Monday 10th August - Upwell to March
This morning we left Upwell and cruised steadily through to Marmont Lock. We met Simon on nbScholar Gypsy, he is moored in Ely and keeps a blog which I follow. Very exciting to meet him for real!
Crossing the fens was quite magical today, beautiful skies, these amazing windmills turning lazily in the slight breeze. We saw only a few boats moving, and some moored in far out of the way places. We have decided that when we come again we shall explore the other navigable drains on the fens.
An eye catching display based around the name of the narrowboat, so many bottles painted and catching the light at all different angles, lovely.
We moored up in March on the Town Centre moorings, very pleasant and much quieter than the mooring in Upwell despite the fact that it was in a town centre. A walk around the town and a stroll along the river and a lovely evening sitting on the back of the boat as it was incredibly warm inside the boat!
7 miles, 1 lock, 2 hrs, 48 mins.
Tuesday 11th August - March to Alwalton
At 5.30 this morning, Dave fired up the engine, quietly, and began our days cruise to Stanground Lock, there is very little mooring between March and Stanground and it takes 6 hours and we had the last passage through booked at 12.00, so to allow for delays hence the early start.
The sun was bravely trying to break through the early morning mist, a few raindrops, and then glorious hot sunshine for the rest of the day.
This is the Twenty Mile River crossing our path at Angle Corner, one of the rivers we shall explore next time.
A very tight left hand turn in Whittlesey, we came a cropper here, the shallowness of the water meant that the boat didn’t respond to turning and it took several attempts to get her around the bend. Good job there weren’t any other boats coming!
We were amazed at how clear the water was as we were cruising along, the size of some of the fish was amazing!
After our really early start we actually made very good time and arrived at Stanground Sluice at 11.00 an hour ahead of our booked passage through the Sluice. However, Kev who was in charge came down and saw us through the lock, very carefully and gently.
We stopped on the embankment in Peterborough to get rid of rubbish and top up the water. It was hot again and Toby and I sat in the shade whilst the water tank was filling.
We then continued a little further until Alwalton where we moored up once we were through the lock on some Friends of the River Nene moorings beside the lock. At the lock was a group of 30 or so teenagers using the lock as a swimming pool and jumping off the guillotine lock. So dangerous, but apparently they have been moved on many times and simply ignore the advice given. We did treat ourselves to a cool lager in a socially distanced pub garden, which was most welcome!
Eventually the revellers moved away and we had a very peaceful evening with a bbq and a gorgeous sunset to end the day.
22 miles, 3 locks, 8 hrs, 18 mins.
Wednesday 12th August - Alwalton to Fotheringhay
After a very pleasant evening we began our journey to Fotheringhay. On the way we saw Wansford Pumping Station, which began to operate as we passed, an amazing piece of machinery. I have discovered that this pumps water from the Nene to Rutland Water!
The lock at Water Newton is very attractive with this Water Mill overlooking the lock, it was renovated and changed in to a shop and dwellings in 1985.
This is a very upmarket housing development with a select number of properties each with their own mooring in a private Marina, we counted two boats moored, I guess all the others could have been out, but I really don’t think so!
We eventually arrived at the outskirts of Fotheringhay, you can see the church in the distance. As it was incredibly hot we stopped at the first available mooring with shade and moored up for the night. There were several people swimming and canoeing, on the calm waters.
Later in the evening when it was a little cooler we walked to the top of the mound which was once Fotheringhay Castle and could clearly see where we were moored. We would have been easy targets from the castle in the early 12th century!!
12.5 miles, 7 locks, 7 hrs 12 mins.
Thursday 13th August - Fotheringhay to Peartree Farm Moorings
We left Fotheringhay under dark cloudy skies and within half an hour the heavens opened and we were into one huge thunderstorm after another. We waited for an hour at one of the lock landings during a particularly ferocious storm, then set off again but within minutes the downpour started again. We arrived at Peartree Farm Moorings and had a choice of where to moor but we were so tired and wet we chose the easiest one!!
The raindrops are still falling and my step count has been minimal today, but never mind, there’s another day tomorrow!
12.5 miles, 7 locks, 7hrs 12 mins
Friday 14th August - Peartree Farm Moorings to Stanwick Lakes
When we woke this morning our mooring which was close to the bank was a good foot away with the water level having risen significantly over night, this made interesting getting Toby on and off the boat and also casting off without getting wet feet!
At one of the locks today we met nb Iron Butterfly from the mooring we photographed on Monday as we were coming in to March.
It looks as though I am going straight into the side of the boat ahead of us, in fact the boat is turning into a marina hidden in the trees on the left. As we got closer we could see the boat had Market Drayton written on the side! Snap!
We moored up for the night at Stanwick Lakes, very pleasant and went for a good walk along the lakes and the Nene Way.
I have included this because I just think it is fascinating, an art installation representing the railway that used to run through the site that is now Stanwick Lakes. A 750 acre countryside and nature reserve near the village of Stanwick.
10.25 miles, 6 locks, 4 hours 48 mins.
Saturday 15th August - Stanwick Lakes to White Mills Marina
After a sleepless night worrying about river levels, we woke to find that rather than the river continuing to rise it had dropped dramatically and we were leaning over at a 20 degree tilt, most alarming! This is a photo of the boat behind us who was leaning worse than we were. It was quite tricky getting off the mud ledge, but with some clever manoeuvring we eventually reversed off and began our journey.
The radial lock at Ditchford Lock, because it is such an amazing construction, I think it is one of only two still working in the country, so that makes it very special.
We took the decision to continue our cruise to White Mills Marina where we can moor on floating pontoons and get a good nights sleep. We managed the tricky turn into the Marina after a couple of attempts and some nifty rope work, filled up with diesel and moored up safely for the night, just before the next downpour began!
11.5 miles, 9 locks, 6 hours 36 mins.
Sunday 16th August - White Mills Marina to Northampton Marina
We woke this morning after a good sleep and began the last leg of our journey on the River Nene.
A splendid photo of a heron perched on the signpost showing us which way to go on the river. We have seen many of these grey heron throughout our time on these rivers, but this one simply wasn’t bothered by us at all!
This attractive stone church dates mainly from the 13th century and some parts from the late 12th century. A friendly couple we met at the lock told us that it was built by the Baron of Cogenhoe who owned the village at the time.
Billing Aquadrome, when we came past here a month ago it was relatively quiet, it was much busier today, although a lot of the campers were beginning to pack up whilst the weather was dry.
The duck weed as we came through the second to last lock was amazing, it was probably worse than the duckweed we experienced in London last year. It has an amazing effect on the progress of the boat through the water, making the engine work really hard to make any headway!
We turned in to Northampton Marina, found a pontoon where we can leave the boat for a few nights whilst we visit Annie, Pete and Alba in Southampton, and went for a walk before the forecasted thunderstorms began. We have had a brilliant time exploring the River Nene, Middle Levels, River Great Ouse and The Cam, and we leave with fond memories and a desire to revisit to explore further!
7.75 miles, 8 locks, 4 hours 24 mins cruising time.
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