Nobles Field GOBA mooring to The Waits to Middle Fen GOBA mooring
A chores day to start with. Being moored against one of the landings on Noble Field meant we had easy access to empty the yellow water. Tilly’s pooh box got a wash and change of litter too. Then we were on our way into St Ives before breakfast.
Straight towards the sun, wind following
Blimey that wind was strong this morning! It took quite a bit of umph to turn us around. Mick changed his mind about backing in to The Waits for water so we headed in forwards. Plenty of space, but not by the water point, our main reason for pulling up the arm. The nice couple on NB Coleen let us pull up alongside and assisted with our hose. After chats we headed inside for breakfast our tummies rumbling by now.
Filling up
Shopping lists were drawn up, one for Waitrose, mostly fruit and veg along with a few bits we had vouchers for. Another for Morrisons, hoping their wine and porridge oats would be cheaper. As soon as the water tank was full we pulled further up the arm and moored right by the steps, ease of access to get the bike off. I headed to Waitrose and Mick to Morrisons, only one item not available at each store, so a quick text between us meant we had everything covered.
The yarn bombed Waits
I was back in time to make a cuppa and be settled in time for a zoom catch up meeting with Amy from Dark Horse regarding #unit21. They are hoping to tour the show early next year but need to wait to see if a funding bid to the Arts Council is successful. We’ve all got our fingers crossed, but have to wait until October before there will be any news.
A quick lunch then it was time to reverse back down the arm and tick off a few miles today.
A cruiser had to turn to let us through, down stream boats have right of way
A cruiser waited for St Ives lock to fill, I hopped off to dispose of our rubbish, the raised wheelie bins with recycling a welcome sight. We were soon joined by another cruiser, all three boats slotting into the lock with plenty of space. I was the only one left up top to press the button for the guillotine gate.
Three in a lock
After warnings from the volunteers at Houghton the other day I was expecting the timer delay not to work, it obliged! You press the button the gate raises a few inches, this is when the delay should start it’s count down. I pressed the button again, it raised a little bit more. I read the long winded notes about to how to overcome the problem which didn’t really make that much sense. A later note concurred with what the volunteers had mentioned. If the timer doesn’t start counting, press the up button again and hold it for a few seconds after the gate has stopped moving. I ended up doing this several times before the counter started to count down more than one second.
Walkers cooling their toes
Everyone below looked up at me. I looked at the counter still counting. I’d finally got it moving when the lock was about two thirds empty. We all just had to wait though.
Last out of the lock we imagined we’d be last to the mooring we were after. But the cruisers had favoured a stop at Honeywell by the pub rather than a field with little access to anywhere else. We pulled in and tied up the outside we’d been moored at a month ago. The steep bank now easier for us after a months more experience of such places.
Trampolining sheep!
As Tilly reacquainted herself with the outside, checking any holes her arms of head would fit down I worked my way through work emails. A long winded email from the producer for panto regarding digs was quickly sorted by a message to Suzanne, the digs I’ve stayed at before are now reserved for me. It’s strange being on the other end of the digs list, it’s normally me receiving enquiries for accommodation in Scarborough.
Who is down here?!
Fabric samples and quotes for panto. Photos of a cloth that we may reuse. An email exchange with the marketing department regarding my programme biog and social media photos. I thankfully have a while longer to get things to them and found out that they are wanting to do a double page spread in the programme on the set design.
Old and new version arches
Then it was back out with the model reworking the sizes of elements for the Tower of London. Much happier with it now, still more details to add, including a few ravens.
1 lock, 4.57 miles, 1 arm reversed down, 2 boxes wine, 1 pot yoghurt, 90 minute catch up, 3 in a lock, 1 flock of trampolining sheep, 3 Kingfisher mooring to ourselves, 1 digs booked, 1 cloth, 2 pages, 3 hours, 1 full water tank, 2 clean boaters, 1 missing blog post still to come.
Boats were already on the move this morning before we’d got ourselves ready. By just gone 9 we pushed off fairly sure that Hemingford Lock ahead of us wouldn’t be in our favour.
Hemingford Grey
Passing Hemingford Grey there was plenty of room, but most likely due to boats already having moved off this morning. We paused to dispose of our rubbish at the first bins since Bedford. The bin was only a third full, but surrounded by lots of red rubbish bags. Maybe these were from litter pickers.
Tallis House sits on the bend of the river, followed by St James’ Church with it’s odd steeple. Next time we’ll have to spend a bit of time walking round more of the Hemingfords.
Tucking in to the side
At the lock, we’d caught up with a widebeam who was just starting to lift the guillotine gate. We’d both fit in the D shaped lock so Mick brought Oleanna in first and pulled her in to the side. Both boats were soon dropping down to the St Ives (not the one in Cornwall) reach of the river.
to make room for a wide one
Not quite a mile on we pulled in to the next GOBA mooring on the outskirts of St Ives. Our first bit if bank turned out to have a wasps nest which would have ended up right by the hatch. So we pulled along a bit further, aligning the solar panels with gaps in the trees.
Mum fishing for her not so small babies
All tied up and I opened the side hatch to the sight of a four inch hole in the bank which had wasps coming and going! Another nest. We unpinned ourselves and carried on past the long landing to the far end. No sign of nests here, or so we thought until the bow spike was being hammered in. Oh blimey!
