Voyages of Gabriel: Bedford to St Ives

Wed 10^th July Bedford to Great Barford.

We were woken up at 4.30am by the loud voices, and they were talking for about half an hour. It took us a while to get back to sleep. Later when we moved off, we saw one of their tents.

Tent for the homeless

We ran the engine this morning as we hadn’t done so yesterday. We had a call from Andy to say that the cover was ready, and he would come at 1030. Hazel went to Tesco to stock up with a few items.

Andy duly arrived and he put two hooks on each side of the boat at the bows to hold down the cover with bungees. Hopefully it will now hold even with waves.

When Hazel returned, we set off with a brief call first at the marina to fill the water tank and empty a cassette. Shortly afterwards we came across some very low weed-cutting boats and they were trying to clear a length of the river.

Priory Marina

Leaving the marina

Weed clearance

In Castle Mills Lock there was a little cruiser coming upstream. One of their crew members operated the manual paddle gear by winding it up fully, and the small boat was tossed around in the rapid flows. When they had left, Hazel brought Gabriel in. Descending in a lock is much less turbulent that ascending, so we had no trouble.

Entering Castle Mills Lock

Ready to leave

Lock pontoon below the lock

Wake

We saw kites, buzzards, cormorants and kingfishers as we continued our journey downstream. We had hoped to moor on the lock island for the disused lock, but there were several boats there already. We carried on down through the old bridge at Great Barford, mooring on the left near the pub. We were on and angled part of the quayside, so our bows stuck out. Saul was there plus a boat we had been following called Kalili. Other boats arrived later and moored on the GOBA bank opposite. One cruiser with young lads came up through the lock and tied up opposite. They were swimming and shouting, and they had loud music playing. It was a hot day and we could all have done with a drink at the pub, but it didn’t open until 6.30pm.

Gt Barford Bridge

Navigation arch

Moored at Gt Barford

3 locks, 6 miles. Dep 1305, arr 1615

Thu 11^th July Gt Barford to Brampton Mill

The last boat last night had come up through the lock, so we decided to leave early to take advantage of the locks in our favour. We didn’t see anyone as we crept away at 8am. Great Barford and Roxton Locks were both in our favour, although the last boat through had not bothered to lower the paddles.

Gt Barford Lock

Entering Roxton Lock

Roxton Lock

We found Eaton Socon Lock empty, so had to fill it. With these electrically operated guillotine gates, even though there are no boats in the lock, a safety feature prevents you raising the gate fully until the lock is almost full. Here we had to wait six and a half minutes for the lock to fill after the gate was first raised just a few centimetres.

Eaton Socon Lock

The mill at Eaton Socon

We decided we didn’t need to stop at St Neots, although there was plenty of mooring space available, both at the Priory Centre and on the meadows opposite.

Artwork at St Neots bridge

Plenty of mooring spaces at St Neots

That Oast House again

St Neots Lock is on a side stream which is tiny compared to the main course of the river, which goes straight ahead. The water was very clear after the lock, and we saw plenty of fish, including a pike.

Narrow channel on the left leads to the lock

There are some tall spires on the churches around here. We could see the one at Offord d’Arcy from a long way off. We had another look for the EA and GOBA moorings at Offord Cluny but there was no trace of them. We passed under the A14 dual carriageway bridge that is not yet open.

Offord d’Arcy

A14 dual carriageway

There is this island below Brampton Lock where the signage is totally ambiguous for upstream traffic. This time we took photos of the signs, one of which says upstream traffic should turn right, and the other says all traffic should turn left.

Keep left

Keep right

We moored soon after this near Brampton Mill. We considered going there for a drink, but we would have had to walk across a field to cross a bridge and go around by road. When we looked online, we saw they called themselves a gastropub, so we guessed they wouldn’t have anything decent to drink.

Brampton Mill

GOBA mooring at Brampton

6 locks, 16 miles. Dep 0800 arr 1330

Fri 12^th July Brampton Mill to St Ives

We set off under a railway bridge and through the lock at Godmanchester. From there we went under the present A14 bridge and past Huntingdon where we saw some lovely wild flower areas in the park.

A14 bridge at Huntingdon

Wild flowers in Huntingdon

At Houghton Lock there was a cruiser waiting on the pontoon as another boat was in the lock coming upstream. The lock was one which had been extended sideways, so the cruiser could go into the side part, and Gabriel could use the longer length.

Sharing Houghton Lock with Sharomel

Gazebos for midgets on the GOBA mooring at Hemingford Grey

We shared Hemingford Lock in the same way, and both boats were heading for the same mooring in St Ives. Because of the layout of the lock, we went first, and we were pleased to find there was space for both boats at the moorings adjacent to the Dolphin pub. We couldn’t get near enough to the side, so we had to use a plank.

The entrance to the Dolphin moorings

Moored by the Dolphin

Later, the water levels went down, and we found ourselves on the bottom, and at a slight angle. We tried to push the boat out, but we couldn’t manage it. Hopefully the levels would be restored later. We considered trying to move to a different mooring, so James went to have a look elsewhere. The town moorings were full, and the wall there would mean we wouldn’t be able to get ashore.

Town moorings full

Evening sun and a dark sky

We went to bed with the boat still sloping, but at least our heads were higher than our feet.

Moored by the Dolphin

3 locks, 7 miles. Dep 0915, arr 1210

Sat 13^th July St Ives to Cambridge and back by bus

Thankfully the levels had risen in the night and the boat was on an even keel when we woke up (and we haven’t even got a keel!).

We walked across the ancient bridge and discovered that the chapel was open, so we had a look inside. There are only four of these bridge chapels in the country, and we have seen the ones at Wakefield and Bradford-on-Avon. The other is at Rotherham.

The old bridge

Bridge Chapel

Inside

Confusing signs – no motor vehicles unless they are heavy ones???

We had decided to travel to Cambridge by guided bus, and the timetable told us that they ran “up to every 7 minutes”. We turned up at the place we had boarded the bus in 2011, and thought it was all a bit quiet. We managed to find someone to ask, and he said that the bus stop had moved to just around the corner. A bus came along very soon, and we were off, on this amazing bus system, where horizontal wheels at the side of the bus connect with a raised kerb and keep the bus going straight. The speed was apparently 56mph max according to the driver. The track is mostly replacing disused railway lines, although extra track appeared to have been laid in some places. At other times the bus travels on the road as normal, and the bus driver actually has to steer.

View from the guided bus

We visited the tourist office for a map, before finding a market to wander round, and a Greek restaurant for a souvlaki. We visited the natural history museum, part of the university.