Brandon to St Ives

On Saturday morning we started the return journey on the Little Ouse but didn't go far, just to the moorings near Hockwold-cum-Wilton.  The quaint cottages in the village were studded with flint as was the Red Lion pub which served a refreshing pint. 

The Red Lion pub with flint on its walls

Back on the moorings curious cows stopped to watch us as they wandered around the meadows.

The curious cows looking at Brent III

The next day we completed our journey back to the Great Ouse and this time I had my camera ready for a photo of Scotch Mist.

Scotch Mist - a long way from Viking Marina

On Monday the magnificent cathedral of Ely came into view as we approached the city.

Ely Cathedral stands proud over the Fens

There were plenty of empty moorings in Ely due to the enforcement of the 48 hour limit.  This is achieved by a £100 charge per day for overstaying and although this sounds harsh it does ensure visiting boaters can stop to see Ely.  

We took a tour up into the West Tower of the cathedral and Kev took the binoculars for the views across the flat Fens.  They were also useful in the cathedral to look at the high painted ceilings.  

The view from the West Tower - the Cathedral's Octagon tower and the flat Fens beyond

On Wednesday our 48 hours were up so we cast off and sailed south-west to Popes Corner where we turned onto the Old West River.  It was a glorious day so we sailed passed the visitor moorings at Streatham Pumping Station. 

Streatham Pumping Station

The river narrows down and is more interesting than the Great Ouse but after a while we discovered it also has more blanket weed.  In the clear water we could see great balls of the stuff just waiting for a boat's propeller.  We stopped for the day at Aldreth and as other boats passed we could see they were also getting caught in the weed.  

The next day we sailed the last 4 miles on the weed choked river to Hermitage Lock.  This lock opens onto a small tidal section which is connected to the sea by the long straight Old Bedford River.   Brownshill Lock took us back onto non-tidal waters and it didn't take long to reach the GOBA moorings at the Pike & Eel Hotel.  We quickly found the local midge population was thriving and those bugs had a nasty nip.  

On Friday morning we were up early and away from the midges but we didn't need to go far before finding a nice spot to stay; Holywell is a quiet village with thatched cottages.  We moored opposite the pub which was popular for wedding receptions.  Some of Friday's wedding guests wandered down to the river and had a chat; some of Saturday's wedding guests wandered down to the river, stripped off and jumped in!

Wedding guests cool off in the river

Another early start on Sunday morning took us down to the pretty town of St Ives.  

Sailing into St Ives

The 48 hour mooring limit is also enforced here so we were able to pick a mooring in the cut on the other side of the bridge.  We had a stroll round the town which is a popular tourist attraction and when it was cooler the girls had a run on the meadows. 

Houses on The Quay which had been full of narrowboats when we arrived

On Monday we had a potter round the busy street market and the local shops before the heat set in.  In the afternoon we decided to take the girls for a cooling paddle which turned into a swimming lesson.  The only time either of them have swum is after falling in and the result is a lot of splash and panic.  When taken into the water in a calmer situation Brinny was able to swim and Bess surprised us by being a good swimmer but only in one direction - back to dry land. 

The local ducks came looking for food and ate the ryvita we put out.  One duck came back for more, she kept peering in the windows at us and then waddled down to the bow where she jumped onto a locker lid.  After a moment she dropped down onto the front deck and looked in through the door.  

Anything else to eat?

Our journey from Brandon to St Ives 

Peterborough to Brandon

We stayed for a couple of days in Peterborough which has some interesting buildings including the old Buttermarket. 

The old Buttermarket in Peterborough's busy Cathedral Square.  The church in the background is St Johns parish church.

We had a look around the Cathedral and then went into St Johns Church to see the Peterborough Art Society exhibition.  Before leaving Peterborough we stocked up at the nearby Asda ready for the next leg of our journey.

At Stanground Lock we left the Environment Agency navigations to travel on the drainage system controlled by the Middle Level Commissioners.  Our first stop was at Whittlesey, a small town with an excellent haberdashery where I bought some materials for my next project.  

After Whittlesey Lock the long straight drains are flanked by reeds. 

Passing one of the connecting watercourses, Bevills Leam, after Whittlesey

We had been told the moorings at March might be full so were relieved to see plenty of space when we arrived.   Unfortunately March has a rat problem and we watched rats running about quite openly on the opposite bank, Bess was very interested.

On the moorings at March

On Sunday morning we left March heading north-east.  The waterway was wide and deep and we made good progress to Marmont Priory but after the lock we were travelling on the narrow, shallow Well Creek.   A sign showed the speed limit was 4 mph but our Garmin showed we were travelling at 1.9 mph when we weren't stopping to clear the prop.  The villages of Outwell and Upwell lined the banks and their bridges were very low. 

Looking back at Kev as we sailed under a low bridge

Thankfully Well Creek became deeper after Upwell and we sailed on to Salters Lode Lock in time for the tide on the Great Ouse.  Two other narrowboats were already waiting and we expected to be locked through after them so were just taking it easy watching the proceedings. 

