Sunday 19 Aug 2012 River Lark

Last nights mooring was very quiet and we both got a good nights sleep. This morning the river was crystal clear when I looked out of the side hatch, I am sure that will change a bit when the boats start moving.

 

Just before we set off a large, well for this river, barge came downstream, we had seen it moored just below Hermitage Lock when we came through yesterday, he must have made an early start as he was probably only doing just over 2 mph. After setting off it wasn’t long before we were catching him up, but I was quite happy to travel at his speed so held well back and allowed another Narrowboat that caught us up to pass and sit behind him. We saw very little traffic for the first hour or so, then we all met a cruiser, as the cruiser came round the bend the lady on the bows was pointing to her left, so thinking she thought they were short of room I pulled further to my right, she started pointing more vigorously so I , maybe she wants me to go the wrong side of her so they can go to her left, so started to swing to my left, at which point the cruiser started swinging his bow to my left. At this point I stopped and backed up letting him go where he wanted, he when the correct side of me in the end and as he passed and thanked me he was complaining that big boats like that shouldn’t be allowed on the river as they were far to big and had caused him to go aground. We plodded on our merry way at 2.5 mph until  we reached a straight wide section just before Twentypence Bridge, where he waved us passed, now he may only been doing 2 mph but the best I could manage was probably just over 4 mph so we were running out of river by the time I got through.

The floating fern weed was completely covering the river and is multiplying at quite a rate. It didn’t cause us any problem but boats with raw water cooling are suffering.
As we approached the EA visitor moorings just before Popes Corner I spotted Graham and Jill moored there so we pulled alongside for an hour or so and helped them drink some beer. While we were there the barge came trundling by, still doing a steady 2.5 mph.
It wasn’t long after this that it started to thunder and the sky to the south of us got very dark, there were even a few drops of rain. We said our farewells and moved on. In Ely one of the water cycles was out with two youngsters on it, the smallest one had a life jacket but not the other.

We then met the barge again who indicated that he had been unable to find a mooring in town.
On the Adelaide Bridge moorings we passed NB. Yarwood who were hard at work dog swimming. A little later we met James driving Lucky Duck back towards Ely. The next thing we encountered were three people swimming back and forth across the river, they were strong swimmers and were taking care to watch out for the movement of boats. 
We were heading for the River Lark hoping to moor on the GOBA moorings about half a mile down there, but it was not to be as there was a boat there already so we headed into Prickwillow, but again the moorings were all full, so we winded and came back to moor opposite the EA Tom Hole moorings. Since we have been here needless to say some of the boats moored in Prickwillow have gone passed heading to their home moorings, still the BBQ is on the bank alight and the rain didn’t  materialise, the only downside is dust from the harvesting going on on the next field.
One of the things we noticed at Prickwillow was that the roof has been removed from part of the pump museum, I do hope this is a planned event.

Saturday 18 August 2012 Aldreth

Last night we moored behind Holt Island. We didn’t have a bad night but we did have people talking until very late outside the boat. This morning a local boat we know came up and was surprised that we spent the night there.

After topping the water tank up, well we were moored by (not on) the water point it seamed silly not to and then reversed back out of the arm onto the main river. At the junction with the river a rower had capsized and was trying to get her boat back across to the boat house. I find it surprising that these clubs don’t have a rescue boat on the water when rowers are out, all sailing clubs I know do. Once we were clear of her and she had safely made her way back to the club house we headed upstream to Hemingford lock before winding to come back down stream.

Below St Ives Lock we passed the Rush gatherers three punts moored to the bank where their Landrover had been parked on Friday.
We were going to stop for lunch at Holywell but there were three cruisers already there and the only space was at the shallow end so we continued on to The Pike and Eel, where we actually managed to get onto the pub moorings, even if there were a couple of boats circling to see if we would get in. We had a very enjoyable lunch sharing a sea food platter for two and a couple of pints of Black Sheep bitter. We then carried on to Brownhills Lock where there were about 8 oldish teenagers jumping off the structure into the tail of the lock and also the discharge from the staunch, about the most dangerous spot on the river with wicked currents. They all climbed out as we were about to leave the lock but as I went forward one jumped in right beside out bow. I stopped and he started to climb out up our bow onto the deck, he only left when I was half way down the gunwale to discuss the matter with him.
I had intended to tell the locky at Hermitage but when we got there he was nowhere to be seen, he was on a Black Prince Narrowboat in the lock as they were topping up their water tank. By now there was a cruiser behind us so when the BP boat came out I went right in to the end of the lock leaving the cruiser at the back by the locky and it went right out of my mind. 
We carried on along the Old West to the GOBA moorings at Aldretch which were not full but tight due to the way some people had moored, luckily a Narrowboat was moored right at the end by the rough grass and we could get in behind him, the cruisers where spread out along the mown section two together at one end and the other right in the middle of the remainder so even another cruiser couldn’t get in.'

