St Neots to Ely in a day... phew!

27th July 2016

Woke up this morning to the sound of rain falling on the roof. Luckily the new canopy was very watertight and well fitted, and only a couple of drops had seeped through despite the heavy rain in the night. Also, fortunately, all the bridges have plenty of headroom, so I can run with the cover up. I was meeting Steve from Titan re sewing my old canopy (as the stitching was coming apart but the canvas was pretty much ok) at the Hartford Marina near Huntingdon, so left at 8am to be sure of getting there on time. I arrived at 12:30, and as he had not yet arrived I decided to fill up with diesel and buy some petrol for the motorbike too. Water tank topped off while waiting....

Steve arrived and we concluded our business quickly, then I set off at 1pm, aiming to get to Ely this evening. Some of the locks were faster than others - the best was 10 minutes, helped by a boy of around 10, who was only too keen to wind the paddles on the other gate after I handed him my spare windlass, and swing it open for me, closing up after I had driven out. His dad was very excited and filmed the whole procedure on his mobile. Most of the locks were 15 to 20 mins, but one took 45 as a boat had just gone in and it was very slow to empty and re-fill.

I finally arrived in Ely at 8:35pm, just as it was getting dark, and found a mooring on the Town Quay again, right where I had been before, under the huge trees. Total distance 38.6 miles, 9 locks, all on my own. No wonder I slept well that night!

Bedford back to St Neots

26th July 2016

After weekend back home and lots of paperwork to catch up on, I left Bournemouth for Bedford at 6am, and arrived at 9:00. Alone again, but I had the boat loaded, bed made and ready to cast off by 9:50, the fastest I have yet managed to set off. I did need to be at Great Barford by lunchtime for the new cockpit canopy to be fitted, though, so I had no time to hang around. The three locks were much easier going downstream, as the descent is much less turbulent than the ascent in a filling lock. I arrived at Great Barford at noon, and awaited the arrival of the fitters from Titan Boat Covers.

While I was waiting for them to arrive, I heard the sounds of clarinet playing coming from the boat moored alongside me, and wandered over in curiosity, only to meet the lovely Jones family, whose young son was playing the clarinet so well, and we got chatting, which turned into a cup of coffee, and realisation that we lived quite close to each other. We chatted for a good hour or so while Titan got on with stretching the new canvas out over my canopy frame and punching holes for the new fixing points to match up with the fittings on the boat. Eventually, the Joneses had to leave, but we exchanged details and hoped to meet up in the future.

The canopy fitting took 4 hours in the end, as it had to be "just so" obviously, but with 4 hours of daylight left, I decided to get a move on and keep going. Sadly the Great Barford lock was against me, a boat just having gone in from my direction, and it took half an hour to get through, as opposed to my ten minute best time earlier in the morning. Fortunately, all the rest of the locks were in my favour, and I made it to St Neots and moored at the same mooring as last week by the Priory Centre at 6:30

Great Barford to Bedford (Priory Marina)

23rd July 2016

Last night was an early one, so it's hardly surprising that this morning was also an early start! I was up at 6am, and ready to get going by 8:00, however I was just about to cast off when I remembered that I had left the motorbike in the van! Fortunately I was only parked 2  minutes walk from the mooring, and by wheeling the bike down to the mooring I didn't have to start the engine and disturb the peace and quiet so early on a Saturday morning.

I was sorry to leave this lovely quiet mooring. Once under way, there were three locks to negotiate, one being the very deep Castle Mill lock. The procedure when on your own is as follows, assuming the lock is ready for you with the bottom gate already open. If not you have to get the lock ready by mooring up, emptying the lock, and then opening the bottom gate, a procedure which can delay passage by up to 10 minutes.

1) Drive into the lock, placing your helm position by a ladder. DON'T turn off the engine - you may need to jump back on and manoeuvre the boat in a hurry!

2) Get your centre rope / ropes (in my case) and put them over your shoulders, uncoiled so they can trail down in front of you and down in between your arms - you don't want to lose them, or you will lose the boat!

3) Carefully climb off the boat and onto the ladder, then ascend slowly, making sure the ropes pay out behind you and you don't trip on them or slip on the slimy rungs.