It was decided that the nest was far enough away from Oleanna and our neighbours soon calmed down as peace returned to their world.
NB Cleddau passing by
NB Cleddau appeared an hour or so later, they headed into town hoping there would be some space left. I suspect this may be the last time our bows cross this summer as our cruising speeds and distances will differ from here.
Plenty of space to explore
During the day Mick had a walk into Waitrose, he then returned for the bicycle as there was wooden cat litter on the shelves, the first we’ve seen in months. I got on with work and Tilly explored the new outside.
One of the noisy twonk heads next door
This outside got very noisy when a hire boat came in to moor, a crew member threw a fat fender over board so someone had to dive in to retrieve it. This ended up with several of them in the river, discussing how much sewage there must be in it! All banter, but very loud. I turned on a podcast about Victorian Female Murderers, keeping in the correct period for panto, it also did the job of blocking out the noise from next door.
Not the best day designing. I’d got carried away with model making, some pieces as they went into the model box required trimming, shapes altering, so quite a few bits to remake. There are still two scenes to make, one will be fiddly so needs a really good karma day, which certainly wasn’t today.
A calm evening
Too hot inside for the planned moussaka this evening, so the mince I’d defrosted got made into some burgers instead and were cooked outside on the barbeque. A very pleasant evening sat on the bank of Nobles Field. The field was bought in 1970 and is held in trust as a recreation ground for the residents of St Ives, hence the landings where canoes can be launched, the moorings and plenty of people coming down to the river to enjoy the evening.
Beef and whole grain mustard burgers
1 lock, 2.08 miles, 3 attempts at mooring, 1 final wave, 7 hours of problem finding, some solved, others created, 1 cat fight averted, 10 litres cat litter, 2 trips to town, 4 burgers, 4 kebabs, 1 day off work required.
Rain. Rain! We had some rain!!! Not a lot, but some! At least it’s a start, it just needs to carry on.
Tea with breakfast this morning and we pushed off just before 9am.
Portholme Meadow
The river curves around Portholme Meadow, 260 acres of alluvial flood meadow, one of the largest areas of grassland in the country. Dots of people could be seen walking on the paths. In 1918 the meadow was used as a Training Depot Station by the RAF.
Morning!
As we approached Godmanchester Lock I spotted NB Claddau tucked in down the arm above the lock, we’d not ventured down there, maybe next time. Today had a tinge of ‘next time’ about it. We realised that we’d not had that much of an explore around Bedford, St Neots, or Huntingdon and Godmanchester we’d just cruised on past and it almost certainly deserved a stroll around it’s streets.
A touch too wide round the bend
The angled approach to the lock and the strong wind caught Mick out, but that was soon rectified for him to drop me off to set the lock. A hire boat arrived below just as we were about to empty the lock, chatting to the lady she was saying they’d hoped to reach Bedford today, but the head wind and going against the flow they thought they’d not make it. According to our maps it would take 12 hours to reach the upper river in Bedford on a kinder day.
There’s a developer somewhere waiting for this house to fall down
Onwards under the two bridges in Huntingdon, a rather nice but ramshackled house between them sported Wonder Woman giving advice for the pandemic. We wondered how much it would cost to rescue the house and remove it’s current tenants of pigeons!
Along the banks we spotted Chestnut trees, their lower branches starting to turn orange with bright green conker shells growing plump. Sloes covered the Blackthorn bushes, will they last till the first frost has come to split their skins. Elderberries hung dark dark red. Nature bringing Autumn close before August has even started.
Heading in to go down
Houghton Lock looked as though there were a couple of volunteers on duty. As I’d not worked this lock on the way upstream I hopped off to lend a hand. The lock tends to be manned at weekends and these two chaps were very jolly. More boats appeared below and even though the lady had come up to see what was happening she got a fright as Oleanna appeared through the bottom gates.
Two waiting to go in
A couple of boats were moored on the island, we tucked in close to a cruiser for the rest of the day. Just so long as there weren’t any woofers about Tilly could explore to her hearts content, which she did, not returning for several hours!
Early afternoon a boat approached the island, NB Cleddau, they’d been aiming for the moorings at Hemingford Grey but been told they were full, so they grabbed a space a little behind us.
Cat and rat iron work
Another afternoon of work, which didn’t go according to plan, but I did come up with a design for my portal headers which I was quite pleased with.
Drinks on the terrace
Sue invited us round for drinks on the terrace at 5pm and as Pimms was on the menu it would have been very rude not to join them. We had a couple of hours of chat and drinking on the bank as Tilly proceeded to give NB Cleddau a full walk through! They have double glazing!
A stunning evening view
2 locks, 4.72 miles, 2 volunteers, 1 island mooring, 4 glasses of Pimms, 1 each, 4 glasses of wine, 1 very nosy cat, 1 cat 10 rats, 2-1.
Last night the moorings had filled right up. A group of cruisers breasted up and a narrowboat came along early evening wanting to try to get their stern into the git gap in front of us and lay their bow across ours. We offered them to breast up, but they had a dog and with our cratch cover and filled buckets on the bow it would have been difficult for them to get off. Fortunately for everyone a boat at the far end of the moorings decided to set off before any spikes or ropes had been sorted, so they swapped and a bankside mooring was taken.