Friday 17 Aug 2012 St Ives

We left our mooring at 9.15 this morning heading along the Old west river. If I had realised how close we were to Stretham Pumping station I would have carried on to there last night for the peace and quiet. We continued past the Lazy Otter and at Twenty Pence there was a collection of EA vehicles and I guessed that they may be weed cutting, about a mile further on we came upon the these two monsters hard at work, cutting and collecting weed before jettisoning it onto the bank.

His mate was a couple of hundred meters further upstream.

Not long after this I had three large cruisers catching me up so I pulled over to let them pass. One of them was still on the lock mooring at Hermitage when we arrived and I thought he was waiting for the lock when actually he had lost his his hydraulic fluid from his gearbox due to overheating  in the floating weed. The only thing enjoying this weed is the Swans and I don’t think there are enough of them to make an impact.
Above Hermitage lock we saw the other two cruisers who were about to set off and they passed us while we were stopped at Westview Marina for a pump out. While we were pumping out I spotted this chap on the far bank, as you can see there is still quite a bit of water about.
I was a bit worried how I was going to get away from the service pontoon as it was a lee shore with a 25 mph wind square on the side, but by the time we had finished it had moderated a bit and we were soon on our way. We caught the two cruisers up at Brownshills Lock where we talked about the weed problems they had had with raw water cooling.
After they had gone I turned the lock and we had another large cruiser come up who shared the lock with us, he had also had a lot of cooling problems due to the weed.
Outside the pub at Holywell there was a lorry with 3 boats on the back, a bit of Googling shows that is where they are based.

A little further on we spotted this Landrover and trailer on the river bank. It belongs to a company called Rushmaters http://www.rushmatters.co.uk/ a little further on and we would meet three of their punts loaded with rushes one with a dog keeping an eye on thing.

It was not long before we were at St Ives lock, we had to wait as there were a couple of boats ahead going up and one waiting to come down. I thought I would take another couple of photos showing the kink that restricts the size of boats that can enter the lock.

 

 

 

Once clear of the lock we continued into the town, we spotted that there was a good length of vacant visitor moorings in the cut by The Dolphin so we slid in only to find that if the bow was near the bank no one else would be able to get in or out past our stern, so we backed out and went looking for deeper water which we found behind the island called “The Waits”

Thurs. 16 Aug 2012 Popes Corner

About 9.30 this morning we walked back to the lock to get a bit of video of the pusher dredger/bulldozer working. However when we got there we found the Bulldozer sitting on the bank, two men repairing the rescue boat that broke down last night and a Fox’s Narrowboat sat right on top or the mud bank. I expect he will be there until about 6 pm this evening before the tide lifts him off and I doubt they will risk dredging the bank until he is gone, so that will be another day the bank is there. More information on the dredging machine can be seen at http://www.fadsdirectory.com/reviews/conver-silt-pusher

9.45 and we were on our way having a quick word with the 70 footer that we followed across from Salters last night. There was a bit more traffic about than we had seen on earlier trips but it still wasn’t busy.
Just before The Ship the Air Ambulance flew over head and we could see him circle in the distance over in the Hilgay area looking to land and shortly afterwards an ambulance went along the road in the same direction.

The starlings were gathering on the power cables as we continued along 10 Mile Bank.
We stopped at Littleport opposite The Swan to fill with water before continuing on into Ely, her we spotted K2 moored on the park so we pulled alongside and had a chat with Peter. While we were talking Matilda Rose came by and stopped for a pump out, I excused myself and went for a quick word with Graham and Jill who were struggling with the pumpout machine, it would pull a reasonable suction but no volume so was pretty useless
. The problem is when the chap comes to mend it he will check the vacuum and say that is OK and go away again, if he had a boat to pump out he would see the problem. When I returned to K9 Hazel had returned so we spent a bit of time with them both before continuing on our way.
Just under the bridge giving access to the marina there is now a chap trying to hire out floating cycles, can you imagine if these are all out on a Saturday afternoon when the new hires from Bridge Boats set off on their holidays. Note the lifejacket or lack of it and it only costs £5 for half an hour.
As we passed Soham Lode Graham and Jill were just tying up. I wondered if they had a problem, but they were just looking for a quiet night, I have put that spot in my little black book. Just then a lovely little wooden cruiser came round the corner towards us, I have seen this out a couple of times down the Cam and the steerer called out it was 1938.
We carried on passed Pope’s Corner onto the Old West River and are the only boat moored on the second lot of EA moorings, The Hundred Acre Moorings which will do us for the night.

