Herbie not stolen!

Should you see Herbie and a motley crew between Buckby and Braunston on Saturday, don't send out a boarding party to arrest the skipper, knowing that Kath and I are away from the boat. It'll just be Rick and colonial (American) relatives enjoying the rain. At least they'll be dryish in Braunston tunnel.

On the strange practices of locks

Before Herbie gets home we have another 82 locks to pass through ( and interestingly, 82 miles!). I don't mind locks, they are the punctuation marks in the day, a chance often to meet other boaters, to chat to gongoozlers, and a way to get some healthy exercise.

(There now follows a discourse which non boaters will probably fail to comprehend, because its all so complicated)

However I can never understand some of the local practices. On the Ouse they have locks with a guillotine at the upstream end. On the Nene they have locks with a gullotine at the downstream end. Why they should be different I haven't a clue. When you leave these locks you have to leave the guillotine open, presumably to allow the passage of flood water. On canal locks with their vee gates you are supposed to shut the gates when leaving, except on the Lee and Stort ( and I think the Wey, but I might be remembering that wrongly) when they tell you to leave them open behind you whichever way you are going.

When you are approaching a lock on the canal, what you want to see is a boat coming the other way, meaning the lock is in your favour. On the Nene if you are going upstream, you want to see a boat approaching the lock from the other direction so you don't have to empty the lock as instructed. It all takes a bit of getting your head round.

It has to be said that the Ouse and Nene locks, although very often in a beautiful setting, are a pain. For a start the gullotines are so slow to lift and drop, and should you pause when raising the gate for any reason and accidentally press the lowering button for a millisecond when you resume raising, the flipping safety timer starts again and makes you wait another two minutes before resuming. And I haven't mentioned the half dozen locks which required you to spin a big wheel two hundred times to raise the gate and the same again to lower them.. Lovely.

Then there are the landing stages. These never seem to be in a good place. By the time you have stopped there to let off the crew, you are inevitably well out of line with the lock and have to do a sort of slalom to enter the lock. Worse still is the task of getting to the upstream landing stage when exiting the lock. Consider this diagram. (actually it's rather worse than I have drawn it.)

There's the boat in the lock waiting to come out. The landing stage is at an angle outside the left of the lock. The probem is that you can't begin to turn the boat until the back of it is past the extended lock walls, because the back needs to swing out to get the front in to the landing stage. So by the time you can turn the boat you are already half way past the stage. So what you have to do is,

1. Exit the lock pointing the boat away from the landing stage

2. When you are in the clear, do a 90 degree (or more) left turn to get the front into the bank. (you are now at right angles to the landing stage with the front of the boat touching the bank.

3. do a full 90 degree turn on opposte lock to swing the back in

4. Reverse back to get the boat back alongside the stage

All while the current is pushing towards the weir which is often on the right. All very good steering practive and I have to say that both Kath and I got quite good at it!

Or you can go on the Ashby canal which has no locks!

Us and Them

When we were in Ely recently, we moored for the weekend next to Barry, a GRP cruiser owner. At first he didn't seem to be all that pleased to see us and made the odd (polite) remark about the Ouse not having enough moorings to accommodate all these narrowboats. I decided on a charm offensive and over the course of a couple of days we chatted a fair bit. Suffice it to say that by the end of the weekend we were the best of pals, and he told us to look out for him waving as we passed his house in Upwell the following week.

Cruiser owners see the river in a different way. To Barry cruisng was a bit like caravanning. Tootle out for a couple of hours in his covered driving seat (avoiding locks if at all possible), then find a nice mooring, preferably alongside other members of his cruising club, and have a nice day or two sitting in his deck chair reading the paper and enjoying a BBQ. Its a comfortable social event. Nothing wrong with that at all, but it ain't how the narrowboater sees it.

The narrowboaters in general are a hardier lot. They travel further, more slowly, stand or sit at the tiller in the open air and see the journey as more important than the destination. There's something about standing close to the water on the back of a slowly moving boat that brings you closer to nature.

You would have thought a 25 ft cruiser could go all sorts of places a narrowboat couldn't reach, but in fact it's the reverse. Barry couldn't take his boat to his home in Upwell because he couldn't get under the bridges. We met another couple in a beautiful big cruiser that couldn't get down river from Buckden that day because the river was up a couple of inches and a bridge was in the way. I couldn't even get Barry to cruise up Wicken Fen because he said it was too shallow. Then of course the cruisers can't get into narrow locks.

So I suppose it's not surprising that the two types of boater have a different idea of what their boat is for.