Salters Lode Lock

 A long working boat came into the lock off the river and very slowly came up to our water level.  The lock gates opened and we could see the bottom gates were also open; the boat was too long for the lock and had been waiting for the tide to bring it up to our level.  Suddenly it was action stations, the lock-keeper wanted us all to sail through the lock in the few minutes he could keep both sets of gates open.  We hastily cast off and sailed through onto the Great Ouse and turned upstream to travel the short tidal stretch up to Denver Sluice.  Once through Denver Lock we stopped on one of the many free moorings, by our standards it had been a long day!

The wind had been picking up and heavy rain was forecast but it didn't seem too bad when we set off on Tuesday morning.  That soon changed and as we reached the moorings at Ten Mile Bank heavy rain had set in.  We tied up and spotted something in the water.  A closer look revealed the silver grey head of a seal which turned our way.  Two round black eyes watched us for a moment before it ducked underwater and disappeared.  

Strong winds kept us at Ten Mile Bank until Thursday morning and then we sailed upstream to Brandon Creek, the junction of the Little Ouse.  We turned onto the smaller river which forms the boundary between Norfolk and Suffolk.  Private moorings line the river and we had a surprise, Scotch Mist was moored up among them, unfortunately I didn't have my camera handy.  

The river continued on a south-easterly course and we didn't see any visitor moorings until the GOBA moorings near Lakenheath.  We had already joined the Great Ouse Boating Association and pulled up on the isolated stretch of river.  Unfortunately we discovered later that the jets from the nearby air base were very loud.  

Despite a late night watching the election results we were up early on Friday and continued upstream.   It seemed a funny coincidence to see another boat which had previously moored at Viking Marina, Musbee Dreaming.

Musbee Dreaming

We arrived at Brandon Lock and quickly realised we wouldn't be going any further; Brent III was too long for the lock.  Luckily there was space to moor up and the little town was only half a mile away. 

Moored up at Brandon lock,

Brandon is on the edge of Thetford Forest and in the 1790's had the worlds largest flint knapping industry which provided gunflints for the Napoleonic Wars.  Some of the buildings in the town are decorated with flint and the town sign depicts the flint knappers. 

Flintknappers on the town sign

Back at the lock lively grey wagtails were foraging around the weir and one stopped still long enough for a photo. 

A grey wagtail on the weir

Our journey from Peterborough to Brandon

Wadenhoe to Peterborough

While we waited for the sluice to be repaired we enjoyed our stay at Wadenhoe, a remote village with thatched cottages and a church perched on a hill. 

Church Street, Wadenhoe

 The woods and meadows provide a good habitat for a variety of birds including red kites which soared majestically overhead.  We had an interesting chat with, in his words, 'the red kite man' who monitors these birds.  Back on board we saw a snake zig-zagging across the river and thankfully swimming passed our front deck drains.  

The snake made it's way to the bank in front of us

We enjoyed some walks across the meadows with Bess and Brinny playing chase on the way. 

Fun in the meadows

On Tuesday the broken sluice was repaired and surprisingly there were only 4 other boats waiting to go.  They set off but we stayed another day and then sailed on to Oundle.  The moorings were against a field where a herd of cows and their calves grazed contentedly.  It wasn't until we were crossing the field to go into town that we noticed the large bull; we gave him a wide berth but he didn't seem too concerned by our presence.  We walked up a street of stone cottages into the small market town.

Stone cottages on the way into Oundle

In contrast the centre of the town is dominated by the church and grand old public school buildings. 

One of the many public school buildings

We stopped for the bustling street market on Thursday and sailed to Fotheringhay the next day.  This small village has an interesting history, it's castle was the birthplace of Richard III and Mary Queen of Scots was executed there.  Earthworks are all that remain of the castle but the church has a small exhibition showing the history.  It also has an unusual painted pulpit donated by Edward IV. 

The painted pulpit

Fotheringhay still has a red telephone box but, as we've seen in other villages, it no longer has a phone.  The box now contains a defibrillator and a book swap.  

The phone box put to a new use

While we were enjoying the sun on the front deck we noticed a lot of blue damselflies.  Their metallic blue bodies glittered in the sun as they streamed passed and I was lucky to get a shot of one.

A Banded Agrion damselfly about to land on the dock leaf

We stopped 3 nights at Fotheringhay and sailed to Wansford on Bank Holiday Monday. The moorings are next to the Nene Valley Railway so we had a good view of the steam engine. 

The Nene Valley Railway was running the Teddy Express over the Bank Holiday weekend, we did think they could have picked a more traditional looking engine.

On Tuesday we sailed along our last stretch of the River Nene.  There were only 3 locks but our journey nearly came to a halt when I opened one of the control boxes to find it inhabited by a large spider.  Luckily it scurried back into it's web and stayed away from the buttons or we wouldn't have gone through the lock!  We sailed into Peterborough and took a mooring on the Embankment which is a short walk from the city centre.  


Our journey from Wadenhoe to Peterborough