Dried out friendly cover
This morning we allowed ourselves a cuppa in bed, it turned out that we would be the only boat not to move today. Bacon butties were followed by the Geraghty zoom, house buying before going on the market and Bedford were subjects covered today.
Mick headed off on the bike in the search of a Saturday morning newspaper, our first in quite a while, Tilly got on with enjoying a sausage day and I continued to make barrels and crates for panto. Every year I’ve made at least two barrels for my panto model, maybe I’ll keep these this time, just in case I need some again. They are quite time consuming.
1:25 barrels and crates
By the time Mick returned we were the only boat left on the moorings. I’d checked Tilly was still about every time someone pulled away, just incase as curiosity of the interiors of other peoples boats seems to be growing despite the rules! I’m just looking to see what boat improvements we might be able to make, so far nothing, but you never know!
A perfect day for kite flying
Around midday the moorings started to fill up again. It only took an hour for there to be no space left just as Ken and Sue came past in NB Cleddau. A bit of a blustery day and the current made it hard to hover for a quick chat before they floated on by. Five minutes after they left a boat pulled out, only to be replaced by another within two minutes. We may play leapfrog with Cleddau tomorrow, depends on who sets off first.
Box of bits
The remainder of the day consisted of model making for me. Tower of London, St Katherines Dock. By the end of the day my box of model bits was getting quite full and now I need to put everything into the model box to see what needs altering and tie things together.
Mick got the endoscope out. A giant crochet bag I made on the Lancaster canal years ago had gone for a swim yesterday. It wasn’t a very good bag, a try out for others I made, but it had become a very handy bit of padding. You could kneel on it when on a muddy nettle bank. This summer it’s been used under the plank quite often to save what’s left of our paintwork. Yesterday the plank had moved quite a bit and the bag had ended up falling into the river.
Bag dipping
It’s quite heavy so Mick hoped it hadn’t gone far, he’d tried fishing it out with the boat hook and now tried to use the endoscope to find it rather than aimlessly fishing in the murky water. But his phone didn’t want to talk to the cameras wi-fi, and then the power pack ended up getting wet! So we apologise now if someone picks the bag up on their prop.
I’ll have to make another, just a shame all my scraps of fabric are back at the house. Maybe it’s time to donate some really worn out t-shirts to be reused.
0 locks, 0 miles, 1 sausage day, 1 Saturday newspaper, 1 box full of white bits, 1 exhausted cat.
Great Barford GOBA Mooring to Paxton Pits GOBA Mooring
Swimmers
A wind before breakfast to fill up with water on the other bank. Tilly wasn’t impressed by the number of swimmers already in the water, Tilly Too was so upset she had turned her back to it all and was found staring at the curtain! As the tank filled we topped our selves up too with cereal.
The lock being full was handy so we headed straight in. I spotted some interesting stonework just above the lock with C&F 1844 carved into it. Is this from a previous lock here?
Not the teasel I’d seen last time
As I waited for the level to drop in the lock I looked around for the teasel head I’d photographed on our way up, spotting that it had been cut very low down, I suspect it’s in a flower arrangement somewhere.
A fun house to live in
Somewhere along the wiggles to Roxton Lock sits this interesting house. A playground for young and old. A rather large treehouse in the garden, a landing stage and an old branch over the water which has ropes, pallets and all sorts, wonder if it’s suitable to sit on the end and read.
Pulling up at Roxton Lock I could see a chap below on a paddleboard, he paused for a little while and then headed off downstream whilst we sorted the lock out. By the time we got going again he was nowhere in sight. Back under the A1, not too busy today.
Over the four miles between Roxton and Eaton Socon we gradually caught the paddleboarder up, only just over taking him before the GOBA mooring where one of the boats from the festival was moored, washing hung out to dry.
Thankfully the lock was in our favour, so as I lifted the slackers at the bottom end the paddleboarder climbed out, removed the skeg and deflated his board, a noise we have grown accustomed to whilst being at this end of the Great Ouse.
Now to decide where to stop for the day. With only one boat on all the visitor moorings in St Neots we wondered why it was so empty. Maybe it was because of the regatta last weekend. Maybe because there was a fair in town. Maybe it was because boats had just moved off this morning.
We had a quick think, we’d press on, cover more ground today and then hopefully have a few shorter hops between nicer moorings over the next few days giving me more time to work.
Hiding signs
Two cruisers pulled out from Ouse Valley River Club, would there be room in the lock for all three of us? We followed them, then they vanished round a corner to the left. A quick check on our map stopped us from gliding on past the navigable route, the signs just about invisible behind the friendly cover.
Four waiting ahead
At the lock the two cruisers had joined a queue behind a couple of narrowboats, add a canoe into the mix too, it was busy.
On our way upstream we’d wondered if the lock might be wide enough for two narrowboats side by side. The entrance is noted to be 10ft 10″, so not possible to come in together. Inside it is a little bit wider, I reckon maybe as much as 2ft, but this wouldn’t be wide enough for two narrowboats side by side.
long but not very wide
I’d put a photo up on facebook of Oleanna in the lock and a debate had started as to how many boats you could get in the lock. On our Waterway Routes map it gives dimensions as being 10ft 10″ wide by 107ft 11″ long. In our Imray guide book to the Great Ouse the lock is mentioned at being 3.3m wide by 32.9m long. Both agreeing with each other. Then a look on the EA website for lock dimensions had proved confusing and an interesting read as someone had got the conversions between metric and imperial wrong. But which of their figures were the actual correct ones? Imperial or metric?
