Great Barford Tuesday 16 July 2013

I described last nights mooring as an EA wild mooring, here is a photo to show what I meant.

We had our stern under the tree. Across the river a farmer was turning his hay, the cloud of dust spread out in a thin layer the width of the field. Later we were treated to what I think are called “sun dogs” where there is a patch of colour in the clouds some distance from the sun. 

This was followed by a magical sunset just to round off the night.

For some reason I still don’t quite understand we were on the move by 8 AM this morning. It was pleasantly warm, but by 10 AM it was hot, again getting into the 30s by lunch time.

Just after Houghton Lock we met a canoeist having his morning paddle before it got to hot. He continued down to the lock, turned and then overtook us.

There was quite a bit of traffic about and we saw at least one boat at every lock all the way to St Neots where we stopped to top up on BBQ supplies, when we arrived there was only one boat moored in the town and only two when we left.

When we left St Neots  Priory moorings the temperature was 31.5° C and we didn’t see another proper boat on the move for the rest of the day, I say proper because we passed these lads having a great time. At least I could see them unlike lone swimmers with just a head out of the water.A short way above St Neots bridge there is a very attractive row of terraced houses on the left bank. You may recall last time we came above St Neots I mentioned the foot bridge at Roxton lock being limited to 5 people. I think this photo shows that it a very good restriction, its debatable how it supports its self. Maybe its the railings holding it up? Again here the kids were having a great time sliding down the weir, I think if the flow had been any less they would have been struggling. The EA have moored a fleet of weed cutters to the end of the upstream lock moorings which will not help lining up when we come back, still I expect CaRT would have moored them along the moorings. We continued up to Great Barford to moor right in front of The Anchor pub for the night, again we are the only boat here. Since we have been here there have been two small cruisers go downstream, one of them managing to hit the multi arch road bridge which is not unusual, however he did escape without smashing his windscreen.

Houghton lock Island Monday 15 July 2013

Nice pie and a bottle of red in The Old Ferryboat last night. I would have used their free WiFi but they wanted to much information, shame as I could pick it up on the boat right across the green.
The bows of the boat were against the bank but the rest was somewhere else. Overnight we had all the hatches and doors open with the fly screens in trying to keep cool.

We are now covering the same ground for the fifth time this trip so I will try and keep the reports as interesting as possible but some of them may be a bit short for a couple of days.

This morning we woke to sunshine and it just got hotter. Looking over the side of the boat was like looking into a fish pond, the camera doesn’t do it justice. A rather bedraggled swan saw us on our way back up towards St Ives. St Ives lock was interesting with some of the rope work being used to try and secure a cruiser while the lock was filling, that was after he insisted on locking the control panel even though there was a boat waiting to come down.

We filled with water at The Waits and then went a bit further up and moored do do a bit of shopping,a couple of plumbing fittings required and something to stand the BBQ on, this turned out to be two baking trays from the pound shop.

By the time we had lunch the temperature was 31°C so we sat it out for a while, but as the sun moved we decided the breeze on the river may be better so continued up to Hemingford lock. I could see a boat in the lock and a strong flow of water coming out of the bottom gates. Then the top guillotine gate lifted, they had only left both bottom paddles, or slackers fully open while opening the top gate fully. Diana ran up and dropped them both but they didn’t have a clue what she was doing and just sailed off into the afternoon. There was loads of room to moor at Hemingford Meadow but we continued on up to Houghton Lock Island which is a very wild EA mooring where people have mown/flattened some areas of weeds. Diana used our shares to make a path from the bow of the boat to the stern through the nettles, something not needed by the cruisers.

While shutting the engine down I  noticed a damp patch on the engine bearer, the drain plug was weeping on the fuel filter, so I wiped and nipped it. Walking back it was now dripping due to the sealing washer on the drain plug giving up the ghost. If it hadn’t been an exposed engine I would probably not noticed it until I had a bilge full of diesel.

Sitting here we have watched a Coot in a blind panic because she lost her chick, it slowly came swimming back to her up river while eating bits and pieced. We also had a visit from a family of swans.

The top temperature we recorded this afternoon around 3PM was 33.5°C.

Holywell Sunday 14 July 2013

9 30 this morning and we were off, the temperature was 17° and slightly misty. Stuart and Angie heading off to St Neots and us to St Ives. When we arrived at Houghton lock, having not seen a boat the gate was closed and someone was just raising the paddle at the other end. When he saw us he came back and raised the gate, we still had to wait 3 minuets before it started to lift, it was the EA river inspector. By the time we locked down there was him, a Narrowboat and 3 cruisers waiting to come up. From now on the river would get more busy. We spotted this chap fishing below the weir.

