Back to the Grand Union

Got to Northampton OK and did some shopping. Then it was onwards and upwards on the Northampton Arm with its 17 locks. Just like at Foxton, this flight of narrow locks also links two wide navigation systems. The first obstacle was an abandoned boat moored on the lock landing. Being unable to secure by the lock our boat decided to swing round in the wind nearly hitting another abandoned boat on the other side! One boat at a time now so once No Problem had gone through it was our turn. Into the open lock, shut the gates behind and up we go. The top gates won't fully open because a car wheel with tyre had got in the way! A large digger is busy pulling out a lot of rubbish. The largest item so far removed was a lorry axel complete with both wheels. The next lock was opened by a crew busy dredging out dirty black mud. Having got through the lock we waited for a boat load of the black dirty mud to come by. Another digger further up was busy filling a boat with black mud and more of 'the unwanted'. The lower mile or so of this canal has not been dredged for many years, but at least they are trying to clean it up now.

We soon caught up with No Problem because they had picked up a huge carpet which jammed round the prop. 'Welcome to the ars* end of this canal. If only we could turn back now'. Much of the lower half of the canal was shallow and narrowed by reed growth. Been on the move for almost 8 hours today and done 20 locks so we rested at the top.

The Fen Tigers

Perhaps it is only when you have left a place that you realise how special it was. The Fenlands is an area of lowlands with a town called March at its centre. It is vast, from the shores of the Wash roughly between Kings Lynn, Peterborough and Cambridge. 80 miles by 40 miles known generally as the washlands of East Anglia. The two main rivers Nene and Great Ouse either side take the water out to sea. Between the two is the 'Middle Levels'. Manmade drainage systems have dried out the majority of the wetlands which are about 2 meters below sea level. Just like in Holland, a Dutch man helped to design and create the weirs, dams, drains and sluces. The resulting land is rich and fertile.

Before it was drained it consisted of peat bog and marshes with a number of islands of dry land. One of these is Eel Island or Ely with its wonderful Cathedral. The local inhabitants lived lonely natural lives and were known as Fen Tigers because they defended their way of life ferociously. They ate birds, eels and fish and kept warm and dry by burning dried peat. Cromwell was a Fen Tiger and when King Charles I wanted to drain the Fens, Cromwell had his head off!

But the Romans came and the Danes came to invade our land and made us what we are today, Anglo Saxons. Now in modern times it is the Polish who have invaded here. But they come to work for us. Growing vegetables a plenty on the rich fertile land.

A bad day

Some one said to me "a bad day on your boat is better than a good day in the office! Our bad day started the day before when the batteries went 'low'. Most of them were very thirsty. 'Don’t work too well with pure acid in the cells'. As they are the original batteries they must be at least 3 years old and just like 'No Problem' are due for retirement. Should get a new set before the winter. A bad internet connection left me hanging in the bank. Some good news from Phill at Wharfhouse Narrowboats in Braunston. Batteries cost £50 and as one purchased earlier had failed prematurely it's a case of buy 4 and get one free ?

When the girls returned from the shops in Thrapston we set off. A bridge just before Islip Lock proved to be lower than the 2.4 m clearance due to the water being higher. It took our Sat dish off the roof and it dangled on its cable. Only an inch but that angle iron just bent it as I was in 'full astern'.

It was at least a dry mild day as we travelled with 'No Problem'. Through 6 locks to Rushden & Diamond moorings where 'Balmaha's, Mo and Vanessa greeted us. After a cup of tea the lads sorted out the dish so we could watch the news.

Middle Level

Now on the Middle Level in a 'shallow ditch' The surrounding landscape well below the high tide. As we progressed the 'link' became deeper but there are some very low bridges. So low that Ann had to keep an eye on the chimney, removing it when required. Then it rained all the way to March. Sue & Vic went on ahead. "See you in March" they said. 'That's odd. It's September now!'.

The Middle Level Link is a mixture of original river and man made channels so while in the river bit we were able to get a move on the next day in a sunny day. The Commissioners don't charge for the use of the link but a contribution to both lock keepers is appreciated.

Back on the Nene

We rushed through Peterborough on the very wide deep river Nene heading for Ferry Meadows. A Saturday and 'public' were out and about. As we approached Orton Lock I saw a boat and several fishermen on the lock landing which should be kept clear. 'No Problem' was waiting in the lock. A lot of water was rushing over the weir pushing Moore 2 Life sideways as I slowed on the approach. Missed that boat as the fishermen frantically pulled in their lines. 5 locks and several bends in the river later and we arrived at Elton. There waiting for us and helping with the mooring operations was Mo and Vanessa from 'Balmaha'. We all sat outside enjoying a late afternoon in September while consuming tea n cake kindly provided by Mo n Vanessa. Then Mark and Lorain arrived to join in the 'Blog Circle'.