4) Once on the side of the lock, tie the boat up and close the bottom gate, then start filling the lock, constantly making sure there is plenty of slack in the ropes and the boat won't get pulled over by being tied too tight.

5) When the lock is full, open the top gates, drive out, moor on the upstream landing stage, and go back and reset the lock if nobody is coming downstream. (All Nene and Great Ouse locks are supposed to be left empty and with the guillotine gate open)

This lot can take up to half an hour per lock, which is why canal and river distance is often measured in lock - miles. (Add the number of locks to the distance travelled). The three locks negotiated, I soon arrived at Priory Marina, a very well run marina owned by the Canal and Rivers Trust (formerly British Waterways), and filled my nearly empty water tank before wandering over to the office to ask where they wanted me to put the boat. The great thing about boating today is that you can contact the marinas a couple of days ahead of arrival, having a much better idea of when you will get to your destination, and book only the days you need.

Once on the mooring, I had lunch, and then a lazy cycle ride back to Great Barford along the very beautiful "National Cycle Route 51," to collect the van. Final jobs on board included stripping the beds, packing everything up and taking it all home for washing. Goodbye, "Escape,"moped, motorbike,  see you in a week.

St Neots to Great Barford - on my own again

22nd July 2016

This morning I drove Joel, Shannon (and Koko) to Cambridge, so they could get a train home. The early part of the journey was fine, but getting in and out of the station was hell, due to the massive roadworks and renovations going on in the whole area around the station. Eventually, when I got back to the boat it was well after noon and I had a splitting headache. I decided to have a couple of Paracetamol and a glass of water and try to get going.

The river is quite wide in places and very level and calm. I went through 3 locks and the going was easier than I had expected it would be, just taking my time in the locks, mostly on my own, i.e. with no other boats locking up with me, and making steady progress. Eventually, I stopped at Great Barford, just downstream of the beautiful bridge, and on the public moorings outside the pub. A quick wander around showed up plenty of parking very close to the river, so I went back and got the van from St Neots.

Usually when I take the moped I ask Google for cycling directions, pop an earphone in one ear inside my helmet, and follow the voice guidance, a policy which has taken me along some very interesting byways and paths, and although I have occasionally had to turn around and find an alternative route, it has been very rewarding to travel these routes. However, today I rather incautiously asked for road directions, and 20 minutes later found myself guided up to a roundabout and onto the A1. On a 50cc moped with a 30mph top speed. Not clever, not safe. Not the A1M, I might add, but still 2 lanes wide with lorries travelling past at 60mph. I stopped on the grassy verge and looked at my phone for a minute, searching the maps for any alternative route that would be a little safer, but really there was nothing that didn't involve a 40 minute detour.

I realised at this point that I didn't have a lot of choice over my route, but what I did have was a choice over where to ride. The A1 has a layby road alongside parts of it here, and a pavement, although I only saw 2 people on my 4 mile journey all along this horrible stretch of road. Yes, I admit it, I rode along the pavement. It was do or die. I pottered along at 15mph or so, as unobtrusively as possible, and when I saw my 2 pedestrians, I pulled over and switched off, waiting for them to walk past me before continuing on my way. The pavement was cracked and broken up in places, and very rough. There were a lot of kerbs to cross, and there was lots of debris along the way, general rubbish, planks, rubble etc, that the little moped coped with surprisingly well. Finally the hell was over, I approached and negotiated a large roundabout, subsequently and the roads were smaller and at a 40mph limit, so I felt much safer getting back into the middle of my lane and riding on towards St Neots. It's not surprising how well the moped seems to cope in town, but how much less at home it seems on the open roads. Still, back to the van safe and sound, a much quicker journey to Great Barford in the van, and a great parking spot alongside the church yard.

By now I really had a bad headache, so I popped a couple more Paracetamols and had another glass of water, and a hot shower, and crashed for the night.

St Ives to St Neots

21st July 2016

Up quite late around 8am and had a lazy breakfast. There was enough hot water left after washing up for 1 shower, so I put the engine on to heat up enough for another before we left. It's actually best for the helm to have the first shower, and then just let the crew members have theirs as we go along. That way you are not running the engine just to heat water, which is quite wasteful, and the batteries are usually fully charged after a couple of hours running anyway, so it's a bit of a waste of diesel, and will also bring the oil change service forward as well.