We moored at the town moorings in Huntingdon to eat lunch, by now the sun had shaken most of the cloud off and it was getting decidedly warm.

At Houghton they had packed 5 boats into the lock going down but there wasn’t room for us. In the course of the day we have seen lots of canoes, some oblivious to what was happening around them. kids in rowing boat who couldn’t row we even saw a put coming up the river. At Hemingford all the regatta paraphernalia had been put away for another year and boats were once more mooring along the meadow. We continued down through St Ives bridge to show our guests the water from there and then returned to the back of the Dolphin so that our guests could return to their car for their drive home. Once we had said our farewells we left St Ives to spend the night outside The Old Ferryboat at Holywell where we partook of dinner.

Although the day started chilly at 17° C around lunch time the sun broke through and the temperature climbed well into the upper 20s. for the afternoon.

Paxton Pits Sat 13 July 2013

Last night our guests arrived in good time and we all went out to eat in St Ives followed by a peaceful night behind the Dolphin.

This morning we woke to a lovely morning and the day was destine to get much hotter, hitting 32°C.

We were away a little after 9 am as I wanted to clear Hemingford before the regatta started, but in the we arrived just as the first race finished so were able to pass straight through.  At Godmanchester we turned into the basin above the lock just to show our guests the waterfront. The tree at the head of the lock is now completely chopped down and is just awaiting removal. Lets hope they now rebuild the visitor mooring where the wall has collapsed into the water.

We stopped for a picnic lunch on the GOBA moorings at Brampton Mill. It was here that I witnessed the most rude boating manners I have ever seen. Three cruisers coming down stream from the lock and just back from us 2 mooring spaces. The first boat did a U turn in the river to come back into the moorings as he was approaching the gap the back boat of the three turned hard left through 90° and T boned into the bank right where the first boat was coming in to moor, causing him to go hard astern to avoid a collision and thus stealing his mooring spot. I was expecting words to be said, but the boat that made the correct approach didn’t say a word but just moored behind him.

We continued up river to St Neots. where there were loads of moorings, unfortunately we needed to head back downstream for a bit to make Sunday a shorter day. We were hoping that by now some of the other moorings would be free and tried to get in behind NB Corib but the gap was about 4 feet to short so Steward and Angie kindly insisted we moored alongside. We insisted they help to drink our bottle of bubbly.
As we were eating our dinner the Oliver Cromwell went steaming by on the East Coast line, Angie called out but we were to slow to see it.

St Ives Friday 12 July 2013

Just a short run today leaving Hemingford just after 10 am. The were working hard getting everything ready for the regatta on Saturday. We had to wait at Hemingford lock while a Narrowboat went down and a cruiser came up. The cruiser ran aground on the sand bar below the lock trying to navigate between the buoys.
By now we were joined by another cruiser, so I went in first and pulled into the layby side and he came in on the straight. Diana walked back round the corner to check there was no one else coming but as soon as the gate closed a cruiser turned up and wanted to know why we closed the gate on him. I think in the end he accepted that we had looked before closing. The problem is once the gate is closed you have to go through the timer cycle before you can open it again.

We ran down to St Ives and up the Waits for water, once full Diana walked to the Dolphin to see if there was space for us for the night. She phoned back to say the same space we were in last time was free, so I took the boat down to join her, as there weren't too many cruisers in the entrance I decided to back in as when we leave in the morning the gap may be much smaller.

Diana’s sister and Brother in Law are joining us for the week end so this will be a good place to meet them, it also means that there probably wont be any blogs over the weekend.

See you Monday.

Hemingford Grey GOBA moorings Thursday 11 July 2013

We were all alone last night, but a cruiser arrived this morning and moored before we left.
We carried on downstream in another cloudy morning. When we arrived a Brampton lock there were already two Narrowboats locking down and a large seagoing cruiser coming up. He was on his way home from the Trent. Before it was our turn to enter a hire cruiser turned up, so I let them into the lock first and went in beside them. The stopped off just below the lock so we carried on alone catching up with another cruiser waiting for Godmanchester Lock. They have carried out a lot of tree surgery on the island and at the moment they are removing the large willow at the lock entrance. There use to be a very nice mooring just to the right of the lock but unfortunately the wall fell into the water so the EA closed it. Maybe it was root damage from the tree and they are concerned about the lock. We tried to moor on the pub moorings at Houghton but there was already a wide beam taking them up so we continued down to the lock arriving just as the cruiser and a Narrowboat were entering, so again we had a short wait while they locked down and we turned the lock. With these electrically controlled locks it take as long to fill the lock regardless of whether there is a boat in it or not. Once through the lock it was back down to the GOBA moorings at Hemingford Grey for the night.

