The mooring by the Pike and Eel
Clear water on the Great Ouse
We had a problem with mosquitos at this mooring. The short
path through the woods to the marina had clouds of the things went we walked
through last night, and there were several in the boat. Hazel had a few bites.
She is always more tasty than James, except for horseflies who prefer James to
Hazel. We will try somewhere a bit more open next.
It was a lovely day as we cruised upriver past the Old
Ferryboat Inn and some old thatched cottages at Holywell. We passed under the
Guided Bus Bridge, which we intend to use later on to get to Cambridge and Fen
Drayton reserve.
Thatched Houses in Holywell
Our wake
Guided Bus Bridge
We arrived at St Ives Lock which was unevenly shaped. It
had a guillotine gate at the lower end, and there were hard hat men working on
the electrics. Hazel went forward to operate the paddles on the upper V-gates
on the starboard side, which would have kept us against the straight wall.
However, a “helpful” hard hat man put up the paddle fully on the port side without
asking and swept the boat into the wall opposite with a loud bang. He obviously
had little boating experience. He laughed. James was cross.
St Ives Lock
The hard hat man on the left
We left the lock and cruised to St Ives. The 15th
century bridge there has many arches to take it across the flood plain, and a
chapel halfway across the river.
Many arches at St Ives
The historic bridge over the river
We headed for a mooring at “The Waits” which is through the
bridge, and on the same side as the town. We discovered that wall is too high
for narrowboats, so had to put out fenders on the cabin sides instead of on the
hull. We had to climb up onto the lockers and step over the side to get ashore.
High wall at the Waits mooring
We found a Waitrose at the far end of the town and bought a
few items. We also found a new Wetherspoons called the Swan and Angel, opened
in April 2017. It was very hot, so we
called in for a cool drink. Old Rosie and Thatcher’s Cloudy ciders.
Cromwell statue, St Ives
Back on the boat we had zzzzz. We used the water tap as it was there before
moving on later when it was cooler. Our map marked the channel by the Waits as
a through route inside Holt Island. However, beyond the moorings it was weedy,
with low trees. There was a sign marked “turning point” but at 59ft we were too
long, so we had to reverse out. Sadly, our bow thruster is not working at
present, as it would have been very useful for this manoeuvre.
Topping up with water
The entrance to the Waits
We cruised up to Hemingford Lock, where we found three
cruisers coming out towards us. After the lock there was a delightful stretch through
to Hemingford Grey. This sounds and looks like the setting for a Miss Marple mystery,
with thatched cottages, a huge vicarage, a manor house and a church. We saw
some rowing boats being prepared.
The church at Hemingford Grey
Thatched cottage
The EA mooring was too high, like the one at St Ives, so we
moved on to the GOBA mooring which was OK. Later there were noisy lads further
up on the other side playing loud music and having to shout to each other above
the noise. Thankfully they disappeared by 6pm, probably because they were
expected home for dinner. The rowing boats
appeared, going up and down with different crews each time. Presumably it was a
rowing club as most of them looked fairly good at it. On the top of the bank
there were lots of people walking their dogs, and some were shouting at their dogs,
so it wasn’t all that peaceful until darkness fell.
The GOBA mooring at Hemingford Grey.
Sunset
2 locks, 7 miles. Dep 0930, arr 1005 St Ives. Dep 1625 arr
1730 Hemingford Grey
Moored at Hemingford Grey
We slept late this morning - 0945! It was very warm by the
time we set off, so we put up the hood for shade. We were hoping for a picture of Houghton Mill,
but we could not see through the trees on the island. We passed Hartford with
its riverside church.
The church at Hartford
We continued up stream through Huntingdon and Godmanchester.
We had hoped to stop somewhere between Brampton and Offord Cluny, but the GOBA
mooring at Brampton had several boats already, and the remaining stretch was
surrounded by cows, so we continued.
This couple started a sponsored sunbathe in 1961
There is an island just before Brampton Lock, and there were
some confusing signs. One sign said “upstream
boats should turn right across the pool to the lock”. Another sign said “Navigation
Channel” with an arrow to the left, next to a two-way traffic sign. We chose
the latter, as we remembered crossing the weir pool last time and being told we
shouldn’t have done. In the words of Pete and Dud: “It could confuse a stupid
person”. We’ll try to get photos of the signs on the way back.
In hindsight we should have stopped at the GOBA mooring a
mile or so further on, where there was space, but we thought there were too
many trees and therefore mosquitos might be a problem again. Hazel has several
bites from our time at the Pike and Eel.
We passed under a new dual carriageway bridge which will be
the A14 Southern Bypass for Huntingdon.
A14 Southern Bypass bridge under
construction
We had two moorings marked on our map at Offord Lock – one GOBA
and the other EA. We couldn’t find either, so we carried on through Offord Lock.
Here we found a grey wagtail nest with baby birds in one of the cavities where
chains are fixed in the lock wall.
Offord Lock
Grey Wagtail
Our next mooring hope was at Paxton Pits, two miles further
on, but there is only enough space for two boats, and there were already two
boats there. We were suffering from weed on the prop since leaving Offord Lock,
so we had a laborious upstream cruise to the lock at St Neots. The bottom gates
were open, so went straight in, and James climbed the ladder. A cruiser came in
behind us. This lock had a guillotine
gate at the lower end, and V gates at the upstream end.
St Neots Lock
As we left the lock, we tied to the bollards to make a
visit to the weed hatch to clear the weed. By this time, we were very tired,
and were pleased to see empty moorings on the Lammas Meadow. However, when we
tried to moor it was very shallow and weedy and we could not get in close
enough to get off onto the bank. We continued to the moorings on the park in St
Neots, where we had intended to arrive tomorrow night. Thankfully there was
space, and deep water, so we moored up gratefully.
St Neots mooring
Later there was a group of people having a BBQ on the riverbank
nearby, and a disco going on in the Priory Centre opposite, but it was all
quiet by midnight.
Dusk at St Neots
5 locks, 14 miles. Dep 1135, arr 1710.
Sat 6th July
St Neots
There were people setting up barriers and inflatable arches
on the park this morning. It was apparent that there was to be a triathlon
tomorrow. We had exactly the same situation when we were here in August 2011.
A flock of twenty canoes appeared for a while, and then
there were dragon boats going up and down, beating out a rhythm with a loud
drum.
Having done a two-day journey yesterday, we felt we could relax
a bit today. We wandered across the bridge into town and picked up our
pre-arranged prescriptions from Boots. We found a hairdresser for Hazel and
booked an appointment for 1115. We had a coffee together before James wandered
back to the boat while Hazel went for her appointment, where she had a good conversation about spiritual matters with the hairdresser.
Hazel arrived back just before some rain arrived, and we
had a relaxing afternoon watching Wimbledon tennis.
If we had stopped earlier yesterday, we would have arrived here
just in time for a wet afternoon, and Hazel wouldn’t have had her hair
appointment.
No boating today.
Next: A visit to the Open Door Church
tomorrow, who meet in the Priory Centre opposite, then further upstream to
Bedford.
