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!

A day in Ely

18th July 2016

Today I allowed myself a bit of a lie in, as I wasn't moving the boat, but I had a lot of jobs to do on board before Joel and Shannon arrived on the train with Koko (our Border Terrier) at mid-day. Normally I wouldn't have the dog on board, but Leila is away with the Sacha and Ben, so if Joel wants to have a week on the boat, he has to bring the dog with.

First I went back to Littleport to get the van, deciding to cycle rather than motorbike. The folding Di-Blasi bike I bought is actually quite good, with 20" wheels and 7 gears and it rides quite well.... on the road that is. The only safe way back to the van was along the flood bank beside the river, and in places this was very overgrown and extremely hard going. The roads were 60mph, narrow and straight in the main, so cars would be very close and fly past at speed. Transport back to the van seems to be a continuous problem, I aim to try a variety of methods to see what works best, but the combination of a folding moped for longer journeys and a folding bike for shorter ones is the best so far. Arriving back in Ely, there is free parking all over the place, but cleverly designed to prevent commuters to Cambridge from leaving their cars parked all day. For example, the car park at the far end of the Quay is free except no parking at all from 8-9am, and the road leading to the car park is free except for no parking 10-11 am, so as long as you are actually there to move your car, there is no problem staying as long as you need.

Once back, I went over to the marina across from the quay. Their gas bottles were very reasonable, £22.00, so I bought one and walked it back on the bike carrier. However, their diesel was VERY expensive at £1.20 a litre, and they wanted £30.00 a night for visitor moorings. The little chandler in Ely was very good and had a few bits and pieces other than the gas regulator that I needed (don't they always?) including a folding plate drying rack. The boat is starting to feel more like a home all the time. Just like home, though, there were domestic jobs to do, and now that I had the van, I could drive up to the launderette and wash all the towels and bedding. While that lot was on, I emptied the bin, toilet tank, and did a small shop, keeping track of where Joel and Shannon had got to on the train. Went back to the launderette to dry the washing. The machines never spin fast enough, so the clothes always need a lot of drying. This just takes too long, not to mention all the 20p coins required, but it's the waiting that is really the problem.

Joel and Shannon arrived around mid-day, with a very bemused and tired Koko. It was really hot. She was totally confused about the boat, so we kept her under the trees and splashed her with water to keep her cool, while I stripped a load more excess fur off her to help her cope with the hot weather. The kids went off to have a cuddle under a tree, so I left them to it - young love! I also washed the right side of the boat, the bucket and sponge keeping me a bit cooler, and the sun having moved round so that the huge trees on the quay were able to give us some welcome shade all afternoon.

At around 1pm, Steve from Titan Boat Covers arrived to pattern the boat for a new canopy, as all the stitching is ripping out of the old original 10 year old one and it is coming to pieces. Basically he is a tailor. For boats. He had a huge roll of pattern paper, with which he made a template for a new cover. This has to be done bespoke because no boat is truly symmetrical and if you try and measure one side only, you will end up with a poor fitting lop-sided cover.

We had a lazy rest of the afternoon, wandering up to the town market square for fish and chips (only just in time - the shop shut at 7pm!) and back to the boat by 8:15 to sort out sleeping arrangements and make up the double in the front of the boat. Koko only needs showing once where her bed is, and she knows what to do. I am no different!

Down to Ely part 2

17th July 2016

Had a quick breakfast at 6, and decided to get moving as the sun was already up and getting warm.

I got the motorbike out, unfolded it, put all my kit on, set up Google Maps for cycling directions, put one side of a pair of headphones in my ear to get the audio directions, and headed off slowly. After a couple of miles, I was guided down  a byway, which started off as a farm track, but with lumps of broken concrete, became less and less road like, eventually turning into a narrow single track rut and finally a flattened bracken track. I later looked the route up and found out it was an old drove road. The little moped coped surprisingly well, but I didn't try to go above 15mph. I was captivated by the sight of fields of poppies, and a swan's nest full of cygnets that had obviously never seen a human before - they showed no sign of fear at the sight of me and my bike whatsoever. After a few more miles, the track widened out, the surface turned to gravel, and then broken tarmac, and finally I joined a small road again. A little further along I rode through a completely abandoned hamlet, complete with a church, with the whole front wall coming away from the rest of the building. Due to the drainage of the Fens, the land has dried out and the ground shrunk, resulting in a lot of building instability. Many villages and some quite large churches have been abandoned to the Fens in this way.

