Retirement with No Problem

Brandon Creek to Fordham, Rivers Great Ouse and Wissey, 5.75 miles 0 locks

Our mooring here near Fordham where I have heard my first cuckoo of the year this evening..

Yes, a lovely end to the day here in Norfolk, and how peaceful does that look.

But it was all very different this morning.  A decision was made to move NP to the Wissey because of worse weather tomorrow, plus there is only the flood banks to walk Meg at Brandon Creek Junction, and I hate the wind as you know!

It was squally and raining when we set off, I had left our front screen down for some protection.. “There is a sign in front that is sticking out” Says Sir.. I didn’t see that the sign said “Submerged obstruction”..

You guessed.. And we couldn’t shift NP off the concrete slabs that I had driven on to while leaving the mooring.. If only Sir had told me WHAT the sign said! .. Slight domestic followed!

I phoned Danny at The Little Ouse Moorings (Cheapest diesel in the fens), and he and his lady, Natalie, came out in a short narrowboat and managed to drag NP off.. I know they are readers of this blog, so thankyou so much you both. 

I will have to meet them in the local pub here The Ship to buy them a pint as they wouldn’t take a salvage fee!

The weather was atrocious again with the wind now in the north and in our faces.  I left the front screen down and although visibility through it was awful, hence I didn’t see the sign, we did get some respite from the worse of it.  The river was wide enough, you see, for me to guess where I was going, wish I could get some windscreen wipers that worked on perspex!

Is that a narrowboat in there?

Meg loves it here, she has spent all evening outside on the bank, this is what she loves to do have a good nose around.

You know, these banks hide some lovely houses that you can’t see from the river, well only the roof tops.  While walking along the bank of the Little Ouse yesterday this is what I found on the otherside..

A huge pond in the garden, gosh what a spread this is.

Wonderful walking around where we are now, Meg is well pleased.  So am I, it is so peaceful not a sound to he heard.  Probably a dot day tomorrow then.

Ely to Brandon Creek Junction, River Great Ouse, 9.5 miles 0 locks

Made good time today, just 2 hours 10 minutes.. NP is enjoying the deep water me thinks!

Sunshine and showers giving some fabulous light across the meadow from where we were moored in Ely.  It was fantastic to see the different changes of the landscape colours in the different types of light..

Our lovely friends Kevin and Debbie with their fabulous wide beam on the way to the service point at the other end of Ely.  Kevin has built this almost himself having bought just the bottom bit of the shell.  A fantastic job he has made of it too, it is well worth a good read of his blog to see what he has been doing.  The bathroom is to die for, beautifully done.  It’s all very posh, but oh so homely.

A wonderful welcome for us on Saturday evening aboard, and we had a great night in their company, a good ‘ol party time.. I sure did waddle back to NP ably helped out by Sir!

A long walk for me on Sunday morning to clear my head before Kevin and Debbie arrived aboard for a Sunday roast followed by an apply crumble.  Gosh, it has been ages since I have put one of those in the oven.. Puddings, bread and all things sweet have been banned of late.  Both Vic and I had put on a few pounds.. there is only one way to get rid of those!

Oh yes, I forgot, the kettle..  Wendie wanted to see the kettle, the new one..

“So where is the pic of this new kettle…………..???
come on, don’t be shy!!”

Here you go..

New on the left, old on the right.  I miss the old one plus I like it better.  The spout has really furred up and when you try to pour out the water it tends to come out of the lid more than the spout.  Kevin suggested white vinegar.. we are giving that a go.

I have updated the diesel page and the recycling page taken from those of you who have commented of late.  I think I have all your updates, but would be grateful if you would all just take a look to make sure I haven’t missed anyone’s comment..

We decided to retrace out steps and go downstream to visit the Rivers Wissey and Little Ouse before continuing south to Cambridge.  It wasn’t bad this morning and we knew we would have the wind behind..

Plenty of places to eat along the waterfront at Ely, in fact it is one of the nicest waterfronts anywhere.  There are more moorings at the other end of Ely by the services block which are overlooked by the park..

Using the service block ourselves, which you can see on the right of the picture, I put up all the St George’s day bunting before taking off northwards..

