Wed 8 Aug 2012 Whittlesey

The moorings by the park are very quiet, much better than the town ones in my opinion and apart from the CO monitor chirping because the battery was low we had a good nights sleep.

We set off this morning at 1030 am still heading downstream as we need to go about half a mile below the railway bridge before its wide enough for us to wind. On the way we stopped for water at the March service block.

I hate to think what the MLC grass cutting bill is, they cut both banks for miles and miles.

This is not pollution, but Fairy Moss spreading out from one of the pump outlets.

It wasn’t long before we were passing our moorings and heading for Angle corner. As we passed the moorings we encountered a Cobb Swan who was suggesting to last seasons youngsters it was time they left home.
The MLC have installed some new signs at the junction and most boaters just follow the “Link Route” and miss out on most of the Middle Level.
We had been following two Narrowoboats since Fox’s yard in March, they were going at a nice speed but if they were heading for Whittlesey there would be nowhere for us to moor, luckily for us they both turned down towards Ramsey at Floods Ferry junction.

The rest of the trip to Whittlesey was very quiet and we only met one boat. We did however pass this little chap and I hope he has grown sufficiently before the winter weather sets in.

Ashline lock was against us with the top gates wide open even though there is a sign asking you to empty it and close everything. The bottom gates were completely leak free, not a dribble unlike the top gates, so when we left we just closed everything and left it full, if we had have gone to the trouble of emptying it it would have been full by now anyway. The MLC made a good job of overhauling the bottom paddle winding gear last year and have kept it all well greased this year lightening the load a bit. The paddles are just pulled on threaded rods so need about 50 turns to fully open them, I stopped at 30 on both gates and waited.

Once clear of  the lock we moored on the visitor moor by the sports centre, there was one Narrowboat there already right at the end and there was just room for us to get on behind him. These moorings were due for a major refurbishment and it looks as if they may of had it, depending on how you define major, its been  backfilled with chippings behind the quay heading and a new wooden capping with a none slip surface on top of the quay heading. The winding hole has had no attention at all and is getting more overgrown by the day.