Then there is the third category, which Barry refers to in hushed and sinister tones. The Liveaboards (shock horror!). Now it's true that there are non licence paying new age traveller types in decrepit boats making a life on the water and many of them do make a lot of mess and a lot of noise with their generators. Most are very friendly, but I can see that Barry would prefer to keep away from them when he wants a nice quiet weekend on a visitor mooring. The problem is that he lumps all liveaboards into that category. What about the Sue and Vics ( No Problem) of this world who continually cruise, living on their smart and and lovingly cared for narrowboats. Barry, I fear, sees no difference.

Now we met a lot of cruiser owners on the Ouse and Nene and to my mind there were all just as nice as the narrowboaters - just different. Why we can't all get on better beats me. I suppose the narrowboaters all have some degree of gypsy in them . I'll own up to that. The cruiser is rather like a nice car and the narrowboat more akin to a lorry I suppose.

I don't believe it - but its true

Amazing. I've just calculated our mileage and locks for our current trip and it seems we have done 478 miles and 249 locks so far. On top of that we still have to get from Buckby back down to GU to Iver. No wonder we need a break.


This week I'll catch up on some things I forgot to tell you whilst we were travelling.


You know we've seen a lot of wildlife - a seal (3 times), 4 barn owls, a few marsh harriers, about a dozen red kites, 3 snakes, a mink, thousands of fish, ten thousand damsel flies etc. We've also spotted a couple of real rarities. First shoveller ducks at Wicken fen, and then most surprising of all last week at Wellingborough a Bewick's Swan. If you don't know what one looks like, here's a link. Doesn't he know he's supposed to be in Siberia at this time of the year? No mistake though, the people on the boat behind us spotted it too.

We also did a little bit of sight seeing, and one nice surprise was the little Church in Outwell on the Middle Levels. It has this wonderful set of carved angels (very very old) in the roof vaults. Unusually it also has a kind of mezzanine set of pews above the normal ones. This was to accommodate folk from a neighbouring village who used to arrive by boat each Sunday. Kath seems to attract the attentions of local cognoscenti and this was no exception. We got a long talk from a passing historian, not only about the church, but about Well Creek, the tiny river which we were navigating and which runs past the church. Apparently it was once a lot bigger and sea going ships used to come right up to Outwell. Even plastic cruisers are too big for that these days.

Herbie takes a break after meeting a more famous boat

On Friday Herbie met leading blog boats No Problem and Moore to Life. Sue on No Problem is the doyenne of boat bloggers and one of the originals, so I was disappointed when we passed her boat on Friday and no-one was on board. Then, a few boats further on, a lady popped her head out a back cabin and said "Are you Neil?"

I was confused. It was Sue of course but coming from the wrong boat I didn't recognise her for a minute. Anyway she looks a lot nicer in real life! It was nice to discover that she had been following our adventures down the Nene.

We couldn't really stop as we were mid canal and on a tight schedule, but we chatted for a few minutes recalling our previous meeting four years ago when we rescued Sue's keys after she had left them in a lock mechanism cabinet on the Nene.

This time cameras were quickly got out and we snapped each other before saying our farewells. This is Sue and Vic, looking I must say very fit and well and showing us that a life permanently afloat is a healthy one.

Then on through Wilton and up the locks to Buckby to rest Herbie once again at Priscilla's house.

Tomorrow I'll work out how many locks and miles we have done on our fenland tour, but right now I'm back at home and looking forward to a couple of weeks on terra firma before we set off again to bring Herbie home. Herbie is looking a bit tired too. She needs a few hours tidying up the engine bay and clearing up oil and water and good wash and brush up. The stern gland needs repacking too - a job I've not done before. There's always something to do when you have a boat.

Finishing off the Nene and nearly finishing off ourselves!

Its flippin hot here. We're pretty tired by the time we stop for the day, which is early afternoon because we have been getting up early.


The Nene continues to look like a Constable painting, with its old mills and lush meadows. I wish I was as enthusiastic about the locks. They are tediously slow, and the ones right out in the sticks have no electricity to raise the massive guillotine gates so you have to struggle with the wretched handwheels as you see Peter doing here watched by mum wrapped up against sunburn!


We saw two more grass snakes, both in the same lock. Mr and Mrs perhaps.


Last night we sat out in the dark at Cogenhoe listening to the owls and having a veggie (because of Peter) BBQ. Taking photos in the dark is always hard but I liked this one of Kath.

Today we completed the Nene, dropping off Kath in Northampton to catch a train home while Peter and I soldiered on in the intense heat to tackle the 17 locks up the sometimes incredibly narrow and shallow arm into Gayton.

Blimey it was hard going in the heat. Peter is not normally keen on hard physical work, being more the cerebral type, but to his credit he locked wheeled like a goodun and surprised me by some near impeccable driving into the narrow locks.

By the time we arrived at Gayton I was all but done in.

One thing Peter is good at is cooking, and using whatever we could find in the galley cupboards he knocked up a delicious pasta meal this evening using me as sous chef.