There you go Kate, I found your crooked house.  Wonderful place this, just look at the window sills for a start!  My camera is level too!  I never thought this one would last so long..

There are loads of pictures in the April Gallery of Ely and the surrounding areas from numbers 144 to 157

After mooring up on the EA moorings at the junction I took Meg for a good long walk and got blown to bits.  I just hate walking in the high wind, but tomorrow may be very wet and windy, she might not get much time out there.  We are debating whether to move tomorrow or not, but just looking at the forecast it is going to be even worse on Wednesday.. Ho hum, decisions!

Happy Birthday Niamh!

Have a really suppa dupper day!

xxxxxx

Salters Lode to Ely via Little Ouse, River Great Ouse, 20 miles 2 locks

Yes, as you can see we did eventually get through Salters Lock at just after noon.  Very little water indeed and I had to hurry before the tide took most of it away. 

Just a quicky blog tonight as I am absolutely shattered.  It has been a very tiring day, I was very worried about the tidal bit from Salters to Denver because I really didn’t want to get stuck, Meg would never have forgiven me!  My heart rate was high for sure!

We popped into the Little Ouse to get some much needed diesel from Danny at the Little Ouse Moorings, but it was far too windy to even try to reverse the half mile back out to the main river so had to go a good mile further on to a wider bit to wind (turn).

The wind was atrocious and blowing directly in our faces on the straight and wide river Gt Ouse, very unpleasant indeed even with the back canopy up.  I don’t like having the screen down, impossible to see anything if it is raining..

The most welcome sight tonight as we neared journeys end, Ely Cathedral around 6.30pm this evening.  Gosh we should have been here 6 hours earlier!

Sorry for a miserable and short blog tonight, I’ll be OK again tomorrow.  These type days happen once in a while..

Moored Salters Lode, Middle Levels

Our locking out slot came and went, and by 6.30am we were sat having breakfast really disappointed.  Around 8pm the other two boats prepared themselves in the lock ready to go..

Tight fit waiting for the guillotine to rise.  We can’t actually lock through we have to have both ends open and level water with the Gt Ouse as we are too long to fit in the lock..

Here they go with the right turn..

Easy peasy with little boats!

Our turn to give it a go around 11am or a little later.  There won’t be much water but I will give it  go and hope not to get stuck on the mud having to wait until tonight for the tide to come in again..

You will know how it went later!

Upwell to Salters Lode, Middle Levels, 5 miles 0 locks

Topped up the little freezer compartment with a visit to the butcher before moving off the excellent moorings by the church in Upwell.  There is also a handy water point there, a trip to the pub for the key though. 

We continued along the very pretty Well Creek with it’s banks lined with daffodils and weeping willows, some of those could really do with being chopped though..

Just a couple of pics for the family now..

         

Upwell and Outwell are such long villages, a ribbon along the waterway that lasts for some three miles.  Most of the houses front Well Creek, and the backs face farmland or orchards.  Outwell has a wicked bend to get round..

Just under that bridge in the distance is a right turn made more difficult by a massive willow tree hanging over just where the stern needs to be.  Once through there it is out into the countryside again.  But now the banks were gone and the land opened up.  This has always amazed me..

These pylons stretch for miles and miles in a dead straight line into infinity, and it is the same in the other direction.  Once on the River Great Ouse we will pass under them again as they trapse their way across the land.  Not such a good shot today in the drizzle though..

Nordelph next.. I love that name Nordelph.  The visitor moorings are very quaint!

That is it!  Good enough though to stick one bit of NP on if we feel like it on the way back.. Oh and next door…

Wonder how much the last gallon out of that pump was..

Not too far now and we had been very fortunate just to have had drizzle today for our trip and not the heavy rain which arrived later in the afternoon.  The visitor moorings at Salters Lode have been improved somewhat from our first visit here..

Very smart around here now, and while looking for a previous picture to show you I came across a very interesting  blog that I did in July 2006, “Did the girls pull the plug on The Old Bedford River??”  A lovely story of a boat trying to go through the Old Bedford Sluice, yet another drain on the Middle Level close to NP, and enjoy a journey down the Old Bedford River to Welches Dam and beyond.  Might be of interest to some.