The weather has stayed fine but very overcast most of the day, the wind has been fresh but with a bit of warmth to it, there were times when I needed a bit more than the Tee Shirt.

Wed 15 Aug 2012 Denver Sluice

Last night we had a very pleasant evening in out favourite Italian Restaurant in March, Mamma Mia right on the riverside.

We set off at 9 45 this morning for a 5 pm locking out of Salters Lode. Just passed March we saw a rabbit swimming across the river, this was a new one on me and I have never  seen a rabbit swim before.

 

I rang Maureen as we passed the 20 Foot River junction to tell her we would be an hour reaching her lock, but only got the answer phone, the reason soon became clear as we met 5 boats before we got to her lock, so she had a busy morning. As we approached the junction with Popham’s Eau the river was completely covered with Fairy Moss and these two boats looked like they were in a car park. I am glad I didn’t meet them a little bit later as there is not that much room for boats 3 abreast after the junction. As we approached the lock Maureen rang and asked how far away we were as she had a boat waiting to come down who was getting impatient, when I told her I was just round the bend she said the gates were open for us. We went into the lock at 1120 exactly an  hour after I rang her, the other boat had waited all of 15 minutes. It was good to see her husband with her being fit enough to help with the lock.

After the lock progress slowed with more weed about under the surface requiring a few blasts of reverse to clear the prop, we also had a couple of short showers as we made our way to Salters Lode. We arrived at the lock at about 3 pm and wandered down to see the state of the tide, it was still running out but the mud bank was clearly visible out in the entrance. A handy place for the ducks to rest. It is Pauls day off but he still appeared about 4pm as did the crew of a 70 footer that had arrived a short time after us. With the water this low it was about 6” below the level of Well Creek, so Paul lifted the gate to flush water over the mud to prevent it getting worse. With the crew of the other boat present a plan was hatched. Although it was Pauls day off he would lock the other boat out at about 4.45pm while the river level was still lower than the Middle Level then at 5 pm the relief lock keeper would be on site to carry on. What actually happened was the relief lock keeper arrived at 4.30 pm so he was able to lock the boat out who then sat with his bow against the mud, this just gave room to close the gate behind him. He had to stay  in this position until the tide turned and had come in enough for him to clear the mud. At the same time a boat, one of about 8 was waiting at Denver to come the other way. The mud build up at Denver has got much worse over the past couple of weeks and now not only extends out to the edge of the New Bedford River but is also closer to the sluice structure. This means that boats have to stay very close to the sluices and come well into the New Bedford to get in or out. This meant the boat leaving Salters actually had to wait for the boat leaving Denver to get a clear passage round the bank. Once he was clear of the bank the 70 footer could leave. We in turn had to wait until the other boat arrived and locked through to the middle level before we could do anything. Our 5 pm locking became a 6.30 one. As I approached Denver lock there was quite a crowd waiting to watch me come in. Once through the lock we moored for the night on the EA moorings just above the Jenyn’s Arms http://www.jenyns.co.uk/ at 7 pm. we then walked down to the pub for a meal and a pint.

Tuesday 14 Aug 2012 March Town Mooring

We set off from home having to go via Gt Yarmouth to settle our account with the vet and then Caister to pay for this weeks grass cutting at mums old house under an overcast sky, sure enough we had a bit of rain west of Norwich. However when we arrived at our moorings it was sunny and about 23° C.

We backed out a little after 2-30 we would have been away slightly earlier but there was another Narrowboat coming down the cut and there was no point sitting on his fender. When we arrived at March needless to say he was in our favourite mooring beside the park, he did invite us alongside but there was only one boat on the Town moorings so we went on to there.

This is the first time we have ever been on the boat without Magic so its a bit strange, not having to think where we moor so that he can get off or looking down in the back cabin to se him laying there. I expect it will take us a couple of days to get use to the idea.
On the way I rang Paul at salters Lode to check locking times. We can go out tomorrow at 5 pm to cross to Denver or at 7am on Thursday to go up the New Bedford river. I think I will try that as it will see us in Hollywell by 3pm.

