Retirement with No Problem

Doddington to Denford, River Nene, 14 miles 9 locks

Look at that distance then!

All done on just over tickover speed.. let the river do the work and sit back and enjoy that’s what I say.. and it took us a working 9 to 5 plus a bit of overtime to do it.  Mind you we did stop at Tesco for fresh fruit and veg at Wellingborough.  Vic put some water in the tank while I nipped up the road to the supermarket.

But earlier we pulled the pins from our lovely mooring at Doddington where young Meg, my 10 month old collie, decided to offload Ann’s rubbish from Moore2Life and deposit it in the middle of the field that we were moored at..

I think she is in trouble here, but it looks like she already knows that!!

But a lovely day for cruising today, enjoyed I am sure by all boaters in the southern half of England.  I bet there were a lot of boats out on the canals today.. not here on the Nene though.. just the one narrowboat went past in the other direction this morning..

So the story of the day then..

A mixture of lock types which makes the Nene unique.. water pouring over the upstream gates as the guillotine is raised..

That odd looking house that gives me the creeps everytime we pass it..

Built in the 15^th century, at the centre of a medieval village called Chester-on-the-Water,  I always like to look at it but try not to, it looks, well haunted! .. It’s one of those places that is really scarey..

Onward then, the unusual lock at Ditchfield has this curved, radial guillotine gate..

A stop after that at the Rushden and Diamonds Football Club moorings to use the services.  I hooked up the water again as I had done three loads of washing today, and refilled the tank to the brim while Vic used the pump-out on the loo tank.. this pump-out is much better than the one in Northampton, but we won’t moan about that.. they are all free after all!

A cup of coffee to die for was produced by Dot as we had caught up with the Two Ds and Gypsy Rover, and we present a ‘make do’ gang plank that we got from a very friendly farmer at the amazing Woolaston Lock our first lock of today.  I knew Dot and Derek’s travelling companions had no gang plank so asked this riverside ‘got everything’ farmer for a plank..  nice guy..

We leap frogged Gypsy Rover and continued downstream in the warm sunshine.. the number of swans and geese consuming crops must be a big problem for farmers..

We have seen colonies of them feeding off the land.  I know the last time we were moored in this area near Ringstead Lock the farmer used to drive his 4X over the fields to disperse them, but no sooner had he gone over the horizon than they came back flying in just like one I caught today on camera..

We would normally have stopped just above Ringstead Upper Lock, but Chas on NB Moore2Life, our travelling companions, will need diesel from Oundle in a week or so, so we passed that delightful mooring and cruised on to Denford.. a mooring not to be missed.  Not a sound here tonight, I love putting the pins in here..

Rain tomorrow for us, but I don’t care.. ‘Tis F1 Grand Prix to enjoy and time to enjoy the peace and quiet of this most rural of moorings..