Retirement with No Problem

Stretham to Aldreth Flat Bridge, Old West River, 9 miles 0 locks

Once again the back canopy was up.  It wasn’t bad first thing, but it wasn’t long until the clouds arrived.  Once again the wind was directly in our faces.  It is amazing, it doesn’t seem to matter which way we travel the wind is nearly always against!  I suppose we have got used to it now, and are merrily cruising each day whatever the weather.  The back canopy is a godsend though..

Still sunny though as we passed the Old Stretham Steam engine building, the last surviving steam powered engine out of over 100 in this part of the fens.  On certain weekends they fire it up for visitors, we have never been lucky enough to be there at that time.. maybe on the way back..

We had a tern following us for ages watching in our wash for fish..

These birds are so agile and accurate, I’ll tell you what, he caught a fair few fish, a good feed following us for just over half a mile.

We had planned to get above Hermitage Lock today and possibly St Ives, but we found a stash of wood close to Aldreth, not easy to get.. heh, whenever is it, but we loaded it best we could on the back deck.  We are down to our last bag of coal and our last handful of logs, so that was most welcome especially as there are not many trees in the fens!..

‘Tis going below freezing tonight, it is well needed.

So decisions made, as I do, and we stopped not much further along finding a lovely mooring with a hard side and a bit of protection from the pesky wind.  It was very difficult you see, to steer NP in the wind and rain holding on to a couple of small branches to stop them falling and trying to dodge a very active puppy flying around the back deck!

In any case, we couldn’t really get out the chain saw on St Ives quay could we!

Oh such a tiring day aboard No Problem.. crash status!

But I did over the weekend..

I missed it.. I was gutted last night when I looked at the stats.  I knew it was close, but I had anticipated a week later than this.  It is because of all the doggy posts of late, they have been extremely lookable!

So I have passed the magic mark and saw yesterday evening 1,002,836 hits on this blog since I first introduced statcounter on 15th March 2005.  Heh, that day there were just 27 visits!

Now then, I have to thank you all for that, I have to thank you all for making me write something each week, or most days a week.  It is a wonderful record for me and my family, and sometimes I look back at past blogs, and they make me smile to think of what has gone on during our retirement.

If it wasn’t for you lot keep looking and making me feel that I have a commitment to you all to say something I wouldn’t have that record you know?, And I cherish that.

In that time we have travelled the length and breath of the waterways.. Furthest north (in those days) Ripon (July 2004)..

Furthest south (nowadays) Godalming (July 2010)..

The distance between the two is 401 miles and 180 locks.  Hey, that hat got a bit bleached on the way!

We have met some wonderful people over the years both boaters and gongoozlers I can’t possibly name them all here.  We have made an awful lot of firm friends.

What a life we lead, it is just so wonderful, I am dead chuffed today with those stats, but I am more chuffed that we decided to do this for our retirement and live the dream…. Dream on…

Thank you, to each and every one of you who has read my blog,…

Upware to Stretham, Rivers Cam and Old West, 3.5 miles 0 locks

Well here you are, the first pics of the pup Penny our new crew member who I guess has just won the dog lottery!..

Meg is not overly though as you can see by her expression, her nose has been put out of joint a bit for sure.  It could be that Penny is so tiny at the moment, or it could be that she now has to share pats!

I am so pleased I picked up a couple of toys when we were in Ely last, and those along with an old pair of slippers has kept her from chewing what she must not.  Need to learn some other stuff too like “What is that?”..

Ahem, not to be walked on Penny!  It was the bits of vegetation floating by that caught her eye.  The weather has been too cold and wet today to show her that the river is not a solid item, Ill let her settle a couple of days before introducing new stuff like that!

We moved this morning in the pouring rain from the Five Miles from Anywhere pub at Upware as the mooring was rather shallow and it was a bit of a jump from the back deck to shore.  At least here at Stretham just inside the Old West River the EA moorings are deep and have a good hard edge which helped the pup today.

I need to arrange her first vaccination as soon as possible, before that I can only take her just outside the boat not on pathways used by other dogs.  I’ll do that at St Ives, but I might have to wait for the river above the next lock to calm down a bit.  A ring to the lock keeper first thing tomorrow to see how the levels are.