We have been so pleased with the back canopy over the last three days, it has kept the rain and wind out and made what could have been a horendous trip into one that was bearable.  Actually, I enjoyed today it was much easier with the easing of the wind.

Here is our view that we will see early tomorrow morning coming out of Salters Lock..

I need to turn right here with the tide running back out to the sea to the left.  It is a difficult turn, having to wait until the stern clears the left bank out of the lock leaving not much room before hitting the sand on the other side, a big no, no as the tide is ebbing there is a chance you might get stuck there until the tide came in again! 

I’ll need to reverse off that bank, I wonder how far down to the left I will be pushed by the tide before I can get turned!

A walk along the flood bank of the Great Ouse this evening with Meg looking over at Salters Lock, then back the other way to Denver Lock..

Our destination on the tidal bit.  An early start tomorrow then, a cuppa in hand will do with breakfast on the EA Moorings on the Gt Ouse.. It is not very often I see two five thirties in a day!

March to Upwell, Middle Levels, 7 miles 1 lock

Even the bell ringers at St Peter church at Upwell were rubbish..

It was fairly sheltered at March when we left this morning, but we didn’t really believe that..

This is the normal stop on the journey of many between the River Nene and the River Great Ouse being about half way across the Middle Levels.

Once out in the open again it became very difficult in the high wind a lot of concentration was needed to stop NP from blowing into the reeds.  In the end I found that running close to the right bank helped somewhat to keep the boat straight instead of crabbing along the middle of the channel, at least there was a bit of shelter there from the height of the bank.  I have never seen white horses on the Middle Levels before!

Meg is not a happy bunny at the moment, totally hating the place.. nothing to see, nothing to do, no walking, no towpaths..

Picture says it all doesn’t it as she lays on the back deck totally bored!

Maureen the lock keeper wasn’t around today at Marmount Lock and we were surprised that a boat was in the lock that had left March a good half hour or so before us this morning while we waited for Mr Tesco.

He asked Vic to close the gates behind him as it would be a bit easier for him.  I am not sure this boater knew what he was doing as he said it had taken him an age to fill the lock having not seen the ground paddles and was using just one of the gate paddles which are very slow on this lock.

I wondered why Sir was so long getting the lock ready for our turn, but the boater had also left him a present by leaving the bottom paddle open as well.. oh not ordinary paddles, they take around 40 turns to get back down again!..

Once through that lock it was on to what is known as Well Creek.  And creek it certainly is, and what makes you laugh is the sign when entering Upwell of  “4mph” and another “Dead Slow”.. well we had no problem with either of those I’ll tell you! 

One of these days they will just have to dredge it!

Not long to the visitor moorings under the ultra low bridge and then off and out with the discontented Meg to try and cheer her a bit..

Through the orchards she perked up, “Ah, I suppose life isn’t too bad after all” was probably going through her mind.  Well Creek is an amazing piece of waterway like nothing else in the country really.  Especially this time of year..

It is rather beautiful, and you wonder how on earth boats can travel on it too.  Very unique indeed.

So on with our walk and on to the droves of the fens, the wide paths that lead in straight lines over the countryside with dykes running alongside where water is extracted into the fields.  I love the droves, you can get lost in thought as you walk them.  There is one thing that brings you back to reality though and that is this..

And this is the problem with droves.  They are not gated, they have roads at the ends of them, they are ideal for the dumping of rubbish not needed.  In fact, I have never seen so much rubbish dumped here in Upwell’s droves over three miles of walking this evening anywhere in the country!  It is a disgrace!  

And so was the meal at the Five Bells close by the moorings this evening, an absolute disgrace.  I had steak, ‘rare to medium’ is my liking.  Half of the plate had chips on it and it was joined by a pathetic looking bit of meat under the disguise of a rump steak!

I did try it with trepidation, and it was ‘well done’, very grissly (sorry, is that the right word) very dry and totally unacceptable for the menu’s price.

I ate a bit and a few chips, the salad was dry with no dressing, I did try that too.  It was the worst meal I have tasted for a good long while.  I ate a bit, enough to satisfy my tum, and then left the plateful to the cousin of the owner refusing to pay for such rubbish.  I left my name and address as is required if you refuse to pay for a meal because of quality.