Data from the EA! Someone needs to return to school!
Every boat entering the lock today took it that the lock wasn’t wide enough for two narrowboats side by side, and that the length was 107ft 11″. The two narrowboats went into the lock, refusing to let the inflatable canoe in with them. The lock was reset for the two cruisers. Their combined length was around 60ft, Oleanna being 58ft 6″, no chance of us sharing with them if we believed the 107ft 11″. As the level lowered we could clearly see that there was enough room for us too, but it was too late to join them.
First two going down
As we refilled the lock Mick paced out the length, 70 of his paces. Oleanna is 26 paces long with fenders down, so call that 60ft. So 60 / 26 = 2.3 ft a pace. So 70 x 2.3 = 161 ft. Not the 177ft 1″ as mentioned on the EA website. Of course our measurements were far from scientific, but we can safely say that we’d have been able to share with the cruisers and still have plenty of room and saving a whole locks worth of water in an area bordering on being in drought.
Loads and loads of room
One of the ladies on the cruisers was celebrating her birthday today and they were heading for a Chinese takeaway on Godmanchester, further than we were planning. The two narrowboats further ahead, we had no idea where they were heading, we kept our fingers crossed that Paxton Pits would have space for us.
Another Unicorn
Thankfully there was a cruiser moored at the far end, leaving enough room for us. We had lunch before we enquired how their dogs were with cats and then letting Tilly out.
Shelves filled with things
The afternoon was filled with one scene from panto, an explorers library, a generator and the cruisers engine running, Tilly went AWOL and Mick rang insurance companies for a quote on house insurance. Quite a productive yet smelly afternoon.
4 locks, 11 miles, 2 winds, 1 full water tank, 5th in line, 3rd lock full, 4.3 miles paddled, 107, 177, or 161? 0 bins, 4.5 hrs work, 1 hour late, 1 new plan, 1 props maker on board, RIP Bernard.
Bedford GOBA Mooring to Great Barford GOBA Mooring
Vanished in a puff of smoke
After an early (for us) breakfast it was time to listen out for the bells telling us to turn again and set off for Panto. The family who’d been fishing at our bow had left sometime overnight, leaving one very big half burnt log. We waved goodbye to WB Four Seasons spotting the wooden battens on their roof that had held the black sheets in place for their fancy dress last weekend.
Mick rang Karen at Priory Marina to see if she’d been lucky with a Calor Gas delivery at the end of last week, sadly no gas. So we were off retracing ourselves.
First Cardington Lock. Not only are the bottom gate beams cranked but also the slackers/paddles, a joint turning them around the bend.
Castle Mills Lock needed turning so Mick came to lend a hand, closing the bottom gates and refilling it from the central slackers. I spied what looks like small slackers in the top gates, the poles reaching up towards the beam but nowhere to wind them up. Was this a previous way to fill the lock? It would take forever, or just an extra means to fill it for the EA when necessary?
We spotted the airship sheds. Danish Camp already had customers, still nowhere for us to pull in.
Down she goes
Then Willington Lock, the last we hoped for the day. A cruiser had just come up setting it for us. A young family stood and watched us from the weir bridge, high above. Today they’d had a big treat with a boat coming up and us going down, they rarely see boats moving on the river according to Mum.
Dusty and rattley
Dumper trucks thundered across Willington Bailey Bridge, one diagonal metal beam no longer attached at one end continued vibrating long after the heavily laden trucks had crossed.
Memories of hot HOT days
Now we waited to peer down the little back water, the HOT mooring, would it be free. This would be our preferred mooring even if it wasn’t quite as far as we should go today. NB Bolli sat in the HOT spot, we could of course reverse in behind them or just carry on. We decided on the latter. If we could moor on the GOBA mooring at Great Barford that would be great, we’d see how chaotic the river got there, maybe stay a day, maybe not.
Inflatables already in view
As we came through the rather fine bridge, both the GOBA and EA moorings were empty. We opted for the GOBA mooring away from the pub, benches and slipway. A high bank and uneven edge meant we managed to get the bow in but not the stern. Once we were happy the doors were opened and Tilly was allowed out.
Oh please don’t keep this one tied up or 48 hours!
Well what a pants outside! It smelt funny. Lots of She’s and Toms bobbed about in the water. Don’t they know it’s dangerous!!! I’m told explicitly not to fall in and there they all were choosing to go into the river, stupid people!
An early lunch was followed by me taking over the table to start model making. The model box I was sent was made before my time and I know it has inaccuracies also nowhere to hang flown pieces of scenery from. Sadly the box I made a few years ago hadn’t returned from when it was last used, this meant having to make amendments to make my life easier in the long run. It took me three hours to have somewhere to hang fly bars from and make the auditorium treads.
Today I achieved a covering for the stage floor and cut out all the larger bits of scenery so that they could come in and out with ease. Then I started on adding some details to the front portal, this will take a lot of work to get it how I want, so at the moment I’ll only go so far with it, just to get the feel of it.