Meg and I were very lucky this afternoon.  I had taken her out for a very long walk and with one hundred yard to go to the boat on the way back it started to drizzle a bit.  No sooner had I got aboard the heavens opened with the hardest rain I have seen in a very long time.  The visibility dropped right down it was that hard.. lucky us!

OK one more pic..

All I need to do now is teach her how to tie the boat up, seems she has the idea of how to grab a rope!

Happy Birthday Jennie! Hope you have a wonderful day! xx.

Cambridge to Upware, River Cam, 10 miles 2 locks

No time to do a blog yesterday really, but we had a really brilliant day in the sunshine.  Kevin and Debbie came up from Ely and met us at Little Thetford then it was onward together to Cambridge.  It is such a lovely river, the Cam, but then I enjoy all rivers I suppose.  It has been quite some time since we went up the Cam, in fact it was the first week of June 2006.  That is the only time we did, and then we didn’t go all the way to Cambridge after being scared off at The Plough at Fen Ditton.

I recalled on that blog that we spoke to some people who warned us of the rowing eights and how dangerous it can be with a narrowboat in between them.  Having thought about it that year we decided to turn back…

Not so this year, I was quite happy to do combat with the rowers!  Anyway I have an awful lot more experience now on rivers.  Mind there is a lot going on on this river..

Ooops, and it wasn’t that windy.  One in the water so the little safety boat is now zooming down river to come and tell our convoy of two to ease up until the unlucky sailor gets the yacht back up!

Look at that glorious weather too!  Certainly cheered me, was just what I needed a bit of sunshine.  I loved the trip to Cambridge through the suburbs and past the rowing houses and towards the end of the navigation I spied…

But unfortunately Amy and James were not at home.. what a pity, I had been really looking forward to meeting them.  Kevin gave them a knock later in the evening to see if they wanted to come join the party, but hey you two must have been away for the weekend eh?!  Sorry to have missed you both.

It wasn’t that wide at Jesus Lock, the limit of navigation, and not thinking, I turned NP the wrong way round so made it more difficult for myself.  My stern should have gone to the left which meant that the weir on the right would have pushed the front around.. DOH!  Instead it took ages as the stern was trying to go round against the flow of that!

After mooring on Midsummer Common I took Meg for a wander to try and find a supermarket for a bit of salad to go with the lasagna that Debbie had invited us to aboard Avalon.  It gave me an opportunity to have a closer look at Jesus Lock..

Now that is a bit different.  The lock gate beams are beautiful in the way they curve.  Upstream from here are the punts that can be hired to get to what they call the backs, passing some of the Universities on the way.  I would have liked to have done that, but nobody else was interested!  Shucks! I mean it wasn’t as if I had asked Vic to punt me (ha, can you imagine that!) I would have been very happy with wine in hand to be chauffeured by a straw hatted good looking fella!

Great night out on Kevin and Deb’s boat last night.. I don’t know how we manage to find so much to talk about!

Mr Tesco delivered some groceries at Chesterton this morning on our way out of Cambridge, and then we had to wait an hour or so as there was some racing on the river, some 40 rowing eights going flat out past us before we dared venture downstream.. Glad I wasn’t on the river while that was going on!

Trip back then today just as enjoyable as yesterday stopping at the Five Miles from Anywhere pub close to Wicken Fen.  No time for a wander this evening as it was quite late when we got here due to the delay.  If the weather isn’t too bad tomorrow that is where I will venture.

Absolutely great weekend that was!

Little Thetford to Cambridge, Rivers Great Ouse and Cam, 14.5 miles 2 locks

‘Tis late and we have enjoyed the welcome of an evening onboad Kevin’s and Debbie’s boat Avalon.  Moored now in Cambridge, we have had such a fantasic day…

That from Kevin says it all…

Little Thetford to Ely and back, River Great Ouse, 5.5 miles 0 locks

I thought the wind had died down a bit this morning when I decided to take Meg on a long trek along some lovely paths that I have taken before, but as I walked away from the shelter of the bankside mooring I realised that the wind was still very high along the Ouse valley.  There is one thing I hate when walking and that is the high wind!..