Waiting for the tide at Denver

We were up early and waiting for the high tide at 9 o'clock. Three boats to go through. The guillotine went up and the first boat went in and up on the tide and was away. One boat on the tide coming towards us went into the open lock. The water rushed out as the boat came down to our level.

 Now it was our turn, in with 'No Problem'. I elected to go first as it was only one boat at a time in to Salters Lode Lock. A sharp bend round to the left across the tide stream, starting to go sideways as the tide was already going out. Banged the bow against the concrete side of the entrance channel. "Nearly right" said the watching lock keeper, "more wellie next time". There is only an hour of useful high water as the sand bank is now higher than the Middle Level waters.

Into the lock and down into the muddy waters to wait for 'No Problem' to do the same. The lock is only able to take one maximum length 63ft boat as it is not now possible to open both gates to pass through on the tide. An average of 9 boats can pass through on each daily tide.

Getting away

Firstly we rang Josh to wish him a happy 4^th. Birthday.

Filled up with diesel and we were off with 'No Problem' following through Ely for the last time looking back at the magnificent cathedral. 15 miles of just wide deep river to Denver, getting more remote as we progressed. Not many trees now, the railway on one side and road on the other. It was a warm sunny day with not a cloud in the sky but a southerly wind made a choppy river.

Disposal / Recycling ?

Disposal of the 'unwanted' to proper recycling sites should be free to the disposer. In many cases it is not. A responsible disposer will transport the 'unwanted' to a recycling point. The main reason for not doing so is personal cost. It seems stupid for a local council to charge the disposer. Then end up clearing the countryside at considerable cost. It is extremely hazardous to the environment to dump unwanted cars, batteries, oil, electrical goods etc. There must be a lot of irresponsible people about because we do see so much unwanted in the countryside.

Staying in Ely

Our plan was to stay a weekend but now that has been extended to a full week. Sue n Vic have been nursing their engine and finally discovered that it needs a major repair. Unfortunately the head gasket has failed after only two years of the reconditioned engine's life. So without power we are providing support and keeping various batteries charged up. It also seems that some of their domestic boat batteries have failed. Luckily a local boat yard are able to do the work, all be it between looking after the 'Bridge Boatyard' hire fleet. The shops of Ely have been handy for getting in some Christmas presents for grand children and the local Tesco is providing us with food.

Bloggers meet again

While at St. Ives Mo & Vanessa on NB 'Balmaha' arrived then Sue n Vic on NB 'No Problem'. It always amazes me how friendly we all are with the common interest in boating and inland waterways. Several other boaters, already here, were so helpful catching our ropes and helping to moor up. It is here at St. Ives that the IWA boat gathering will come next year. Plans are being made to improve the moorings on the field opposite. September is always more settled with less rain than August and we were able to enjoy another BBQ and eat outside. Then we were invited on board 'Balmaha'.

The next day we all headed for Ely. 'Balmaha' got there first while 'Moore 2 Life' and 'No Problem' stopped a night at Aldreth on the Old West River. Between Brownhill and Hermitage Locks the river is slightly tidal being fed from the New Bedford River which comes directly from Denver and the sea at Kings Lyn. As we go down, leaving the Bedford Ouse behind, the short stretch between the locks is very exposed on this windy day. There is a water point between the locks and while waiting for a boat to clear, we got spun round by the wind!

Hermitage Lock has a keeper who opened the lock as we approached. We went in and exchanged greetings as he took our name and number. "Thanks very much" says I, "No problem" says he, "That’s the boat before me" says I. A road actually goes over the lock and the keeper has to cross it to open the other end. Now we go down on to the Old West River. In Roman times this river was a meandering stream. Now it continues to the Ely Ouse at Pope's Corner where the River Cam joins, once more becoming a wide river. It was not long then before we got to Ely which is full of boats! Just past the first road bridge we squeezed in beside 'No Problem' as a fisherman left the bank.

Then a Blog reader came to say hello with a bag of 'Sugar Iced pastries'. Thanks Steve from us all. Then Mo &Vanessa found us!