A quiet mooring for about ten minutes
Mick ended up sitting outside, trying to encourage Tilly not to be bored, she’s a weirdo when bored, trying to get into cupboards, running around like a loon and all whilst there was an okay outside to play in! All afternoon long there was a constant stream of paddleboarders, swimmers and canoes, as one lot let another lot arrived to blew up their floating plastic.
Keep on pumping
Another look at our route planning with places we could get trains for meetings and to be able to catch up with friends. This was now getting complicated, Peterborough, March, Ely? We think we may now have a plan.
3 locks, 6.39 miles, 1 more turn, 1 boat headed to panto, 3 hours modifying, 6 out of 7 bars used, 1 bored cat, A1 card already cut up, 2nd go at Quesadillas, plans D, E, F and G, 6 hours at work.
Over breakfast I worked, putting things into the panto dropbox ready for the first production meeting on Zoom. This was mostly parish notices and how everyone has progressed. The whole thing is a few weeks late. With my first panto for Chippy I was at least a couple of weeks ahead of where I am now and somehow I need to catch up. A number of factors have caused the delay in getting started, but the main thing is there is now a team together, a script and we need to crack on with things. The costume designer, new this year, has not grown up with pantos so there will be a lot of explanations needed. Such as why there are SO many costume changes and especially why everyone gets changed for the final scene into an outfit just for the walkdown, the Dames costume for this tends to be the most outlandish and impractical outfit known to man that they have to put on in a matter of seconds in the wings. Maryna comes from an Opera background so it will be interesting to see what this brings to her costumes.
Just a touch too tall to get under the bridge
Once my meeting was done it was time to do boat chores, the yellow water needed emptying and then we could move off. All morning boats had been coming past, quite a few cruisers with low air draught. Higher ones appeared and tried their luck at getting under the bridge just round the bend, some made it very carefully others winded and pulled up behind us on the moorings to wait for the river to be dropped in the early evening.
Into the marina for a few days
NB Lily May winded and headed to the marina for a pump out and no doubt fill with water. The water point we’d used the other day had now been taken over by a water bottle station for the festival. We winded and headed to Priory Marina ourselves to find our mooring, C31. The pontoons were lettered and quite easy to see, but the numbered spaces, hmm? Mick nudged Oleanna’s bow into a space and I hopped off to see where we should be, there were no markings on the ends of the pontoons. Numbers on the hook up points didn’t reach into the 30’s. Mick called Karen who made her way to help us find the right place just as I looked down to my feet and saw 31 between my toes!
That will be where the number is
Once plugged in we could start the big wash, Mick being a good house wife whilst I got on with doing more panto sketches. There is one scene that is just eluding us at the moment and time is of the essence as peoples availability now gets harder as schools have broken up.
Around about 5pm I got a message to say a parcel had arrived for me at a Parcel Shop a short distance away from Tescos. This would have been a short walk had we stayed on the GOBA mooring, but now it was that bit further away. The Oasis Beach pond had filled up slightly after the rain the other day, I’m not sure it made it look any more attractive!
Dancing at the tiller, ready for the weekend
A few more boats were sat waiting for the level to drop on the river. On my way back several of the boats had managed to limbo under the bridge, the level looking to have dropped by about 6 inches. I wonder if it would get any lower.
Back at Oleanna I unpacked the biggest parcel. Tilly assisted and then was allowed to do what all cats do and climb inside the empty box. This kept her content for a while. My clothes cupboards were reorganised and the model shelf emptied, the model box I’d received slid in to it’s space. I’ll need to finish packing away long sleeved tops to make room for other bits of model in the next few days, but for now everything has a home. More importantly once the final scene of panto is sorted I can start making a model.
Model box on it’s shelf again
0 locks, 0.26 miles, 1.5 hours shore leave, 1 hour talking panto, 50th Chippy panto, 5 emails, 3 sketches, 1 designer not confident, 1 huge box, 1 model box tucked away, 1 empty yellow water tank, 1 full water tank, 2 showered boaters, 2 loads of washing more to come, C31 found.
Bedford GOBA Mooring to Kempston Mill to Bedford GOBA Mooring
The river festival
Today was the day we hoped to reach the end of the navigable River Great Ouse, however there was a stoppage notice regarding ‘unforeseen circumstances during tree removal works, the river is closed near to Queens Park, Bedford.‘ A look on various maps and we concluded that this was upstream of Bedford. Hopefully whatever blockage would be clear by the time we got there, we’d see how far we could get and if needs be we’d reverse.
Heatwave eggs for breakfast
The stoppage notices seem to get published on the Visit Anglian Waterways EA Facebook page, we haven’t been able to find some means of getting them sent to us by email. So the notice had been published yesterday and facebook had only allowed us to see it this morning!
We headed back upstream, under the low bridges, temporary pontoon bridges still leading to nowhere, more portaloos arrived, areas of wheelie bins cordoned off. Two lads studied plans alongside a load of scaffolding, I wondered how far they’d get in erecting what ever it was by the time we came back. The park between the upper and lower river was very very busy.
Our last lock up on the Great Ouse
As I was wanting to lift the guillotine gate at the top of Bedford Lock two chaps were rigging something from the structure above. A sound cable needed to be sent across the river to connect the PA systems, an 8ft pole was erected then the cable would be taken across the river and attached to a high place on the north bank keeping it high out of the way. I asked how they’d get it across, I’d hoped the reply would be drone or bow and arrow, but it was just by boring boat! We weren’t a problem to them so the gate could be lifted to raise us up onto the final reach of the river.
