St Ives and St Neots

Since coming through Denver Lock, onto the Great Ouse, the river has been non-tidal but bizarrely we now encountered a tidal section.  The One Hundred Feet drain cuts 20 miles across the Fens in a straight line from the tidal Great Ouse and rejoins the river at Earith.  Hermitage Lock separates the tidal and non-tidal waters and besides seeing us through the lock the lock-keeper provides another service, rubbish disposal.   As the water level was low we were down in the bottom of the lock so the lock-keeper hooked up our carrier bags of rubbish with his long boat hook and whisked them away.  

We continued to see a variety of bird-life including Egyptian Geese which  I haven't seen on the canals.  

Best foot forward for these Egyptian Geese

After a peaceful night on the GOBA moorings conveniently near the Pike and Eel pub we sailed to the next town, St Ives.  This little town is popular with boaters and has 3 sets of moorings near the town centre.  We pulled onto the quay which gave us a good view of the famous bridge.  

The quay from St Ives bridge

St Ives Bridge in the morning sun

The next day we sailed passed Huntingdon and Godmanchester where the river changes character; it narrows and we have to keep a watch for the channel markers where the river branches or islands block our way.   At St Neots lock we were surprised to see steps leading down into the lock, an unusual sight but useful for getting on and off your boat. 

The steps in St Neots lock

At St Neots we moored up on the pontoon near the town centre and took a walk around town before the forecast rain started.   St Marys church had some interesting stained glass which depicted an entire scene across the whole window. 

Fishing scene in stained glass in St Marys church

St Neots was the turning point on this trip as we'd decided not to continue on to Bedford.   We followed some hire boaters out of St Neots and discovered they'd left their key dangling from the control box at St Neots lock.  They'd sped off before I could catch their attention but sometime later we saw them again, speeding back towards us from the next lock.  They were mightily relieved we'd brought their key with us as it was quite a distance between the locks.  

The GOBA moorings between the villages of Hemingford Grey and Hemingford Abbots were a good place to stop for a couple of days.   We discovered there were cows in the field when they came down to the river, eating noisily outside our windows and putting the GOBA sign to good use.  

The GOBA sign is just the right height for that itch

Hemingford Abbots is a picturesque village with thatched cottages and some of the roofs had interesting additions; straw cats, birds, a hare and even a fish had been imaginatively posed on various roofs.  

A straw cat stretches against a chimney

We left the Hemingfords on Sunday morning and after the next lock we discovered the river was busier than expected, another rowing club was out practising. 

A busy Sunday morning on the river.  The cruiser on the left added to the confusion by going to the wrong side.

As we approached St Ives we could see the town centre moorings were busy but once again a GOBA mooring provided a quiet place to stop just outside town. 

On Monday morning the heavens opened and the wind howled.  We waited for a lull before heading into St Ives and back onto the quay.   There were heavy showers during the day but by late afternoon the skies had cleared and Bess and Brinny were able to enjoy a walk around a vast buttercup meadow which glowed yellow in the sun.  

Our journey from Aldreth to St Neots and back to St Ives.