I obviously had to leave the rest of the steak on the plate for the chef to chew over.. (Teehee pun!) so purchased a bag of pork scratchings for Meg to take home…

That was a laugh, she expected steak bits and refused the scratchings at first.  I had to explain why there was no steak… Ho hum.. She took it all in and decided that scratchings it would be!

Yes I will post a picture of the kettle, and yes I will put up the recipe of the wild garlic soup…… later!

Ferry Meadows to March, River Nene and Middle Levels, 20 miles 3 locks

What a racket all night and more racket when I woke this morning.  The wildfowl are at war on the lake.  It amazes me that later in the year we will see the canadian geese all in a row with adults in front and behind and a score or more of youngsters in between.  All friends again.  For now fighting and squabbling to keep in their pairs

And so to the Middle Levels after using the services at Peterborough for pumpout and water, ultra fast they are too.  Excellent.

By one o’clock we were through Standground Lock and crawling along wondering if we had something around the prop..  It’s a bit shallow along the drains after the Nene.

We had decided to leave the back canopy up today although the weather seemed settled once the morning rain had gone.  It is very easy just to drop it when going under the low bridges on this stretch, done in a matter of seconds.  It was very windy too, mostly coming from behind, we were so glad to have made that decision when suddenly not long after Standground..

Did it come down!!

It was OK for the first hour to Whittlesley, the fens open up to give superb views.  We have noticed much more oil seed rape than we have ever done on the ML which is usually covered with potatoes in this particular area..

More wind turbines too than we saw last time, but for sure they are in the right area, wow it was windy..

The old and the new in the one shot with threatening skies.  No problem (heh) with the 90 degree turn at Whittlesley, it is very narrow through that bit too.  Not straight round though as the wind wasn’t helping, but we removed no twigs from the trees alongside!  On then to Ashline Lock which Vic wasn’t looking forward to… so many turns of the windlass on that one.  Tina, the lock keeper at Standground wasn’t around today, so a relief was waiting for us to arrive there and lo and behold there he was at Ashline to lock us through there.. My fiver tip earlier I wonder?

You might wonder.  But by now it was like being in detention.. No I wasn’t the perfect pupil at school and know what it feels like!  The bloomin’ fishing pegs now start appearing and they are so annoying every 20 yards or so.  You sort of get paranoid at counting them down.  Well there is nothing else to see because when you hit these you hit the high banks.. It would be quite a way to get to number one as there is a break of around 3 miles before they continue the downward count!

The banks might be high, but I was delighted to look up and see my first oyster catcher of the fens.  Not seen one on the ML before though..

I was lucky again, more especially as it is very difficult to take pictures with the back canopy up, the wind high, holding on to the tiller and Sir down in the galley making tea!  Sometimes you can see these out on the banks of the Gt Ouse at Salters Lock.

My eyes were counting down.  20, 19, 18….. 10..

Gawds sake.. 9 didn’t appear nor did 8.  I was dying to see number 1 too, what a disappointment!  Maybe someone had taken out the last ten and chucked them.  Probably some bored narrowboater!

Some interest at Flood’s corner as we passed the Greenwich Meridian. 

Getting closer to March now, my tummy was rumbling thinking of a plateful of fish and chips this evening.. I was getting hungry.  But would we make it before this lot caught us up..

Answer, no we didn’t, but it didn’t take long to tie up to the Town Moorings at March after just under 5 hours from Standground.  No Problem is not the fastest boat in the world, I think that went to NP1, our previous boat, who did the same trip in 2005 in 4 hours.  I know that because I made a note in my guide book!

The fish and chips were cooked fresh and of course was scrumptious!

Lots of ranting on the blogs of late, and another today from Heth.. Some directed at me too!.. It did make me smile.  With reference to my “Doh! I am now a bit grey, but I was never a blonde” post the other day.  Maybe I should have said dumb blonde instead of just blonde!

I think even blondes laugh at dumb blonde jokes don’t they?..

Two blondes were in a car park trying to unlock the door of their car with a coat hanger

First Blonde:…”I can’t seem to get this door unlocked!
Second Blonde: …”Well you better hurry up. It’s starting to rain and the top is down!”