Mailers Meadow Wednesday 10 July 2013

I woke this morning sometime before 6 am with the sun beaming through the porthole. I don’t do starting at silly o’clock so buried my head and went back to sleep, by 8 am the sun had decided to do the same thing and we had full cloud cover.

We set off a little after 10 and the temperature was 1° cooler than at 6 am so today the tea shirt was on again and no need for the hat. It was mid day before the sun thought of peeping out and then he decided he wasn’t going to stay long. By the time we moored up this evening it was fleece weather at 60°F.

We continued upstream to Offord Lock where a boat was waiting to go up so we were there for some little time, it wasn’t helped by me trying to share  with the cruiser and having to back out again, then when we were going up the timer on the top guillotine gate failed to start, so even after the lock was full we had to wait another 3 minutes before we could fully lift it and leave. After leaving the lock cut the river runs parallel to the railway and the trains are almost constant with both local and East Coast Mainline trains going by.

Passing Paxton Pits we spotted this small family, I suppose its a bit like mum going round the supermarket with a baby on her back.

When we arrived at St Neots lock it was against us so Diana went up to set it, as she was some time I went up to see if I could help.
For those that don’t know it, St Neots lock is the longest on the river at about 150 feet, it has chevron doors at the head and a guillotine gate at the tail. The control is by the guillotine and the gate will only lift if the top gates are fully closed. Twice Diana closed both gates, crossed the foot bridge at the head and walked back to the control, both times by the time she had got back the the control box the top offside gate had opened slightly, so it wasn’t until I came up and held the gate shut, could she lift the guillotine to empty the lock. This still left me plenty of time to cross the main road and walk back to the boat before the lock was ready.

We moored at The Priory Centre moorings and whilst Diana prepared lunch I topped up the water tank, you never miss an opportunity to top up on this river as you can never be sure of finding another. This was followed by a trip into town where we visited the towns museum, this is quite a small museum housed in the old Victorian Police Station and still has the glazed tile lined cells on the ground floor. Being old it only cost a pound to get in and worth every penny. Returning to the boat the moorings were now full. Once the slow cooker was loaded we were off again, this time downstream. The notices to indicate the channel to St Neots lock and the weir stream are now almost completely hidden. I wonder how long it will be before someone who doesn't  know the area misses the turn and gets caught on the weir. We had planned to moor on the GOBA moorings at Paxton Pits but when we arrived there were already two Narrowboats on there, so it was on the the moorings just below Offord lock. On the way we stopped to pick up a new wooden shaft that we had spotted floating in the bushes on our way up, the end is rotten on ours.
Dropping down through Offord Lock and we find a boat already on the moorings so it’s plan C, Back to Mailers Meadow in the same spot as we were last night, but facing the opposite direction.

Mailers Meadow GOBA mooring Tue. 9 July 2013

Yesterday evening after a short stroll to The Axe and Compass at Hemingford Abbot we sat and enjoyed a few pints of Old Hooky drawn straight from the keg to wash down a fine pork stir fry. Returning to the boat we were able to watch the sky change colour. As the night progressed we gathered more of a list but when we got up this morning all was fine again.
There is no perceivable flow on the river now. Setting off at 1030 we turned and headed upstream, we waited at Houghton Lock for a boat to leave and then we were assisted up by the locking crew of the Ladybird, the St johns Ambulance trip boat. I gave one of them my card so hopefully if he emails me I will have a contact for them. They do sterling work with the disadvantaged and disabled running about 200 trips a year. As we approached Huntingdon town bridge a cruiser left the moorings and we were able just to squeeze in for a couple of hours. After a wander round the town, some fresh meat and a bag of charcoal we called in at Prima  the Italian Restaurant for a jug of Sangria and some very tasty pasta before heading back to the boat.

Another hour or so saw us approaching Brampton lock and as we passed the weir outlet spotted a cruiser about to go up, as we trugged round the navigation channel I gave a couple of blasts on the horn as instructed and hoped they would hear us. When we got to the lock one gate was open and the chap was walking round to reopen the other, his wife had just spotted us, so they waited which was very good of them.