Going down river

Sue n Vic went back to St. Neots so Lucy could have another operation, while we met our Grand children and parents at the campsite by Brampton Mill. They stayed for the weekend and enjoyed a trip up and down the river Great Ouse during a lovely sunny day. Sue suggested that we could meet again down river at St. Ives. This would give Lucy some quiet time to recover. Both Lucy and Molly get so excited when they meet. So for the first time we travelled on our own down river. Only one lock to be done on our own for we were joined by other boats at the next two.

Took two days to get to St. Ives having stopped the night by Houghton Mill at the quiet EA Island mooring.

Support from Government

Once again it seems that government investment in our valuable rivers and canals is about to be reduced. Those of us who use the 'navigation' will be expected to pay even more. The Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA) have apparently mismanaged our hard earned taxes which will cause a severe loss of subsidy to the Environment Agency and British Waterways.

Please do write to your MP to complain after you have confirmed this situation yourself.

BW and EA will be suffering yet more redundancies so be sympathetic to their workers as it was not their fault.

Two Items

Internet

We are keeping in touch through the internet with friends and family. Many other boaters use it to write 'Blogs'. A way of writing a diary for anybody to read. A hi tec 'tow path telegraph'. It is also a source of information, education and entertainment. The navigation authorities have their web sites which tell us about current problems and we can quickly report back any problems we encounter. There are 'News' pages which we often read about boating issues. Our boat was recently featured in a picture taken by Sue as we encountered a low bridge in Bedford. The owners of the narrowboat 'Ramys Home' write a 'Blog' and we have met them at St. Noets.

Environment ?

Have just found out that most of the 'plastic' cruisers on the river have 'sea toilets' ! That means it cannot be safe to swim in the river anywhere near them ! This is why there are so few facilities to dispose our 'Elsan' cassette contents ! We have only coped so far by carefully planning our trips between the facilities. Water is thankfully readily available. It is a quite 'medieval' attitude on the Environment Agency's part to even allow it to happen. After all, towns and cities have to make sure that only pure water is returned to the rivers. Next year the Inland Waterway Association are organising a large boat gathering at St. Ives next year and those boaters will be needing proper facilities. And we wonder how they will all get there knowing that access and facilities are very limited between Peterborough and Denver.

CD Recording

While at St. Noets I have created a CD with 22 tracks copied from my collection. I used Microsoft Media Player to create a 'Play List'. Then used a 'Screen Snatcher' to print the label for the CD. At first the CD would only play in the computer. The CD player rejected CD RW disk that I had used. Then I 'burnt' (recorded) a Write Once Read Many (WORM) CD which did play in the CD player.

Technical: The Audio files on a CD cannot be copied directly. WMP copies the data to a file on the computer then converts them back to record your selected tracks on the CD.

Wind in the Willows

After that event we went back to Bedford marina to tidy up, use the facilities and stock up at Tesco.

The summer has gone for a while. Our trip back to Great Barford was accompanied by strong winds and cloud. Many of the willows were bending over, reducing height, and some had fallen in the river. We made our way round them carefully as they had reduced the navigation to half its normal width. Easy going down that deep lock at Castle Mill then through another past 'R Island' and arrived to find several cruisers on the GOBA mooring. We took on water by the Anchor Inn and moved up to settle down in the shelter of the trees at the EA moorings. Wont be lighting up the Barby to night!

Return to explore

Having attempted to get to the end of navigation at Bedford on the river Ouse we turned round and stayed in the marina. We have enjoyed 'discovering' the rivers of East Anglia including the Nene. Now we return to 'explore'.

'R' Island

We had discovered this mooring on the way up river just south of Great Barford. We stopped again and set up camp with Sue & Vic's family. We got both boats in past the weed into a secluded spot surrounded by trees. Set up the tents and lit the B B Q just before it rained! So we packed up the tables and chairs and ate inside. It seems such a shame that the school holidays missed most of the hot weather last month.

The weed cutting machines have been busy between Bedford and Great Barford and the operators kindly agreed to clear the weed from our mooring spot provided by the Environment Agency.

Tent city

The mid summer family gathering assembled at Great Barford. We arrived a day early as the weed cutters were clearing the weed down stream. Filled up with water and got a delivery from Tesco on board. Then moved over and set up camp. Over the weekend we had 3 tents set up and 17 people including 6 children and one great grand mother arrived. Plenty of activities for the children were supervised by adults and organised by the eldest child. The whole event was enjoyed in warm sunshine with B B Q's each day.

End of navigation ?

Moved on to Bedford to try and get to the 'end of navigation' on the river.

This stopped us getting to the 'official' end of navigation.