Big skys again here in East Anglia..

Thought I would take the new phone out today, and I am very pleased with the few pictures that I took.  I would like them to be 600×400 size, but it would only size to 533×400.  I shall have to look and see if I can get the original sizes changed so they end up a bit wider..

There are lots of these crossings over the Peterborough to Cambridge railway line, none of them are controlled so care is needed..

I’ll tell you what, while I am writing this blog I am getting bombarded with bugs.. need to close the windows.  I guess that might just mean a nice day tomorrow!

Done it.. but now I have squish marks on the computer screen!

We needed some bits from Ely, milk etc.. There is a bus at the top of the road here in Little Thetford, but I would have to wait in Ely for a hour for a bus back so we decided to go shopping by boat!

Anyway it served a couple of purposes.  Batteries were charged and water tank filled, about turn and we were back at Little Thetford just 10 minutes after I would have been the same had I bused it!

It was nice to meet up with Jim and Carolyn over here for a few months from America enjoying our waterways.  Late this afternoon they joined us on the mooring.  Not seen them since we got stuck at Thrapston back in April.

We don’t normally move at the weekends, but the weatherman has promised a bit of yellow stuff tomorrow, so we are going to Cambridge!  I am really looking forward to that because it is one of the places I have never been.  I know we have spent many summers over here in the fens, but we never managed to get to Cambridge.

I am waiting to hear from Kevin to see if we are going in convoy with his widebeam.. now that would be fun!

The River Great Ouse above Earith is still in flood so is closed to navigation still.. I am hoping that will change next week so I can collect mail from St Ives and get on with our summer cruising program!

Hopefully some action pictures tomorrow of NP on the move then!

Edit: Ah ha!  Managed to get those pictures the size I want.  Also been in contact with Kevin, yes a convoy it is tomorrow.. Look out Amy, here we come!

Moored Little Thetford, River Great Ouse

Got my head stuck into something tonight.. Only just pulled myself away to put a quick blog post up for you.

I have had a very good day today in the Office, most paperwork has been filed away, phone calls completed and meetings arranged.. phew a big brain offload!

In my patch today..

From Peterborough Evening Telegraph

I know when we went south the other day passing on the train the River Nene was way above the embankment, and I could see the boats looking as if they were in the middle of the river, some 10 to 15 feet from the bank.  This is what happens when the boats drift on to the land, then the water goes down tipping them over.

What this boater should have done is put some poles alongside his boat to stop that from happening.  Thankfully we have only had to do that once ever!

But what boaters have been talking about more than anything today is the guilotine RSJ put across one of the locks on the Staffordshire & Worcestershire Canal (pics here on Narrowboatworld) in response to a young lad who was killed when he fell off his bike into the water.  Maffi explains more..

“….Do BW have no idea how boats are operated? Did they ever think to go and sit at the lock for a week or two and see how boaters negotiated the lock? If they had done so they would have given proper consideration for those that pay to use the canal and less to people who trespass upon it….”

Very dangerous indeed, you may not be looking forward for a split second when approaching a bridge.. Chas was doing that one year..

Teehee… Actually he was gently reversing!

Oh it was a bit more than a quickie.. didn’t you do well!

Ely to Little Thetford, River Great Ouse, 2.75 miles 0 locks

Ah hem, epic cruise as you see!

But it was enough at just over tickover to charge the batteries a bit.. This morning was dank again, but no wind so I forced suggested Sir came with me on a long walk with Meg before setting off as there was rain due in the afternoon and there was very much a lack of exercise at the weekend due to enjoying too much!  (say no more!).

That done, and while I popped to Tesco for some fresh stuff, Vic readied NP..

On past Soham Lode which is not navigable, although it is possible to go up there a short way only to have to reverse back.. The thought didn’t even occur to me as we past by!

The river at this point still has high flood banks on both sides, and with such a dank day there was absolutely nothing to look at.. even the river wildlife had given up the ghost waiting for proper spring to appear.

Having moored up I took a pic of the river ahead.. at least the bank has some green on it, the rest of the scene is all one colour.. grey!