Two post today as I have a good signal, so read on below for an earlier report.

To Irthlingborough

So where did I last leave you. Ah, Monday lunch. So much has happened since then. The weather as English readers will know has been geting hotter and hotter. So much so that we elected to start cruising at half past six or seven o'clock each day instead of our more usual nine o'clock. Monday night saw us at the Kings Head at Wadenhoe, moored up against a willow tree and generally chilling out.

That night we saw a barn owl carrying its unlucky prey as it flew over us quite close.

The trip from Fotheringhay had been hard work in the heat although the river looked its best below the blue skies. I still can't get over the exceptional clarity of the Nene water. The plant growth is as abundant below the water as it is along side it. We seem to be gliding over a field of waving grasses and lettuces! Fish are everywhere.

Then next day on to Irthlingborough accompanied by Andy and Sally on their boat The Puzzler, so called because until recent retirement they ran a business making and selling jigsaw puzzles. They had fitted out their own boat, and most interestingly to me, Sally had done her own signwriting which I thought was pretty good. I'll return to that subject some day soon when I'm writing from home.

At Irthlingborough we were visited by a grass snake, right next to the boat. The picture also shows the incredible density of the blanket weed we have been getting here and there.

Visits to the weed hatch are becoming more frequent.

That day was Peter's last day of employment with Cambridge University so we went out for a celebratory Indian meal. Now he is unemployed for ten days before starting his new job, also in Cambridge but this time with a company rather than in academia.

A pub session, fish watching, a welcome and hot weather

Mooring in march it wasn't long before we were joined by John and irene on their super little boat Rosie Piper. So nice to meet up with firends in this way. After a good Indian meal that evening we retired to the Ship Inn directly above the moorings where we were joined by other friends met on the way. it turns out we could all ply a bit of music and so with the blessing of the landlord a session ensued. Dulcimer, bagpipes, guitar, mandola, flute and voices. even the landlord sang a song or two. We left the pub at a quarter past midnight!

Our second day across the middle levels stayed hot and dry until we reached Peterborough. There isn't anything to see except the flood banks so we amused ourselves by looking down into the crystal clear water and spotting fish.

We had to wait a day in Peterborough for Peter to join us by train so that night we moored up by the boathouse pub next to the rowing lake. A good spot for a one nighter. The river banks in central town were very weedy and there were a few drunks hanging about so we were much better of out of town.

Peter arrived by train on Saturday and we took up an invitation to stay that night at Peterborough Yatch Club (not a yacht in sight!). A nice guy called Pete who we met in Ely asured us of a welcome and even saved a prime spot for us and arranged a welcoming party! What hospitality. Free secure mooring, lots of friendly people, very cheap real ale, and next morning, cheap diesel. Very highly recommended. Peering over the side of the boat doing more fish watching we spend some time looking at an eel, lazily wandering through the cabbage lillies. They look very graceful sen from above this way.

Sunday saw us head up the Nene at last in hot sunshine and again very clear water so more fish watching, spotting some real biggies.

We settled for the night at the pretty moorings at Fotheringhay where I failed again to get an internet connection even though I climbed with the laptop right upo to the top of the cstle mound - presumably within feet of where poor Mary Queen of Scots had her head chopped off.

Now its Monday lunchtime and we've walked up from Ashton lock to the Chequered Skipper Inn which has a free wifi connection so I can catch up. To celebrate, here are a few pictures from the ever growing backlog.
THE lowest bridge

The main waterway through the middle levels!!
More rural idyll on the Nene
One of the very few kingfishers we have seen.

Outwell Upwell and March

You would think that the main navigation link between the major rivers Ouse and Nene would be a grand affair but it certainly isn't. Passing through the conjoined villages of Outwell and Upwell the waterway is more like a village stream. very pretty actually, but very shallow, very narrow and if you thought yesterday's picture of a low bridge was impressive, today we went under one much lower!!

We had to dismantle the lid ends of the roofbox and empty out half the contents, as well as the usual chimney removal,then we got under with half an inch to spare.

The nice old feller at Marmont Priory lock said that extra water had been pumped into the system to compensate for someone drawing off too much. "We used to do it from here" he said, "and we could get it right, but now some bloke miles away presses a button somwhere to start the pumps and then forgets to turn em off again so the river gets too high".

Now we are moored in March next to Rosie piper, a lovely little boat belonging to friends John and Irene. Photos hopefully with next posting.

Tomorrow we complete our trip across the middle levels and have to plod 15 miles in a deep and mostly straight ditch. We are booked to go out of the system at 3pm.

Heavy thundery showers are forecast. Deep joy.