Just above the lock there has been a piece of land for sale for some time, it looks as if its now sold as over the past couple of weeks a jetty has been installed. Not a very big one. A short way above this on the other side of the river are two GOBA moorings, the first was full but the second only had one cruiser moored there so we were able to get in just upstream of him.

While we were there Diana had a Damselfly land on her hand and it took a few minutes before she could work out it was eating a fly of some sort. It was very good and waited until after I had taken it photo before flying off again.

Hemingford Grey Monday 8 July 2013

Yesterday the river was busy until quite late. On the other side of the there were lots of people with canoes, fishing swimming etc. Of course eventually the light a fire fuelled with branches broken from the tree etc. Then about 8.30pm. they found something plastic to burn with the resulting black smoke and stink, we got the odd whiff but not much, however the next thing we know is that there are two fire engines making their way down the track towards them.
Last night was the hottest so far this year and we went to bed with the fly screens in and all hatches and doors open.

This morning was much cooler and early on it was quite misty on the river. Again there have been quite a few boats about, the first one passing well before 7 am.

We set off at our normal 10am just after a Narrowboat had gone by, but he was making much better speed than we wanted to do so we thought that would be the last we would see of him. As we made our way up past Holywell the sun started peeping through bringing the Dragonflies and Damselflies out in force. I had a Dragonfly land on my shoulder and this Damselfly landed on the Binimi. It wasn’t look after this that the Binimi went up for the day, that way I can drive without a hat or shirt on.

When we arrived at St Ives Lock there were two Narrowboats and a cruise waiting to go up and a Narrowboat coming down, so we had to “tread water” until the first Narrowboat, the one that passed as we pulled away and the cruiser had gone into the lock, we could then get on the lock landing and go to help them on their way.
By the time we got into the lock there were three boats waiting to come down. The boat we were sharing with was almost out of water so I suggested he followed us to the water point.
On the way we had to wait at the bridge for the St Johns Trip boat  to come through, if anyone knows how to contact them please let me know.

When we arrived at the Waits was a bit like Piccadilly Circus with a wide beam moored almost on the water point, the Narrowboat who had just done the lock on the outside of him filling with water, behind them was a wide beamed cruiser and then we pulled in and the other boat came on the outside of us. We ended up watering up with 3 hoses joined together to reach from the tap back to where we had moored. Once full we backed out onto the main river and headed to Hemingford Lock where there were two boats entering just as we arrived, it turned out the Narrowboat had gone hard aground on the sand bar below the lock moorings. We helped them up and the boats above down, one was a 1957 wooden ex Cambridge hire boat with a petrol engine. Once through the lock we headed up past Hemingford Grey town GOBA moorings.

At Hemingford we met another Narrowboat, I didn’t catch its name but the two men on the back shouted “hello Brian” and the steerer indicated he followed my Blog, the other chap looked very familiar but he wasn’t wearing his working clothes.
It was good to see that the farmers are getting the hay this year, lets hope it stays dry until they finish, with the wind picking up like it has today it should soon dry. We went up almost to Houghton Lock trying to decide where to moor tonight, we finally decided on the GOBA moorings at Hemingford Grey so turned round and headed back downstream to the meadows mooring at the very upstream end.

GOBA Moorings, Pike & Eel Sunday 7 July 2013

Yesterday afternoon when we moored up we did it in normal river style, head to water flow, ie. facing Popes Corner. After dinner we walked down and chatted with some of the residents at the Fish and Duck before returning to Harnser as the sun was setting. It was then that I noticed that the water was now flowing in the opposite direction ie. towards Popes Corner and the River Cam. This morning there was no flow at all.

We were woken early by the rowers, well the coach shouting from his overpowered dingy. On their second run, still before we were about one of the cruiser owners suggested that maybe he should slow down slightly when passing moored boats. He didn’t make a third run. By now the river was showing no flow at all.