As we came through March we spotted Lord Toulouse moored at The Middle Level Waterman's Club for a couple of day. Its not often you see a Narrowboat moored on the outside of a couple of cruisers.
As I write this the temperature is up to 26°C

Saturday 11 Aug. 2012 Floods Ferry marina

The road was reasonably quiet last night and the wind died right away leading to a foggy early morning.
Before we were up Magic had visited us a couple of times so he was up and about this morning. We helped him off the boat and he went for a short walk so we decided that I would ring the Vet at 9 am and cancel her visit, instead we would head home and take him to our own Vet on Monday morning, a phone call to them ended with an appointment for 9.20 am. I can’t see him like he was yesterday tea time again, its not fair on him.

Andrew set off first at  9 45 am winding right outside the engine room door. he had managed to get a booking for Stanground Lock  for 1.45 and was planning on a bit of shopping first. We followed a little after 10 am. In a field beside the river was a flock of Egrets, I have only ever seen them in ones and twos before.

By the foot bridge there is an interesting old boat, I am not sure what it was and I doubt it will ever get returned to its former glory. It was in this condition the first time we ever came this way.

We found LT moored to the railings in Peterborough, Andrew was onboard and Wendy getting a bit of shopping in, so we pulled along side, The river was down by a good 6” from yesterday and there was absolutely no discernable flow, we just came along side and only started to move when the wind freshened slight. The swans were out in good numbers squabbling with each other and even a few rowers for good measure, I am not sure why they have to go flat out on the busiest section of the river when there are a nice couple of miles of straight river that hardly anyone uses just a bit further down stream. The pumpout system in Peterborough has been out of action for some little time, but there is a phone number to ring and they will send a man out with a portable pumpout unit to empty your tanks into an adjacent manhole. I call that good service especially as the pumpout is free.

We arrived at Stanground Lock at 1 45 for our 2 pm locking and the lock keeper waved us straight in. As we locked down I measured the depth of water in the centre of the old part of the lock and it was just 3 feet. The other side of the lock, still on the lock moorings was LT. Andrew had just replaced the alternator belt that snapped as he entered the lock so as we set off he followed us. It wasn’t long before anther boat “Flying Fox” caught us up and passed Andrew just after this bridge. Its the same bridge that we met a boat at 2 days ago. At Whittlesey we went straight to the lock landing, LT were planning to moor in Whittlesey but the boat between us pulled into the only vacant mooring spot. As we were turning the lock a gent and a boy walked down the park each with a windlass and climbed the railings surrounding the lock. It turned out they were not mooring for the night but heading for March and they had dropped onto the visitor moorings as it was an easy place to get ashore. They helped us through the lock and just as we were departing, their boat left the visitor moorings and Andrew and Wendy on LT arrived at a now vacant mooring. After the lock it was an uneventful run back to our mooring other than the amount of blanket weed we picked up which mad it hard work for the engine. Once moored I removed a large ball of it from the prop.

We will be driving home in the morning.

Friday 10 Aug 2012 Dog in a Doublet

First job of the day was to service the BBQ, we may get to use it again sometime this year, it only needed a new handle and half a dozen pop rivets.

We set of just before 11 am upstream to meet “Lord Toulouse” who was coming down to the Middle Level and Ouse. Sure enough our paths crossed about a mile below the next lock so we turned and run down with them.
It was nice to see a polite notice informing us the bank was private and that mooring was not allowed unlike some of the “Keep Out” “No Trespassing” ones we come across. Politeness costs nothing.

Magic is not at all well this morning, its old age as he is well over 15 now, so we have decided to head back home and take him to the vet. We are booked for Stanground Lock at 2 pm on Saturday.

We continued down stream with Andrew and Wendy meeting Paul and Christine on “Waterway Routes” on the way and exchanged pleasantries as we passed. (Paul, now you know why rushing back downhill”.

Some of the locks had quite a bit of water flowing over the top gates so you wouldn’t want to put your bows there when going uphill.

We took LT into Ferry Meadows and also behind the rowing lake to show them the moorings, after that we continued on to The Dog in a Doublet where we moored for the night.

