March to the Pike and Eel, Great Ouse

Mon 1^st July  March to Upwell

The mooring in March

There were some well-behaved geese

Thankfully it was a little cooler this morning. We reversed under the bridge to the facilities where we discovered that the elsan was working fine, and so was the water tap. We had been led to believe by staff at Fox Narrowboats that it was out of order, and they had charged Hazel £3.50 for the code to their elsan facility, which was a hole in the ground, with a hose that was little more than a trickle. We think they probably pocketed the money.

We headed out of March and past the junction with the Twenty Foot River, where we had turned the boat previously. We caught up with Explorer, a Fox day boat, and soon overtook them.

Twenty Foot junction and wind turbines

We were following the old course of the River Nene, before the Dutch engineers changed everything around. We passed the junction with Popham’s Eau, where we had gone last time in 2011.

We arrived at Marmont Priory Lock, which is marked the wrong way round in our map. The level rises here. There are signs asking boaters to ring the bell for the lock keeper. We did so, but no-one came. The lock was full, so we needed to empty it first. One of the lower gate paddles was padlocked, but the other was not, so we used just one paddle to empty the lock. As we were taking Gabriel in, the hire boat appeared behind us, but there was not enough space for two boats. They had never worked a lock before, so we explained how to do it. They also rang the bell but there was no response.

Marchmont Priory Lock

Explorer arriving

We left them to figure it out while we proceeded into Upwell, where we moored by the church. We had a sound snooze, catching up on the sleep we had lost in the hot weather. Then we went for a walk to explore Upwell and Outwell. Apparently, a tram used to run from here to Wisbech until 1966. There were few reminders now. We called in at a chip shop and ate our meal sitting on a wall.

Tram memorial

When we returned, we saw that Tempo had arrived and moored behind us. There was no-one around, so we assumed they had gone out for a meal. We watched a bit of Wimbledon tennis, seeing Venus Williams being beaten in the first round by 15-year-old Cori Gauff.

Moored in Upwell

1 lock, 7 miles. Dep 1030, arr 1305.

Tue 2^nd July  Upwell to Salters Lode

It was cooler again today. We chatted to the people on Tempo, who had been stuck at Irthlingborough for 8 days. That was where we last saw them. They left Upwell mid-morning, while we waited a bit longer as we had some tasks to achieve.

James managed to bleed some air out of the skin tank and topped up the water in the engine with about 8 kettles full. Hopefully we won’t overheat now on our journey up the New Bedford River. We also phoned a chemist in St Neots to arrange to have prescriptions sent there.

We set off and moved slowly along the navigation to Outwell, past an assortment of old houses on the “river front”. The river now is really a big ditch, and in Outwell it takes a sharp turn to the right. This is where the Old River Nene used to go to the left, joining the Wash at Wisbech. The old route from here is all silted up now.

Low bridge in Upwell

Yesterday’s chippy

Another low bridge

The sharp bend where the Nene used to leave to the left

Old houses

We left Outwell on what is called Well Creek, and entered some flat farmland. We crossed the Middle Level Main Drain at Mullicourt Aqueduct, and arrived at Nordelph, where Popham’s Eau joins via a sluice.

Mullicourt Aqueduct

Pylons (we counted forty + in a line)

Popham’s Eau (Not navigable at this end)

Nordelph windmill

A carved wooden bear

After a few houses, we were in open country again, and we met Belle coming the other way. He asked if we had fixed the skin tank, so we shouted “yes”. We also warned him about a large railway sleeper that was floating in the water.

Railway sleeper

WWll pillbox

On arrival at Salters Lode, we found Tempo moored on the pontoon. We pulled in front of them and went to find the lockkeeper, but he was not at home. James went for a walk to spy out the land for tomorrow’s tidal trip.

Arrival at Salters Lode

Mudbank near Denver Sluice

New Bedford River

Old Bedford River

Heron taking off

Moored at Salters Lode

Later a boat called Saul arrived, and we cast off to let them moor inside us, as we were leaving at 6.30am, and they are not going until 9am. James had a long chat with owners John and Helen, and it turns out they know friends of ours Simon and Pat of Daedalus.

We rang the lockkeeper again and he said we need to be in the lock at 6am. So we set the alarm for 5am and had an early night.

0 locks, 6 miles. Dep 1200, arr 1410.

Wed 3^rd July  Salters Lode to the Pike and Eel

We woke just before the alarm went off. We tried to leave quietly, but John and Helen were up to see us off. We entered the lock as instructed at 6am. The lockkeeper appeared two minutes later and emptied the lock.

0611 In Salters Lode lock

0618 looking back

We only went down about a foot, and the door onto the river was open. We were asked to move out of the lock but remain just outside, but we found that we grounded on the mud. He asked us to revers again and take a run at it, which we did, successfully leaving the lock, but we were up on the mud bank, and we slid back again into the lock. For the third try, the lockkeeper let some water in from the top gates to flush us out, and by powering up, we managed to leave the lock and we went up on the mud bank and levelled out and stopped.

0620 On the mud

We were told about the bore that comes in with the tide, which was due at 6.31am. Well it was not very high, but it was sudden, and the flow stopped going out and immediately started coming in. We waited until we were floating, and set off, waving goodbye to our onlookers. After a few minutes, we were stuck on another mud bank, but we floated off again, going very quickly with the incoming tide.

0649 departure

Our route along the New Bedford River took us for 20 hot and sunny miles of mostly straight channel with high banks. There were few landmarks – some bridges, pumping stations and buildings. The photos are below with the time of each photo, to give you an idea of the journey times.

0649 Denver Sluice

0651 Into the New Bedford River

0703 Welmore Lake Sluice

0728 Welney Nature Reserve

0742 Wash Road Bridge

0815 Hundred Foot Pumping Station

0820 Railway Bridge

0929 Mepal

0930 Three Pickerels pub

0944 Gault Bridge

1031 Hermitage and the Great Ouse

1036 The Old Bedford River

We paused at Westview Marina to empty a cassette. We nearly collected some fishing lines as we pulled in, as there were three rods sticking out from the stern of a boat, with no-one in attendance.

Fishing rods

Swans

After achieving our purpose and consuming ice creams, we set off again to find a suitable mooring. We passed through Brownshill Staunch, a lock with two vertical guillotine gates, electrically operated.

Brownshill Staunch

We found a lovely GOBA mooring with shade, and a grassy bank. We walked to the Pike and Eel pub for a pleasant meal with Peter and Sharon Mills, Canal Ministries trustees.

GOBA mooring near the Pike and Eel

2 locks, 23 miles. Dep 0640, arr 1220

Next: cruising up river to St Ives, St Neots and Bedford, with no particular agenda