during the night and by 10 o’clock when it started to clear we had had over 5mm again. After taking the dog out we pulled up tight behind the Wilderness boat to top up with water and set off to a very overcast day at 10-30 am.
We soon passed the spot where we had winded last time we visited Prickwillow and the camera didn’t work, so this is the spot we winded in.
It is easy to see how sometimes a Heron can be mistaken for a Hawk. Remember Shakespeare said “can’t tell his hawk from his harnser”. 

We only saw one other boat on the move, but at Isleham Lock there was a Narrowboat moored on the lock moorings that looks as if its there for a repaint. Looking back down steam the old wind mill and willow tree looked quite attractive beside the river.
The boat on the lock moorings didn’t cause us a problem, but had I been single handing it would have been a different story.
Isleham Lock was full of weed, the top gate is left open and it has all just drifted down the river and then blown into the lock.

We continued on passed a well decorated hut called Horseferry Lodge which still had all it union flags out. 

Soon after this we passed a field that not only had a shed in it but also a steel cruiser and a small heard of horses with foals. We could see at least three youngsters.
The next thin was Judes Ferry Inn with two EA weedcutters moored in the old ferry cut and the weed harvester on the best bit of moorings.

We continued passed them and the sign that says end of navigation to see how far we could get upstream, and the answer was not far. we probably didn’t do mush more than 150Mts. before running out of water due to the shallowness of the river. So we backed downstream in quite a flow to moor up against the pub landing stage. This landing stage is not very Narrowboat friendly, it has a large overhang about half way up the cabin side. We found a bulge in the piling that came out a bit further than the rest and floated a wheel there to put the front end against. I pushed the boat pole into the mud and against the staging at the back to stop us running underneath it so preventing the paint from being scraped off the cabin sides.

Once safely moored we took a walk to speak to the Landlord and explore upstream with the dog. My heart lifted when I saw a notice on the gate post "£2 30 per pint. when Di opened it out fully it was not for beer, but maggots. We only walked to the point we had manage to cruise to and as you can see the water  is only about 18” deep all the way across the river.

I did take a photo looking back and you can see just how far we didn’t manage to get passed the bridge and official end of navigation. Such a shame that EA don’t maintain this section if only for flood elevation.

Today has been a day of aircraft, I am sure those of you that know more about it than me will know what they are.

A refuelling plane, I don’t know if they declare their own split or just go 40/60

This one was throwing a nice vortex from just one wingtip.

This cap came in quite quietly compared to the others.