Some of last nights wedding party came by heading back towards Cambridge. Just before we set off at ten. We had a change of plan and at Popes Corner carried on up the Old West River and not turn down the Cam. The river was very busy and we met and were overtaken by several boats as we plodded along, the weed is increasing but still not to bad. A herd of cows had found the best way to handle this heat, get in the shade of a bush up to your belly in water. We also saw several Egrets working along in the shallows but as we approached they flew off, two of them only went up into a nearby tree. There was also a Moorhen with a single chick. I don’t know if its been a bad hatching season or if birds have lost their young, we have seen a few swan’s eggs laying at the side of the nests. We had just commented that we hadn’t seen the horses that normally graze the strip along the left bank when 3 of them came galloping up over the top of the bank, I managed a photo of the last one. We had a cruiser pull out and follow us as we passed the Aldreth Drain GOBA moorings, I held close to the bank but they were happy to tag along behind and share Hermitage Lock with us. As we made our way up passed Earith we spotted a seal and her pup sunning themselves on the left bank. A boater coming down stream warned us that there were youngsters swimming in the lock, last time this happened one dropped in ahead of us and grabbed the seat on our front deck. However today they were happily sunning themselves on the lock landing.
As we approached Brownhills Lock the gate was lifting so I didn’t bother to use the lock moorings. By the time the Narrowboat and two cruisers had got round to leaving the lock two other boats had caught us up and they weren't even in sight when we came up through Hermitage lock.

There were 4 Narrowboats moored on the GOBA moorings just above the lock, I don’t think I have ever seen a boat here before. We carried on upstream and as we approached the Pike and Eel a Narrowboat pulled out, I was expecting them to go up stream and I would have just run up beside them. But no she did a 180° to go down stream, straight across my bows. Hard astern, black smoke. The chap on the other boat took the helm and also hit reverse hard, but it wasn’t needed as we had stopped by now. As they were heading backwards I continued on my original course.

We spotted a space just big enough for us on the GOBA Pike and Eel moorings in front of three cruisers. By 5pm we were as I expected all alone with them all returning to their marina berths.

Little Thetford at 6 July 2013

Wall to wall sunshine, temperatures in the top 20s there is only one place to be, on the river.

We arrived at the boat at 1230 and were planning to bring the boat to the A10 bridge as normal to load up, however there was a cruiser moored there so on to plan B. Diana took the car down to the dry dock/diesel quay and I went to move Harnser.
The first thing I did was to check the plumbing we did the other day, bad news the cylinder was wet around the fitting, not really surprising and I tightened the nut another 3 flats.

I then reversed Harnser up to the diesel quay, its much easier going upstream but I still managed to meet a Narrowboat on one of the bends but it went OK.

We were soon on our way but only out onto the Gt. Ouse and round to Brandon Creek EA moorings for lunch.

By now the slight breeze had died away and as we set off upstream it was getting warmer. We met a very nice wooden cruiser, we have seen this in the area several times now. The approaches to Ely were again packed with geese and the resident Barnacle goose was still in with all his Canada mates. Just before we entered the town a local train came by with some nice local scenes on her side. 

Ely looked empty, loads of vacant moorings, then the reason became obvious, the fair is in town and very sensibly the council have closed the adjacent moorings. We have seen several pairs of Grebes who are still mating and building new nests, there were a couple of males taking gifts to their better halves who were titivating their nests. If there were prizes for bulk this chap would have been in the running. This was rapidly followed followed by a duck enjoying a pleasant bath in the sunshine. By now we were well clear of the town when we met quite a convoy of wide and  narrow beamed vessels, the first called out, “hello Harnser” there was no name on the boat but I am fairly sure it was Pippin from the Cam.The others all looked as if they have been to a wedding.

There were a couple of spaces big enough for us on the Little Thetford EA moorings so we decided to stop here for the night.

Little Ouse Moorings 4 July 2013

Last night dinner was take as planned at The Jenyns Arms and yet again we didn’t have room for pud.

This morning we were awake early, it wasn’t the dawn chorus but the boater moored behind us running her engine at 6-30AM and no she wasn’t going anywhere.

A semi lazy day, we started off by putting a coat of grey paint over all the white splodges from yesterday, then off for a wander in the sunshine. Lunch was taken onboard followed by a trip to the services for a pump out, not really required but it means we start the next rip with an empty tank.
We followed this up with a short trip upstream to another set of EA moorings, this time with no trees and fluff to blow onto the wet paint. It was then time for a second coat of grey on the splodges. Even as we were painting we could see other spots of rust breaking through. The only real answer is a repaint, but I don’t have the confidence that if its done that it will last any better than the last lot.

As soon as we finished we set off back to our moorings, I wanted to fill with diesel before leaving home but I knew they closed at 5PM, so a call to Natalie and asked if she would hang on for 10 minutes until we arrived, to which she agreed.

It was then back to the moorings before driving back home for a short while.