A white knuckle ride

Anyone who has crossed the tidal Ouse from Denver to Salters Lode will tell you it is not for the faint hearted. We entered the lock at Denver, rose up on the tide and then had to wait ages for the right moment to be released to dash up to Salters. Eventually the lockkeeper shouted "Go" and Herbie nervously crept out onto the tide way. Actually it felt disappointingly benign at this stage, but it made up for it later on.
Soon we saw a narrowboat emerging from the other end.

Just as well we did because the lock entrance is almost impossible to see until it is too late. Can you see the entrance he is emerging from? No, neither could we, but we had to get into it in one shot.

At last we glimpse the edge of it. When should we turn?

There was a stiffish breeze blowing against us so I thought I'd turn late to avoid being blown back short of the proper entrance. However, what I had failed to recognise was that the tide was pulling the boat stronger than the wind and in the opposite direction.

Now I was at right angles to a very narrow entrance and being rapidly swept past it. Nothing for it but to pile on the revs and go for it. We got in fine but it was far closer to disaster than it looked.

Looking backwards, you can see the grand entrance we had to aim for whilst being sewpt down the tide.
Anyway, now we were safely on the middle levels. Safe provided that you can get under the low bridges!

Tomorrow we hit March to rendezvous with Rosie Piper and her crew Irene and John. Herbie and Rosie have never met but I suspect they will get on fine.

We're still going

Despite the lack of posts recently, we're still going. Mobile broadband connection in the fens is clearly not top of the provider's priority list. At the moment I'm sitting atop the flood defence dyke in order to get any signal at all. I fear I will not be able to provide you with photographic evidence of anything today.

We rested three days in Ely while Kath went home on babysitting duties and I had some interesting conversations with cruiser owners which I'll save for another day. Meanwhile:

The wonderful Wissey wends its winding way to Wittington via Wissington. Flowing through fabulous fens featuring the flowers of forgetmenots and dancing damselflies. - Oh I can't keep up the awful aliteration, so back to proper English.

On the advice on Sue of No Problem blog we decided to take in the river Wissey, the last tributary to joing the Ouse before it goes tidal. What a lovely little river. We did it from end to navigable end in three hours but it was so pretty and so varied. The water is extremely clear but stained the colour of tea (no milk) by the peaty fen soil. Talking of milk and tea, I should tell you about the sugar. At Wissington, in the middle of nowhere is a gigantic sugar processing factory right alongside the little river. It's huge. Vast silos, conveyor belts and pipes everywhere. I bet they make hundreds of tons a day in season. This time of year of course the plant lies idle, being maintaind and readid for the sugar beet crop in the autumn.

East of the plant the tiny river suddenly becomes 200 yards wide as it flows through a big lake, and even after that it is pretty wide. I always expect rivers to get narrower as you go upstream but in the fens no such rules hold true. Often in the lower reaches the watercourse is squeezed in between high flood banks and so becomes narrower and faster.

Anyway we went up and down the Wissey in a day and enjoyed it all. Now we're at the mighty Denver sluice complex ready to take the short tidal trip across to the middle levels tomorrow.

We took a walk around the complex this evening and I must say it is er, complex! Most of East Anglia depends on it for flood control and tidal defences. The Ouse navigation which we have been boating on finishes here and through the gates it joins the New Bedford river (otherwise known as the hundred foot drain and flows out towards the Wash. Also starting here is the relief channel which in times of flood can get rid of a whole load more water by sending it to the sea near Wisbech. Then there is the flood relief cut off channel which starts back inland a way and can collect flood water from various Ouse tributaries and either tip it into the relief channel or flow backwards (!!) and take it to reservoirs in Essex. There are mighty sluice gates all over the place here.

So finishes our cruise on the Ouse. A very unusual river and one we'd like to come back to one day. Still lots more to do before we get home though. I estimate another three weeks cruising.

I'll try to post photos when we get a better connection. Stay tuned.

Wicked Wicken

Were up at Wicken Fen today. You get here along a narrow cut off the tiny Reach Lode. I guess a lot of boats baulk at the idea of going up such a narrow waterway, but in fact its a sight easier than the Wendover Arm of the GU and a lot less weedy than the good old Slough Arm.

Wicken is a National nature reserve run by the National Trust and as you might expect it is bursting with wildlife. The bloke at the visitor centre told us that in one small area near the buildings there are over 800 species of creature! That includes all sorts of insects of course.

They even have nettles here that don't sting. Not your common deadnettle, but a spcial fen nettl looking very like a stinger.

The wild flowers and birds were what we enjoyed. Taking photos of birds etc is never easy but here are my feeble attempts at some things we saw today.

A marsh harrier

A common tern (seen everywhere of course and not just here, but I liked this pose)

A wasps nests in a birdwatching hide.

And photo of the day, a wren at her nest in another hide