Retirement with No Problem

Junction Little Ouse to close Brandon, River Little Ouse, 12 miles o locks

Just as laid back as it was when we visited in 2006.  And the weather was glorious, giving us warm sunshine with just a hint of a breeze in our faces.

So we pulled the pins fairly early this morning after breakfast and after Lucy and Meg had their morning stroll.  I had spied a nice apple tree in a makeshift car park the night before, and hoped that someone would be working on the bank this morning so I could see who owned the tree.  I knew people would be working on the banks of the Little Ouse because machines were there.

They are building a long stretch of moorings at the beginning of the river, and by long, I mean long!  Must be almost three quarters of a mile of moorings soon available.  There are signs up for the Little Ouse Moorings…

Well there was someone working, the owner of the new moorings!  And I had a chat to Danny, not only about the moorings but also the apples.. I arrived back to No Problem with a good few pockets full.. thanks Danny!

A very seemingly remote stretch between the high flood banks on each side of the narrow river, this is the road bridge to the village of Little Ouse..

I have spied a place to stop, and just might do that to have a look at this little village that takes it’s name from the river.. or maybe it’s the other way around!..

The GOBA moorings are in a delightful area, although they are nearly an mile further than shown in the Imray Guide.  We stopped for lunch and both K9s took the opportunity to splash and play in the river with the very low bank, and shallow side.

Has anyone lost a narrowboat?..

Yes there really is one in there.. thanks to Louise, Vic’s daughter, for grabbing my camera and snapping this one for me while I was playing galley slave!

Soon the high flood banks disappeared as we cruised upstream..

Over to the left there is a huge lake system with hundreds of swans on them, you can see how different the river has become.. laid back it is for sure, and so were these two..

The pins were put in tonight just short of Brandon, the end of the navigable part of this river.. ‘tis a nice mooring here..

Up ahead, that was just one of two boats we saw today, and yesterday we only 3 boats..

Louise goes home tomorrow from Brandon Station after her week aboard No Problem.  We have had a great time, and she has really enjoyed her time with us.  Our original plan was to pick her up from St Neots and cruise to Ely, but the recent floods put paid to that.. but what we have done has been really lovely, and it has given Vic and I the chance to cruise these two rivers again, which we might not have done, before making our way back to the canal system for the winter.