Retirement with No Problem

Wadenhoe to Denford, River Nene, 5.5 miles 3 locks

The errors of my ways were pointed out to me today, but not before we filled with water before setting off in the surprising sunshine.. I say surprising because Mr Weatherman said we would be under cloudy skies today… wrong.. as you can see from the approach to Titchmarsh Lock…

Friendly boatyard this with a huge sign on the Middle Nene Cruising Club who occupy the building.. “We welcome all boaters”.. and a welcome on the lockside from Mike..

“You have errors on your blog Sue” he greeted me!   Well I know I have been making some changes to the blog, and sometimes someone points out something I missed but… “It’s UPPER Barnwell Lock where the mill is not Lower”…. Ooops.. my blog last night gave the wrong information!  Thanks Mike!.. we chatted a while, then left the lock leaving it to the volunteer on the lockside to empty the lock and raise the guillotine.. now that is a friendly boat club for sure!

Cruising through the nature reserve between the lock and Thrapston we spied many herons in one area, I believe there is a heronry within the reserve, then we were treated to a wonderful site of a kite hunting low across the valley.. no pictures though as the sun was in front of us and making the bird look totally black, pity..

On through Islip Lock and under Thrapston pack bridge..

We are now on the ‘Nen’ this side of the bridge, it’s only pronounced the ‘Neen’ on the other… I suppose if you chatted on the bridge then you would have to use the right pronounciation depending on which pavement you walked on!!

Denford Lock, one of the few now with a DIY wheel, but we have a little tool for them that cleverly bolts through a tiny hole in the wheel giving us a handle.. it still takes many spins to get this up and down.  All the locks on the Nene with guillotines have to be left with the guillotine in the up position.. so once through the lock has to be reversed..

We have moored on farmland just upstream from here.. we always do and the farmer knows us well enough, infact he was around while we moored up and we called greetings to one another..

I hope it will be a bit quieter than when we moored on the way down when a drunken thug decided to show off to his giggling girlfriends and jump on the roof toppling my plants.. I demanded he got off which he did in the end having picked up the long barge pole.. he then continued to taunt me with it while the girls took a movie on their phone.. Vic was standing by just out of sight keeping an eye on the situation and Meg was at my side pretending to be a vicious dog.. he dropped it in the end and wobbled off.. I must try and find that on youtube.. Probably entitled Drunken Yob with Bargepole taunting little old lady!