As forecasted the rain started to come down about half hour after our arrival.. gawd, I am getting fed up with this weather, but it gave me a chance to catch up on some silly stuff, you know what I mean, like phoning Tesco to say I didn’t receive my pricecheck refund yet, like phoning St Ives Post Office to arrange for mail to be delivered, like waiting on the phone listening to stupid music because 3 had overcharged me by £8 on my last bill.. then on to the computer writing to someone on ebay because a couple of pairs of gloves hadn’t arrived.. Is it just me, or do you lot have to do all this mundane stuff from time to time?

They were getting a right soaking!  But hooray, lots of emails today from British Waterways to say that lock restrictions were easing as the reservoirs were filling.. now that is good news, and worth the wait for a bit of sunshine.  Thank goodness boaters are allowed to move a bit more freely on the cut.

I have plenty of work to do in the office tomorrow, so it will be a dot day, but I am hoping to take Meg across country tomorrow, the walking around here is fabulous.. bit of sun tomorrow too, might be able to sit out if it isn’t too windy.. Ho hum, maybe not that much office work will be done then.

Cheeky little goldfinch I spied out of the window late this evening poking round the fence..

Four or five of them there were all dancing along the fencing.. kept me entertained for ten minutes or so!

I think I will bleach my hair.. yes another blonde moment this evening.  I have a new phone you see, I have been playing with it a bit, but not made any outgoing calls.  Kevin phoned.. “I’ll phone you back in 10 minutes” says I, well there was awful reception inside NP, I needed to go outside.  But when I got out there I couldn’t find out how to phone him!

I could find out how to send a text message but there seemed no way to actually phone him!.. So I sent a message “You phone me because I don’t know how to phone you”.. Kevin was very kind when he phoned!

Moored Ely, River Great Ouse

You know I just can’t get it out of my mind this evening what happened on the journey from Peterborough to Ely.

We had a great weekend ‘dan saff’ with the family where not only my birthday was celebrated, but also granddaughter Niamh had her birthday party.. I really enjoyed that, but I wasn’t allowed to dance.. “Grandma!.. Please don’t dance!”.. Humph, maybe my style of dancing is a bit old fashioned these days!

It was an eventful weekend where my running and driving skills were put to the test by a runaway pony at dusk charging down the lane past the house!  We later found out that this particular pony was uncatchable..  I was in and out of the car while Wendie was running.. I was using the car to shepherd the pony off the main road that he had reached back on to the lanes, cutting it off at junctions.. we never did catch the bloomin’ thing after over an hour, but it ran on to the golf course.  We guarded the entrance while some went to look, but it was almost dark.. A car rolled up “Have you seen a pony anywhere, we have lost one from our field?”.. Jeezz!

Next to turn up was the owner of the golf course!  We left the owners of the various items to spa sort out what to do.  Hope the greens were playable the next day!

The biggest problem of being in East Anglia is that we have to go through London.  Meg is far too heavy to carry up and down the escalators, so a bus is required from Waterloo to Kings Cross.. This morning the family were working so we couldn’t get a lift to the station, so it went something like this..

Bus, bus, train, bus, train, train!  And we made all the connections! (Just)

But it was on the last train..

The strike action called for Tuesday 8th May and Thursday 10th May which is effecting East Midlands Trains is having a major knock-on affect on services on other routes.

 East Coast Mainline services operating on these dates are very busy, and many services are fully booked as passengers due to travel with East Midlands Trains are seeking alternative routes.

And they sure were sharing other routes at Peterborough.  We squeezed on to the three carriage train.. Vic ended up halfway down a carriage while I was trying to protect young Meg from being trampled by staying in the doors area! There were an awful lot of young people on the train, and you know, nobody offered Vic a seat.  I couldn’t see him, but was certain he would get one.. but he told me no.

He really did struggle with that.. I have never seen so many people on a train, not even on the underground.

Having arrived at Ely we had to go down the  ramp and under the tracks to the exit, and on the upward ramp about half way up was a lady on crutches trying to pull her large suitcase.  Nobody, just nobody had helped her.. again a lot of young people about.  Vic offered and she was so pleased.

That last 35 minutes  of our journed back to NP has really bothered me.. not anger, just totally surprised and disappointed all at the same time!