It would have been nice to head east on the upper river to have a look at the bridges, but more temporary pontoon bridges stretched across the water, so we turned to the west and started to head up stream.
Mooring numbers reached 81 along the banks. Council chaps were removing duck and blanket weed from ponds, aided by a digger to scoop it up.
Under Town Bridge which will be closed to traffic at the weekend as brass bands will be playing there. From the Swan Hotel to Bedford Borough Council the architecture changed every way you looked. Then modern shopping and restaurants took over the north bank.
Duck
More bridges, including two very low ones carrying the railway overhead.
Now the river seems to follow a much more rural route, trees everywhere. Had we reached the stretch where the unforeseen circumstance had occurred? Was this the tree? Was that it?
When we eventually reached the tree there was no denying it would have been a problem. The sawn stump of a tree was very evident and on the opposite bank the undergrowth had been dragged away as the huge tree had been dragged up the bank by machinery. A chap remarked that we’d timed that well, the tree had been moved just thirty minutes earlier. We came across two more chaps with chain saws chopping into more trees upstream too. I wonder if the River Festival stirs the EA into action this far upstream?
Another tree being sawn up
We carried on, the river bending in front of us. The further we got the slower we went, a fisherman had warned us of it being very shallow a mile upstream, but on the big bends it seemed to be fine. Mick kept our speed down, if we got stuck we might be there for some time as not many people venture this far upstream.
Was this as far as we could get? Yes!
Up ahead the new landing stage for the trip boat came into view beside another low bridge and modern housing, one building mimicking an old mill that once stood here. Our speed slowed right down. Oleanna started to ground, we needed to find the deeper water on the port side. A touch of reverse then Mick changed our course, slowly moving us along. We grounded again, Oleanna being attracted to the lower water.
Maybe if we could wind where it was wider. We only made one attempt at this as it was obvious the depth would not be sufficient for this manoeuvre, this along with the current we could end up in bigger trouble, being pushed further aground. We’d not reached the end of the navigable river as marked on our maps, but we’d reached as far as we could and that was good enough for us, just a shame we couldn’t get to the landing stage and have a little walk round.
This is where one day, in the future, the plan is to connect the Great Ouse with the Grand Union Canal with the Bedford and Milton Keynes Waterway. The new bridge by the landing stage may inhibit some larger boats coming this way, but so would the bridges into Bedford. When it is connected it will make a fantastic ring and we’d now be able to just cruise another 16 miles, climb up 21 locks, drop down another 20 and join the GU in Milton Keynes. Instead we’ll have to retrace ourselves back to Denver, across the Middle Level to Peterborough then back up the River Nene to Northampton and up the locks to the GU.
Heading back down stream
We made the decision to reverse our way back to where the river was a touch wider to wind. We managed this without too much bother and then carried on back down stream. The tree chaps still moving branches out of our way as we went.
Now they look familiar
As we approached Bedford a widebeam was winding and then pulling into their mooring or the weekend. Another boat could be seen settling themselves in, NB Cleddau. We pulled over to have a chat with Sue and Ken, we’ll be calling in for a longer chat over the weekend.
I walked up to the lock, a small cruiser was just coming in followed by a short narrowboat and then another cruiser, it all taking time to squash them in. This lock is going to be very busy over the next few days. Mick hung about in the upper river staking our claim to be next down and not another pontoon bridge that had just arrived.
Down hill for a while now
Our first downhill lock until we reach sea level again.
The chaps with the scaffolding hadn’t made much if any progress since we’d passed them two hours earlier, I hope they get it sorted quickly as the Festival is only a day and a half away, It’s coming quickly!
Very slow progress
Back at the GOBA mooring we winded and joined NB Lily May, Chris and Chris are friends of Heathers and Chris is also the author of the Imray Guide to the Great Ouse. They have a lovely black cat called Icarus, but sadly Tilly didn’t seem too happy about his presence, so she was grounded until his shore leave was curtailed.
Our neighbours for the night
Paul the boatmover came past and in his jolly manner was saying hello to everyone. Good job he stopped for a chat, on his own boat rather than someone else’s. The lady in the marina had said that the river would be lowered on Friday, the reach that we are moored on. Paul said that they lower it by a foot maybe even more so that cruisers can get under the next bridge to us to access the moorings for the festival. If we headed out for the day we’d return to our boat firmly sat on the bottom and needing ropes and crampons to get on and off! This also happens on Sunday to let all the cruisers out again. Good job we’ve booked into the marina!
I spy a cat in this outside!
Time to knuckle down to do some work, with a meeting tomorrow I need to update things and stop being a boater for a bit.
2 locks, the same one there and back, 6.75 miles or there abouts, 2 winds, 2 lefts, 1 landing stage just out of reach, 0.25miles in reverse, 3 known boats, 2 boat cats, 1 war avoided, 2nd story board, 1 boater changing hats, 1 more river ticked of.
Barford Old Mill EA Mooring to Bedford GOBA Mooring
Thank goodness the temperature had dropped this morning. If it hadn’t been for Tilly we’d have most probably slept with the windows out last night, maybe even have had the front door open to help bring the cooling air inside. But Tilly isn’t aware that other cats get to go out at night time and just cuddles up on our bed to go to sleep, great on a night like last night!