We left at 10:30 and ran upstream aiming for St Neots, encountering several of the ubiquitous Nene locks on the way. I am sure I have mentioned this earlier in the blog, but Nene and Great Ouse locks are almost all identical in layout, with a few exceptions. There is a bottom (downstream) guillotine gate which is a vertical gate, electrically operated on most of the locks from a padlocked cabinet on the lock side. The top gates are a more traditional layout, with a pair of V gates pointing upstream, with manual paddles (slackers) operated by a windlass. Apparently all the guillotine gates used to be windlass operated (phew!) but these days the few manual gates on the Nene have a wheel, which is still quite hard work. The locks are all quite wide, and would accommodate a widebeam canal boat easily enough. Some enlarge even further after the gate with a "bulge" in the middle and can take several boats at a time, especially as you get nearer to Bedford.

The whole navigation system of the two rivers was falling into quite a state of disrepair by the 1930s, and very close to being abandoned, but its potential as a transport system was seen by those in power with approaching war in mind, and a huge renovation project was undertaken, which enabled these two rivers to serve as a major goods artery along with the canal system throughout the second world war.

Half way to St Neots, we found a very quiet marina - at Buckden, and managed to empty the rather full toilet tank and find someone to unlock the pump and fill us up with Diesel. This is a very pretty stretch of the river, and I took a lot of photos. Eventually we arrived in St Neots, and moored up on the 48 hour moorings next to the Priory Centre. This is Joel and Shannon's last night on the boat, so I sent Joel off with Shannon to have a nice meal out together. Last time I did this they went to Subway, so I stuck a £20.00 note in Joel's hand and told him to take her somewhere nicer - to a pizza restaurant at least! There were a few boats on the mooring pontoon, and people around, so as there is safety in numbers I decided to lock up the boat and go back to get the van in the evening cool. It was a lovely motorbike ride along the B roads, as the sun went down behind the trees - I often find myself stopping and pulling out my compact camera for a snap or two on these journeys. The biggest problem is finding a quiet side street to park in, but I am getting better at it, often spotting a suitable location as I ride out of the town on my moped or bike, and then hopping back on it for the 3 or 4 minute ride back to the boat once I am parked.

Earith to St Ives

20th July 2016

Well, today was not so hot, but still hot! We all had showers first thing, and after washing up I filled the water tank from the tap on the pontoon. We left the mooring at 10:15, and arrived at the picturesque town of St Ives 2 hours later, at lunchtime, finding a space on the Town Quay again, just downstream of the bridge, which is famous for being one of very few with a chapel built into it.

The town is a moderate size, and we went shopping for much-needed supplies, having run out of milk, bread and eggs. The main square is dominated by a statue of Oliver Cromwell, the only statue of said "King slayer" in the country that was funded by public subscription. There is a good variety of shops, with a few high street names, but not the bigger ones.

Returning to the boat with such luxuries as pizzas to go in the oven, and some fresh salad stuff, I was happy to sit on the quay wall and watch the world go by, while Joel and Shannon took Koko for a proper walk. Mid afternoon, a man appeared just above our boat, and spent2 hours - yes, 2 hours, shouting down his phone on speaker in an incredibly excited Arab language. Occasionally he would get a call and speak in very poor English, quickly finishing, calling someone else and reverting to Arabic. We jokingly conjectured that he might be plotting an attack, and decided his name was Allahu Akbar. He certainly was annoying, but eventually he left. At 3:30, I was surprised to see a load of school children in uniform come along the quay - it seems that the holidays ended a week later here than they did in Hampshire and Dorset!

After doing a  few jobs on the boat, it was time to put the oven on and cut up the salad. The shadows were getting longer on the quayside and we sat outside the boat to eat. Around 7pm, a troupe of Morris dancers arrived on the quay, and proceeded to entertain us with several songs and dances. It is such an English tradition, and a dying art by all accounts, so it was gratifying to see a few small children joining in alongside the dancers and trying to do the steps and claps, though by the time they are 12 or 13, they would probably be mortified to see themselves in that situation.