Back at the van, I was really hot in my biker gear, and drove back in shorts and t shirt with the window open to try and cool down a bit. Found an Aldi at Chatteris and did a shop for fresh stuff - very lucky as we had run out of tea bags. I spent a while standing in front of the open fridge section. Parked up in a quiet back road in Littleport about half a mile from the mooring. A white van is totally inconspicuous if it isn't left in one place for too long. Started the engine on the boat at 11:30, and headed off to Ely, arriving at the Town Quay at 1pm, and slotting in to one of the last spaces on the quay under the trees in the little park. 48 hour moorings here. There are good facilities for boaters provided by the EA, including rubbish disposal, water, toilet pump-out and elsan disposal.  I had a good wander round the town, as far as the cathedral and Oliver Cromwell's house. Will have a proper look later, as I am staying for a couple of days. It was very hot today - reached 28C and was still 22C at 8pm.

Gas went off today - it turned out that the full cylinder I had fitted at Ramsay was completely empty. I was surprised, as the previous owner said that a cylinder usually lasted a whole season. I swapped the regulator over to the spare cylinder, but could smell gas. Checked all the hoses and unions, but all tight. Still smelling gas. Got a cup and mixed washing up liquid 50:50 with water, and smeared it all over the hose unions - finally spotted bubbles coming through the alloy of the regulator body - it had gone porous! Have come across this before in alloy wheels and engine cylinder heads. There's another job to do tomorrow - fortunately there is a small chandlery in Ely right near the quay.

Down to Ely part 1

16th July 2016
2am - freaked out by a loud thump on the roof that turned out to be a heron flapping around on the canopy. I shone a torch at it and it flew away in even more of a flap. Chilly for July - I put a fleece on top of my pyjamas and went back to sleep.

8:30am - engine check. Looked like a lot of hydraulic oil in the engine bilge, but actually it was a thin film of clear hydraulic oil floating on water. There is a very small hydraulic leak in the propulsion system, which I was shown before purchasing the boat. The water is getting in through the engine air intake vent on the side of the hull. I was able to mop it all up with a sponge in about 5 minutes and squeeze it out into a bottle for disposal at the tip when I get home.

I started the engine up at 9:10. The batteries were charging at 30 amps - the max charge rate is 50, and the fridge pulls about 2-3 amps when running. The owners manual suggests switching the fridge off at night. I would suggest installing more domestic batteries so there is more power available on board. This is my first planned modification for the winter along with solar panels to keep everything topped up nicely when on the mooring and off the mains hook-up. I am a little obsessed with the batteries as they seem to have gone completely flat on me twice now, and we do rely on them for phone charging, lights, fridge etc. when the engine is off. There is a separate battery for starting the engine and another for the bow thruster.

By 9:15, however, the batteries had dropped to a 20A charge rate, so they were obviously taking a charge and hadn't run too flat overnight -  phew! I had a late breakfast, watching a Great Crested Grebe and its Zebra patterned chick diving and swimming on the river, made my second hot drink in an insulated cup and cast off at 10.00. After about half an hour running I saw a water point and followed the sage advice - never pass up an opportunity to fill up your water tank (or empty your sewage).  I also took the opportunity to give the land side of the boat a quick wash - until another boat arrived needing the tap, and I moved on to let them fill up. Moored at 12 noon at Littleport, by the bridge on the EA mooring opposite "The Swan On The River" pub. It is much hotter today - I decided to stay the afternoon here, explore the town a bit on my bike, and then go back on the moped early tomorrow before it gets too hot and retrieve the van from Bill Fen Marina - It's too hot for motorbike jacket and gloves this afternoon, and the sun won't be in my eyes heading West in the morning. Had a nice chat with a couple of the other boaters on the mooring. Very friendly lot here. Hardly any boats using these waterways either.

Listened tom the radio til 9pm, then dropped off.

Across the Fens

The Fenland Wayter14th July 2016:

NOTE: If you aim to navigate these waterways, Imray's book "The Fenland Waterways" is a good place to start, the most useful part being the pull out map in the back. Also for the more technologically advanced, the "Waternav" Android app, East, covers all the Fens, Great Ouse and Cam, and the Nene as far as Northampton. This offers more detail, plus GPS tracking. I found it useful to have the app on for a more detailed view, and to use the map for a wider view of the area.

My first proper journey in the boat - heading off across the Fens on the Middle Levels. I am on my own this time, and have not encountered a lock and had to do everything alone yet. As I was going to go through the tidal Salters Lode lock onto the Great Ouse, and then down through the Denver Sluice, I had to ring up the lock keeper at least 24 hours in advance to book a passage and check the tide times. I arranged for passage late the following evening, and then spent most of the morning fussing about on the boat at Bill Fen Marina, sorting out all the silly little things that I was worried about on board, and some important ones, like emptying the toilet tank and topping up with water, before finally leaving the mooring at noon. I took it easy and aimed for March, not too far away. On the way, I encountered several weed cutting boats. Some had sharpened propellers that span and cut the weeds, which propagate all across the channels, others had long hedge cutter type attachments for getting down deeper. There was a third type with a mesh in the front to lift out all the plant matter and dump it on the side. One of these machines had suffered a hydraulic failure and leaked a lot of oil into the channel - the multi-coloured haze was visible on the surface for a couple of miles.