And breath……
Today we had air to breath. The temperature outside now 21.4C and inside 23C. With a few hours cruising to do we were straight out of bed, had our first cuppa with breakfast, therefore saving us an hour at least. As we made ready to push off our neighbour on NB Atropos did the same. She’d aimed to leave early but after yesterdays heat had decided to award herself a little lie in. We still don’t know her name, but suspect we’ll cross paths another day when we can introduce ourselves properly.
Goodbye Atropos
Reversing out could have been a problem as we’d been sitting there for five days, but thankfully Oleanna sorted herself out quite quickly and pulled backwards back out onto the river and we were soon heading towards Bedford again.
The island we were on used to lead to a lock, Barford Old Mill Lock, we first passed what must have been a small weir and then the lock, the later identifiable by the curved recesses for the top gates. Barford Mill is mentioned in the Doomsday book and had a value of “2 shillings and 13 sticks of eels”. The corn mill ceased working in 1924 having become unsafe and was demolished in the 1950’s. In the early 20th Century it had a turbine and generated electricity.
First Lock of the day was Willington, vee gates at both ends. Past Danish Camp where big signs welcome people to it’s three bars and restaurants, yet another sign suggests you can only drop people off by boat, no mooring available! I suspect it was a very busy place over the weekend.
Kingfishers escorted us along, the navigation becoming narrower still now. The sound of human life increasing with every mile we travelled, we were getting closer to Bedford.
This is different
Castle Mill Lock looked similar to Willington, but there were no slackers/paddles in the gates. These sat in the centre of the lock island. One to fill the other to empty. The lock is deep, the water level changing by 6ft 11″ then add to that a good few more feet to the top of the chamber walls.
The width is just over 13ft so Mick decided to see what would happen as I filled the lock, our centre lines most probably not long enough to reach the bollards up top and then get back to him below. I gingerly wound the slacker, the rush of water sounding immense below my feet. The gear extends out so that you can see down to your boat, the water coming in at the centre of the lock below you. At first Oleanna was pushed to the opposite side of the lock, but as the level rose the pressure of the water went under her hull and pushed her back over, all quite gently as I gradually wound the paddle up. Winding it down was a little bit different as it seemed to slip as it got towards being closed, I just hope it was closed fully for the next boat.
Space there
A mental note was made of the vacant GOBA mooring not far on, this would be backup for us for the weekend, much further out of town, but possibly quieter. A wide beam sat just off the mooring enabling it to stay for longer than 48hrs.
Weed boats
Four EA work boats came towards us, two weed cutters, they’d most probably been busy around Bedford preparing the river for the Festival. Little pram covers had been fitted to a couple of them, the big cutters put onto the bank as we passed.
Cardington Lock, the narrowest on the river at 10ft 1″. This was set against us, but didn’t take long to sort out. Back to a guillotine gate at the top and a timer, the bottom gates cranked due to the proximity of the bridge making for a bit of heavy work.
Left after the toadstool!
Mick called Priory Marina to see if they had diesel and to ask where their pump was, not obvious on Google maps. We were given instructions that we’d find the pump on the left. Hawkeyed I stood in the bow, it took a while before I saw the sign. If she’d have said left after the big toadstools it would have been so much easier!
As we pulled up to the pump we passed NB Cleddau and NB Still-Waters both having a rest. A chap came to fill the tank, the pump stopping automatically at 100litres. We weren’t full, but that would do for us today. At the office Karen the manager was very friendly and helpful. She found information about when the Upper River would be dropped to enable more boats to get under the bridges, this would be Friday. Mick enquired if there might be any moorings over the weekend, there would be, we’d think about it. Karen didn’t know quite how far we’d get on our way up towards Kempston, levels are shallow at the moment and it is shallow up there anyway!
Very leafy and green
Back out on the river the next and last GOBA mooring on the river had a small cruiser on it. This is where we’d been hoping to moor for the weekend IF there is space. A chap at the marina said all the moorings were booked, but did he mean in town or did they include here too? We carried on upstream and pulled in on the only good bit of edge alongside the islands that sit between the Upper and Lower river. Here inflatables were being laid out, marquees and food and drink stands arriving. Small pontoons were being made into bridges for ease of access to the islands a great hive of activity.
The mooring would have required crampons to get on and off due to the high bank
As we had our lunch a car drove over towards us. Where we’d moored was marked out presumably for the reserved mooring spaces, a chap came for a chat. We thought we were about to be moved on, but no, once he realised we weren’t the boat he was expecting he offered us a mooring on the lower river for the weekend. By this time we’d already decided that being plugged in for a few days and getting to the bottom of the washing pile would be a good idea, especially as GOBA members get one night at the marina free when you pay for a second one. The thought of being alongside a fun fair, thousands of people walking past all the time day and night was not appealing, so we politely turned him down.
Tents going up
Below Bedford Lock is a water point close to the lock landing. We pulled up and connected our hose pipe and watched two chaps hoist up the last two sections of a marquee. I had a little wander over to where we’d be meeting people on Saturday, the geese being ever so busy trimming the grass and leaving deposits.