A little later, a seal was spotted swimming up the river, and I did manage a reasonable photo despite the dusk. We had quite a late night. At midnight, 4 people jumped off the bridge into the river. I heard the first splash and quickly got up on deck. They were drunk, obviously, young lads of 16-18, and they had stripped completely naked and were jumping off the parapet in the middle of the river. Three of them managed to swim to the bank quickly and retrieve their clothes and run off, but the fourth was quite the worse for wear, and I was on the point of calling 999 when he finally managed to get close enough to the bank to get his feet on the bottom and stagger ashore, limping off after his friends without a single stitch of clothing!

Ely To Earith

19th July 2017

This morning, I got the young 'uns up far earlier than they would have liked, and sent them off to see the cathedral, bearing in mind that we had to be off the mooring and away by 1pm at the latest. This magnificent building is called "the Great Ship Of The Fens," and it is easy to see why, especially from a distance on the river, as this mighty edifice is situated on the only hill for miles around, and dominates the countryside by virtue of its higher location. Apart from the magnificent cathedral itself, well worth a visit is Prior Crauden's Chapel, now a part of the neighbouring King's School. You need to ask at the cathedral desk for the key, and then wander round the back of the cathedral and down a mews, and turn up a narrow dark staircase to the locked door. Once, inside all is light, The tiny building has a few rows of chairs and a small altar, under which is a beautifully preserved mediaeval tiled floor with Adam and Eve and the serpent depicted. The walls have the remains of brightly coloured paintings.

Back at the boat, we were preparing for departure, and it was getting very hot. Off the mooring and down to the water point to fill up, we had to turn in the river, which luckily is easy in a smaller lighter boat like ours. Then we headed down the river, and found diesel at the Bridge Marina at £1.05 / l, fully 15p a litre less than the other place, so filled up. At the Hermitage Lock, the river becomes tidal again for quite a few miles, as the two artificial channels of the "Old Bedford River" and the "New Bedford River" (or 100 Foot Drain) join the Great Ouse at this point, and they are tidal from the Salters Lode and Denver lock complex. Apparently the river can be pretty lively here, but with very little rain, neap tides, high pressure and 34C temperatures, the water is "pushed down" so to speak, and there was very little tidal movement.

As we made our way along the river, there were, as there have been all summer so far, hundreds of dragonflies and damselflies of all sorts, the most frequently sighted being the beautiful iridescent Common Blue Damselfly. The water was particularly clear too, and beneath the boat we could see many fish, sizes from 1cm long in vast shoals to much larger specimens that would have made a nice meal, one each. Joel and Shannon both had spells driving, and did very well - we didn't hit anything!

We chose to stop for the night at an EA mooring near the small town of Earith, which had a water point and pump out. Being tidal still, the whole mooring and service pontoon was able to float up and down, tethered to massive steel piles, with a gangplank to the bank. There was a public footpath through a campsite and small marina to the nearest road. For your information - WARNING: West View Marina. Shannon took Koko out for a walk after we arrived, and was immediately accosted by the garrulous owner of the site on the subject of picking up mess. She even had the bags in her hand! We had a light dinner, and I went back to get the van from Ely, due to the parking restrictions there. I wheeled my little moped up the ramp, and pushed Tidal Great Ouse, it through the campsite so as not to disturb anyone. This time, I was accosted by the owner, who told me not to make a noise and disturb the residents, and I couldn't ride the bike through there anyway. I wasn't going to stand for this, so I told him a) as I was walking it through quietly with the engine off at 7pm, I was hardly going to tear through like a lunatic on my way back at 9pm, was I? b) a moped by law is treated as a bicycle when the engine is off, and you can legally walk bicycles down public footpaths. He told me "not to get sarcastic with him." I told him that he had just lost the sale of a tank of diesel and 3 ice creams, possibly a gas bottle and some chandlery, and to stop harassing potential customers. He shut up and let me through. It was still very hot, and wearing all my bike clothing is distinctly unpleasant in these temperatures, but I would rather be a "boil in the bag" than get my skin peeled off if I have a spill on the bike. I retrieved the van, parked it in a quiet side road a the edge of town, and pootled back on the bike. It was 28C when I went to bed at 9:30!