There was also a lot of wildlife - swans and cygnets, Great Crested Grebes, and a Kingfisher, along with all the coots and moorhens. I managed a decent, but slightly blurred pic of the Kingfisher. Have to use an f 2.8 lens next time! I arrived on the outskirts at 3pm, and went in to Fox Narrowboats to fill up with diesel, as there would be nowhere else to refuel until I was across the Fens and on the Great Ouse. This accomplished, I ran on slowly to the Town Quay, passing a lot of pairs of collared doves, a bird that used to be very common in Bournemouth, but has been driven out by the more competitive wood pigeon. It was nice to see them after so long. Eventually, ticking over past a mile or so of private moorings, I arrived at the Quay where there were a few vacant moorings, and I tied up for the rest of the day. I needed to print off a very large document, and fortunately March Library was just a short walk across the quay and over the road, so I joined and printed off what I needed, reading it on the boat that evening.

15th July 2016: I wasn't in a hurry this morning, and took my time, setting up a hot drink in an insulated cup and some snacks on the cockpit roof, and leaving at 10:00am. The waterway I am on at this point is the old course of the River Nene, and is linked at the West end to the Whittlesey Dyke, and the East to Well Creek. Various other waterways cross it, with such intriguing names as Bevill's Leam, Popham's Eau, and the Forty Foot and Sixteen Foot Drains. This series of waterways is actually mostly man-made, with some of the ditches cut by the Romans, and others by the great Dutch engineer Vermuyden, who was called in to help drain this huge section of land that was around sea level and mostly swamp. He was knighted in 1629 for his work and became an English citizen in 1633. As a result of the flatness, there is only one lock between Whittlesey and Salters Lode. I was unaware that this lock required booking too, but fortunately I arrived there just as another boat was passing through - surprisingly this was another Sea Otter, a dinky little 22' Narrowboat called "English Rose." We chatted for a while, and ran along together for a bit, after which he took off as he had an important appointment at the fish and chip shop in Upwell!

I chugged on through Upwell and Outwell, under some very low bridges and past a beautiful church, the waterway getting narrower and narrower and slower and slower going. There were a lot of interesting buildings - old chapels, shops and cottages alongside the waterway, but no time to stop, so I kept going, eventually passing the moored "English Rose," safely at his fish and chip shop, and entering the extremely narrow, shallow, slow and weed infested Well Creek. This was hard going. I couldn't imagine how a deeper wider boat would manage there at all but have since been amazed to see a 60' widebeam making its way through there. I had to keep on stopping and running in reverse to shake the weeds off my propeller. Finally it opened out a bit at Nordelph, and the going got easier as I ran down to Salters Lode, moored up and had a well earned meal, around 1:50pm.

With at least 2 hours to go until the lock passage, I wandered around with the big camera and took some photos. Moored just to the West of Salters Lode lock, it is possible to walk a short distance and see the "Old Bedford River," which is supposedly navigable according to the map, but judging by the overgrown state of the river and the proliferation of weeds, it looked as though a boat had not passed that way in a long time, and would take a braver man than I to try! There are also some very low bridges that way, and few moorings.

"English Rose" eventually arrived, and we chatted for half an hour or so before the lock keeper suggested entering the lock at around 3:45pm. Once we were in it was a matter of waiting for the tide to rise enough for us to be able to get out on the other side. A few minutes later it started drizzling. There wasn't enough headroom in the lock to put the canopy up, so I put my waterproof on. The lock keeper told us that there wasn't a lot of water on the tide, and high water was 5pm, so we might have to wait a while. He told us of the floods the previous year, when the water was 30 feet higher than it was today, and he was worried about his house flooding, and navigation on the river would have been tantamount to suicide! Not so today... we waited and waited. Eventually he opened the outer gate, to reveal a muddy creek with no water in it. We watched as the water slowly rose inch by inch, worried that there may not be enough depth to get out of the lock, but finally, English Rose was able to nudge her way out of the lock and onto the river, waved his goodbyes and told me he was headed for Ely tonight!10 minutes later, I was moving too, although I got stuck a couple of times and had to wait another 5 minutes to float off. The rain never set in, fortunately, and after a 5 minute dash down the tidal "Great Ouse", the manned Denver lock was a quick passage because of the low state of the tide, allowing me out onto the "Ten Mile River" and down to the Environment Agency (EA) moorings a couple of miles downstream, where I tied up for the evening approaching 5pm, very tired, and grateful for a hot shower before an early night.