The John Bunyan making ready to turn into the lock
Whilst we filled the John Bunyan trip boat arrived, they’d just missed the lock being in their favour. This gave us chance to chat to the chap at the helm and ask how far we’d be able to go upstream. They now have a landing by Kempston Mill, but until a low bridge is either removed or raised their boat is unable to reach it. We were told that we may have to reverse some of the way back to be able to wind. Useful information.
A bridge too short
A Fireman came for a chat too, he was checking out the area for the weekend, they will be doing demonstrations and also have a couple of safety boats on the river. Today he was enjoying the calm before hundreds and thousands of people descend.
Tonights mooring
We made our way back to the GOBA mooring, had difficulty with depth, but then managed to tuck in with another boat who’d also been offered a mooring for the festival, they’d accepted.
Inviting Oasis Beach
A stock up shop at Tescos took us past the pyramids of the Oasis Beach Pool, now looking like it needs masses of maintenance and looking very unloved. Once back Tilly was given a couple of hours shore leave, her first impression wasn’t too good, but she got over her initial thoughts and spent a lot of time in the tall grasses.
Hmmmm!
Rain clouds had followed us for much of the afternoon and finally around 7pm the heavens opened. Proper rain, we were sat back inside with all the doors and windows closed listening to it hammering down on the roof. We’ll need an awful lot more similar showers to help fill the reservoirs back up around the system. At least we got to watch the TV this evening without a fan constantly going round to keep us cool.
Thank goodness for some fresh air.
3 locks, 7.15 miles, 1 reverse, 2 winds, 13 sticks of eels, 100 litres, 4 kingfishers, 1 marina booked, 1 free night, 0 gas, 1 free mooring turned down, 1 trip boat, 1 festival coming together, 300,000 to 500,000 people expected! 2 hours shore leave, 1 model box on it’s way, 10 degrees lower, ahhhh!
The cool of the morning was lovely, but sadly going to be short lived as the temperature started to rise. Our neighbour of last night moved off as they’d said at 6:30 and not that long after Mick was on the gunnel lowering the white sheets again.
But why?!
Tilly was allowed shore leave first thing, but when she revisited for some ‘Thank you for coming home’ Dreamies the doors were closed behind her, soon followed by the windows and all the curtains, trying to keep the coolness we’d started with trapped inside.
With the sheets on the sunny side it certainly reduced the amount of heat the cabin sides emitted inside. Maybe when Oleanna is due a repaint we’ll use the same colours, but with cream being the predominate colour rather than dark blue. Lets face it this heat wave isn’t going to be a one in a hundred year event, it may not be the last heat wave we get this year! We may also invest in foil blankets and magnets for such days to help reflect the heat away more than the sheets, thank you Adam and Chris for your comments.
Whilst the sun shone down on Oleanna we stayed inside, windows, doors and curtains all closed. The new fan was pointed towards dampened towels that we hung from a string across the boat. The evaporation from the towels helping to cool the air.
I put together my panto story board with notes and emailed it off to Abi. I don’t expect a reply for a few days as she has two young children to look after in this heat as well as herself.
Mick preferred to sit outside in the warm shade
Once shade started to appear on the bank Mick headed out to sit in it. I preferred to stay inside with Tilly. A cold flannel to cool down every now and again for both myself and Tilly. We’d tried a chilled hot water bottle wrapped in a towel for her to lie on, cool matt no good, escape pod in front of the fan, That one was just plain scary! But at least she would allow me, even though begrudgingly to wipe her down with a cool wet flannel. Cats don’t like being wet, she tried her best not to purr as she got used to it.
I even started to read a book
The internet stopped working or a while the server needing rebooting, phones became hot, in the end I turned mine off so that it would have chance to cool down.
I never thought that one day I’d even think of wearing a wet t-shirt, but today it was most certainly the best way of keeping cool. Mick soon followed and felt the benefit quite quickly.
White bits up to reflect the heat away
As the shade took over the bank and had chance to cool the ground I also moved outside. Fan turned off inside the boat and Tilly allowed back outside. A water bowl was put down for her but she seemed to prefer her self catering approach to keeping hydrated. You lead a horse to water, it’s even harder to get a cat to drink!
One of Mick’s sandals had a malfunction, the heel strap breaking. One job that wouldn’t involve too much energy. Some strong cotton and big needle and my leather thimble sewed it back together in no time.
We don’t know what temperature we got up to here on our island, the internet suggested around 38 39C. We just know it was bloomin hot!
Rain!
This morning I’d message our friend David to check up on him in Yorkshire. He’d been offered shelter in a house by some people in the local village if his boat got too hot, which it will have done despite being white.
Tonights bbq
This evening we stayed sat out until 10pm, the sheets lifted on Oleanna and windows open or removed to try to replace the air inside and help her cool down. Tilly was allowed an extended shore leave as she’d had wet food for lunch today. After our barbeque she was elusive, most probably being busy. We ended up leaving her to it, she found her own way back just after the news had started.
0 locks, 0 miles, 1 island to ourselves, 1 boat overstaying,2 many lobsters on boats or paddle boards, 1 dark boat, 0 bra day, 2 wet t-shirts, 1 wet cat, 1 story board, 1 book started, 1 mended sandal, 2 rain showers, 2 steaks cooked much better than the one I had in Littleport, 4 veg kebabs, 1 bowl of roasted potato salad, 25 glasses of water each, 1st day survived, 2 glasses of wine each, yes I know it was a Monday but I just couldn’t face any more water!