But after squeezing under several very low bridges we turned round at the last lock in Bedford and stayed a night in the Marina. Free for GOBA members. One day it is planed to 'cut' a new canal to link Bedford and Milton Keynes. Would have been useful to go that way to join the Grand Union canal. But we will have to turn here and 'explore', on our way back, the rivers Ouse and Nene.

Had to remove items off the roof to get under this. 

Evening cruise

There is about 2 miles of tidal waters where the New Bedford River comes in from King's Lynn. Many of the major rivers in this area no longer follow their natural path. In order to drain the land and maintain river levels many locks, weirs and 'drains' have been created over the centuries. We did not see the seals which are known to live this far from the sea. We passed through St. Ives to stop at the moorings and did some shopping in the town. After a refreshing drink at the local pub by the waterside we continued our journey up river. It had been hot again during the day so a cool evening trip was in order. Heading west towards the setting sun made for tricky navigation. Several people and small boats in the water were difficult to see. Passed through several locks wide enough for both boats and once joined by another small boat. Finally arriving at Godmanchester as the sun went down. A lovely mooring by a park with trees.

Apologies to our readers for the lack of 'postings'.  We have reached Great Barford.

Really is too HOT

Over 30 inside and out most of the day, often nearer 40 ! While moving we use an umbrella for shade. Apparently it had been this hot back in 1911 ! "I suppose these hot summers are due to become more frequent". The biggest problem has been keeping the inside cool. The best we can do is to hang white cloth outside the windows. Occasionally using a fan to keep the fridge cool. The mains inverter has been getting hot so have not been using the TV much or the computer. Much cooler in the evening so we are sitting outside. Tables, chairs, parasols, candles in buckets, an alcoholic beverage and an occasional BBQ make for enjoyable evenings.

Wicken Sedge Fen

To get there we travelled up the Great Ouse from Ely and turned left on to the River Cam. A few miles further, left again and through a lock at Upware. Another left turn and we were on the Wicken Lode. (Lode is a medieval word for waterway or canal).

 This Lode is very narrow and just navigable. A deep narrow cutting lined with reed and lily pads with flowers in full bloom.

The National Trust look after these wetlands and trying to expand them.

The last surviving drainage wind mill is now used in reverse to maintain the wetlands here.

ELY (Eel Island)

Moved on to the Great Ouse to the next EA moorings where picnic tables and facilities were available for the travellers on the A10 road as well as for us boaters. As we approached the city we saw the cathedral on the hill. Wow what an impressive building. Luckily found a mooring near the Maltings. Boats were rather spread out by the park preventing us from stopping there on the way in. The mooring is very public but was quiet at night. Many ducks and geese sleep on the grass near by were chased off by a dog late one night creating a lot of noise.

Ely is a historic city with many old and beautiful buildings. At one time an island surrounded by sea and marsh lands. The main shopping centre is up the hill past the cathedral. Many useful shops are here but more like a town than a city.

The cathedral was founded as a monastery and suffered much damage by Henry VIII during the Dissolution and by the hand of Oliver Cromwell who lived in Ely for 10 years. Most of the statues had their heads chiselled off and much of the ornate stone decoration has been severely damaged. The huge Lady Chapel had all the stain glass windows broken so it is now very bright with the plain glass. A modern statue of Mary dressed in bright blue stands above the alter.

Great Ouse & Little Ouse

After that long day we opted for a short trip to Hilgay Bridge on the Great Ouse where we found an excellent mooring provided by EA. Complete with water tap and a bench seat. After getting water we moved back and tied the bow to the end bollard with the stern in the bushes. This enabled No Problem to move away from the water point. That evening a 'plastic' cruiser arrived and stayed the night. Next day another Narrowboat turned up for water so NP came along side us to make room.

We both set off 2 miles up stream to turn off on to the Little Ouse by the 'Ship Inn'. Heading for Brandon up 'Brandon Creek' as the L. O. is otherwise known. Passed a few assorted boats along this waterway lined with trees. Became aware of the high flood banks either side which protect the low lying farm lands. Eventually found the GOBA mooring about half way along at 7 miles in. Another patch of mowed grass but not so deep at the edge so we used our long plank this time. Saw a single black swan on our way down.

Went on up stream weaving past the weed to the moorings by the short lock at Brandon. Seems only little boats will be able to venture further. We went on foot to the busy town with plenty of useful shops. That evening a gathering of youngsters with plenty of drink made us think twice about staying the night. The cruise back to the quiet GOBA mooring was quite enjoyable as the sun went down. Next day we continued down stream to the 'Ship Inn' for a marvellous meal.