At this point we found that Magic could no longer stand up and I had to carry him off the boat and laid hi on the grass. While Andrew went to check the pub out I phoned one of the local vets Pengally and Mizen http://www.pengellyandmizen.co.uk/home.html  
who were more than helpful, the vet rang me back to asses the situation and agreed to come out Saturday morning to put the old boy to sleep. They were happy for us to stay where we were and they would come to us, I enquired about payment and they would be happy with a cheque of ring the office with a credit card.

Andrew returned and reported the pub a goer, nothing wonderful he said but OK, so a that is where we spent the evening.
        
OK turned out to be an understatement, we had 4 very nice meals from a very imaginative chef helped down by a couple of pints of beer and a couple of bottles of red wine. This pub is well away from anywhere so was not overly busy for a Friday night but the restaurant deserves to do better than it was last night. http://www.doginad.co.uk/ There are visitor moorings just above the lock but the road in quite busy with speeding cars, however it does quieten down at night.

When we returned to the boat Magic was up to meet us, much different from 4 hours before. I helped him out of the boat and he managed a short walk to leave a deposit on the grass and have a wee. We were expecting a mess on the floor if not this evening then overnight, but now he has been out we may be OK.

Thursday 9 Aug 2012 Wandsford

Its a long time since we had a night onboard as hot as last night. After eating at Weatherspoons in town we returned to the boats and opened all the doors and hatches. The evening entertainment consisted of swatting the Mozzies with the electronic zapper before we hung anti mozzie net over the hatches, I still ended up with several bites. We left the doors open with the nets all night and I still found a mozzie in the bed this morning.

We were booked through Stanground lock at 1 pm today and it is about a 2 hour cries from Whittlesey to the lock so no great rush to get away, The boat ahead left quite early and another boat came up the locks and passed us so we set off just before 10 am. The only place we met another boat was on a blind bridge and bend just on the outskirts of Whittlesey, he saw my bow before I could see him and held back for me which settled him well in the mud. I hung around until he was away again in case he needed a pull backwards into the slightly deeper water, but he was soon away.
We arrived at Stanground at 11 30 am. a bit early so I wondered up to the office to find a relief keeper on duty. He checked my details in the book and said we may as well go through, I think he only had one more boat to come today, so by mid day we were on the Nene.

First job was to top up with water, while we were doing this we had a chat with Paul of Waterway Routes http://www.waterwayroutes.co.uk/ who kindly gave me one of his maps on CD. He has spent the past few weeks covering all the Middle Level, Gt. Ouse and connected waterways including the New Bedford River to produce a new set of maps and guides of the area.

After that it was off upstream arriving at Orton lock just as a boat had left, on the Nene the locks are left empty with the gate up, so its ready for boats traveling upstream to enter, but you do have to raise the gate when you leave. We arrived at the next lock just as a Narrowboat was leaving, but another arrived from above before we were ready to go so we could just sail off and leave them to it. We arrived at Waternewton Lock just as the Narrowboat ahead had finished lowering the gate, so they kindly lifted it again so we could share the lock.

When we arrived at the EA moorings at Wansford Station there was already one Narrowboat moored up but we were able to slip on behind him with the stern moored to a fencing post on the bank, the bows against the floating pontoon. As it was such a nice evening we had a BBQ in the picnic area above the moorings, This is maintained by the Nene Valley Railway http://www.nvr.org.uk/ Just as we were about to eat a Narrowboat called “Dream Keeper” came downstream looking for mooring so we invited them to come alongside. About 8 pm, a second boat came along and they are moored outside the boat in front.

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.

Tue 7 Aug 2012 Park Mooring March

We finally arrived at the boat about 4 30pm and as soon as we were loaded up we set off.

I slipped Harnser into reverse and Diana dropped the front rope off, half way out and I spotted a boat coming upstream so slid gently forward again, he took forever to arrive and once opposite me put it into reverse, he was mooring about 6 slots up. Once he was out of the way we backed across the river, I have to have the stern almost on the opposite bank to be able to swing the bows round downstream as there is a full length butty moored alongside and I dread hitting his rudder with my bows. Once out we headed towards March arriving an hour later at the moorings by the park, not quite so convenient for the town but much easier for the dog to get off for a walk. Since we were last here they have erected a sign restricting mooring to 36 hrs. like the town moorings.
The only reason we came this way as its a convenient cruise for the first night, we didn’t want to stay on the moorings overnight and tomorrow night we want to be in Whittlesey heading for the Nene, so in the morning we will wind and retrace our steps for an hour heading west.