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 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.

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.