I am sure too that my grandchildren know what pr*ck is suppose to say, but instead of being disappointed that grandma actually said it, they might think I was being a bit naughty by not quite saying it if you follow!  

Tesco in the morning here, then we will move off to Upwell.  I love it around there and Meg can have a good run through the orchards after being very bored on the back deck today.  We will leave the canopy up as we did today.  It was brilliant.  In fact it was so good that we were in our shirt sleeves with the sun beaming in at times..

Alwalton to Ferry Meadows, River Nene, 3 miles 1 lock

I was sorry to leave Alwalton, it’s a lovely area with plenty of walking and very quiet as well although the busy A1 does pass by about a quarter mile away.  The wind was in the right direction for that though and we hardly heard it at all.

I had seen some wood on the river bank while I was walking along there the other day, and after deep thought Sir decided that we would need just a bit more to last us until the time comes to re-black the stove for the summer.  I had already planned exactly how to moor NP for that just in case we stopped, it’s never easy on these river banks sometimes!

Very wooly cows these and looking it up on Google they are Belted Galloways, I’ve never seen these before.  Meg and I had walked through this field the other day and they were very tranquil.  Suppose they are used to people walking the Hereward Way.

Short trip today to Ferry Meadows..

Milton Ferry Bridge is just a footpath bridge, built in 1716, it has stood the passing of time for all those years.  Sometimes I wonder how on earth they built these bridges in those days and with such style too.

Meg hates it here at Ferry Meadows.  The pontoon mooring is surfaced with a grill, and it kills her feet  I had reversed in so it wouldn’t be too far for her to walk on it, but she is struggling. 

I wasn’t going to come here because of it, but we wanted to wax the other side of the boat today, plus we had a day to spare having changed our timings to get out on the Great Ouse.

Sometimes I wish I didn’t have such a long boat I am pretty stiff tonight in the shoulders, it was like waxing 4 cars at once!

Moored Alwalton, River Nene

Well I say a bit, I suppose a lot is more like it.

For all the times I have been to the fens I should know better than to phone Tina at Standground Lock, our gate to the middle levels, before phoning Paul who will let us out of the Middle Levels at Salters Lock, Denver, on to the River Great Ouse.

So a booking was made with Tina for Monday.  Something clicked while out walking with Meg later.. DOH!

You see because No Problem is almost a full length narrowboat we have to go through Salters Lock when the water in the tidal Gt Ouse is the same level as the Middle Levels because the lock isn’t big enough for us.  “Paul, what time would I go through on Wednesday?” “Five o’clock or just before”.. That’s OK then - not!  Good grief he was talking AM!

So with another date booked with Tina we will lock out of Salters at 6am on Friday. Heh, one hour makes a big difference!

Nice mooring here at Alwalton and fairly close to the bus stop to Peterborough where we went on Saturday to get a new kettle.  Yes it is OK, it is very shiny unlike our 20 year old kettle which now needs replacing.  It is much more modern looking too.. S’pose I will get used to it on the stove. 

Now then, somebody called in while I was out.  Sir had got back before me as I had to divert on the way back for an appointment.  Whoever it was had written a note and was just leaving on his boat when Vic arrived back.  I say whoever it was because Sir being Sir couldn’t remember either his name or the name of his boat! 

If that person is reading this, please leave me a comment!

Lazy day today and I have been reading the reactions from some my continuous cruising friends about an article in The Canalboat Magazine saying that continuous cruisers should pay more in licence fees because part time boaters have to pay to moor in a marina. Seemingly it ain’t fair!  For sure Maffi sums it up,

“..The simplicity of it is you are all jealous that some of us can have a fulltime life on the canal. You, are like spoilt little kids who, want someone else’s toys to play with. You are gonna scream until you get your way, you infantile little pr*cks..”

Sorry Maffi, edited the last word.. hey my grandchildren read this!

Leslie and Bruce (bottom of Bruce’s blog) have their say too.  Normally I would have my say as well, but I am not feeling in fighting mode at the moment. 

Losing a beloved pet takes a bit of getting over.. I’ll bounce back soon..

Well one side of NP has been waxed, we are off to Ferry Meadows tomorrow to give the other side a bit of a make over before the rains come.. typical now that we are ‘doing the drains’ next week!