Furthest West on the Eastern Waterway

On Wednesday 11^th we continued retracing our steps back up the River Cam under overcast skies.  By the time we reached Bottisham Lock which would take us back onto the Great Ouse, it was pouring – proper déjà vu as it was chucking down when we came through this lock on the way up… Our timing was good and there was a boat coming up the lock, so we saw them through and continued on our way.  We headed back to the nice rural mooring on the Old River Nene, that we had moored at after visiting the old pumping station at Stretham, but the weather wasn’t as nice, so there was no sitting out.  On Thursday we did a long day through some fairly unexciting countryside for the first half until we got through Hermitage Lock, which took us onto a tidal section of the river for a while.  Mike had sourced the cheapest diesel in a while at a marina just through the lock, which we managed to pass by first, had to turn, went into the marina, to be told to come back onto the river and moor against the little cruiser which had the diesel pump on it, but turn around so we’re facing downstream again, which meant turning again afterwards to head back upstream……. Still with me??  Thankfully the beauty of the river is that it was wide enough to turn without a problem.

Hermitage Lock

Seals on guard at the marina

Lovely thatched cottages lining the river

Wee foals!!!

From here it soon became really pretty.  The riverside was very picturesque as were some of the villages we passed by.  There were a couple of potential pub moorings but we decided to continue on to St Ives.  Although it had been quite warm earlier on in the day, towards late afternoon, the temperature dropped and a cold wind started up, so when we arrived at St Ives just after 6pm, I had cancelled my run and decided to sit in by the fire instead!  St Ives is lovely, really pretty and we were pleased to bump into Richard on Cailin again.  He’d been moored there a few days whilst sorting out some electrical problems which raised their ugly heads when he was showing off his boat to his family for the first time – typical of boat life……  Mike was delighted to find out that St Ives is a ‘birdtastic’ town, with swans, very sociable ducks, moorhens, terns all competing for his bird cake, which is going down very well this year.

Coming into St Ives - no, not Cornwall, the other one!

Nice moorings at St Ives

St Ives - Birdtastic!!

On Friday we had a wander round St Ives, got some shopping and then decided to move on.  Richard had headed off in the morning aiming for St Neots, as it was a lovely day.  We wanted to stop of at Houghton Mill, which is National Trust owned, and we wanted to make use of our membership, taken out last September.  We set off, but above the next lock, Hemingford, there was a lovely stretch of moorings next to a spectacularly pretty village.  So we stopped off there for a couple of hours, although I thought we were stopped for the night and had been looking for a route to run.  Mike had been researching and found that there were EA moorings right next to Houghton Mill, although they seemed to be on an island, with the Mill behind.  We moved off anyway figuring if they weren’t any good, we could turn and come back to Hemingford Gray.

Hemingford Gray

Well, the EA island moorings were the most rural we’ve ever come across, in terms of waste high nettles and once on the island, you couldn’t get off!!!  Now, no doubt some of you think this is just so romantic, so ‘Swallows and Amazons’ but really it was just a pain in the arse!!  We couldn’t get to the mill from there….. So, we left our private overgrown island mooring and headed for the lock where I sat on the lock landing while Mike went for a wander upstream to look for a mooring.  There was one.  On a pub mooring.  Damn.  We’d have to go to the pub so we could use their mooring.  What a shame, and there was me planning to do the run I’d been meaning to do for two days now – ho hum……

Well if we thought Hemingford Gray was beautiful, Houghton pipped it at the post.  It is absolutely gorgeous and really worth stopping off for a look.  I can’t believe there are such traditional, beautiful little villages in such close proximity to Milton Keynes!!  They’re another world.  We dutifully went for a couple of pints in the pub, but as it was heaving, and I overheard the barman telling someone they would’ve had to have booked to eat, we headed back to the boat for tea.  In the morning we were up and at the mill for opening time at 11am, free entry with our NT membership – wooohoooo!!  It’s a fantastic old building which stopped milling in the late 20s, was taken over by the NT in the early 30s, who couldn’t afford to do anything with it, so leased it to the Youth Hostel Asscociation from 1934 to 1986!!  At that point the NT could afford to take it over and they now mill again producing flour for the gift shop.

Pretty Houghton - nicer without the cars!

Houghton Mill

 We then headed onwards a couple of hours to Godmanchester where we moored above the lock on the EA Mooring.  The most exciting thing I can say about Godmanchester was that I ran around the largest meadow in England there!!

 

I ran the bottom route, then out and onto the Bramford Mill, then came back and did the other two thirds.  It's a very large meadow, very pretty.

And we had a nice visit from one of Mike’s friends from his Cranfield contract days, Paul and his wife Mandy.  We had a great catch up and chat with them, and Paul brought us some maps of The Wash, as he has a boat too, but that of the seafaring variety.

ST Neots was our next stop and the sun came out to help us on our way.  There were quite a few boats out and about making the most of a sunny Sunday.  We went through St Neots to suss out all mooring options and then turned and came back to a nice one on the parkside – just a walk across the bridge to Waitrose – woohooo!!  Mike has begun the usual round of touching up the paintwork – our front locker lid was in a bit of a sorry state, so after doing that, we decided to go for a walk.  We were about 15 minutes in when it started to rain, just lightly, but soon we could see it was going to get very heavy, drowning us in our shorts and sandals.  We took shelter under a big tree, and a movement caught my eye in the water.  A grass snake had obviously been eyeing up our spot and was staring back at me, long enough to shriek to Mike and for him to see it, but not long enough to get the lens cap off the camera and get a photo.  It was quite a long one and my heart was racing – not sure who got the biggest fright, me or the snake.  

Signet Alert!!!

Artwork under the bridge at St Neots

Very keen swans at St Neots - another birdtastic moment for Mike

The next day dawned bright and sunny again and Mike continued the paintwork duties, then we popped across the river to the pontoon moorings there to fill up water and top up at Waitrose.  Whilst Mike did the shopping, I did my token effort of painting a bit of gunwhale.  Back at our mooring on the other side, a familiar boat appeared,  Richard on Cailin – as he says, turning up like a bad penny!!  He’d been down to Bedford and was now on the way back up again.  We had a good long chat with him and got some good tips on mooring in Bedford,   then we got changed and headed out for tea – a special treat as it was my birthday eve.  We had a great meal in St Neot’s Turkish restaurant; good food and excellent value – two courses for £12.99!!

Tuesday was my birthday - in case you missed the earlier hint!!!  And we were meeting our friend Chota for lunch, getting picked up at 12.30 and taken back to her house.  We crossed back over on to the pontoon mooring and were only halfway over when another narrow boat appeared, Moose 2, and took our space next to Richard – so at least he’d have some different company for the day!  It was a day of three outfits for me…..I started off with my new stripey dress I got for my birthday, but it’s quite short and my legs were coming up in goosebumps, so I changed back into my jeans.  Later, when we got back from lunch, I changed into my shorts, only to change back into my jeans again as the cold wind was too much for my poor legs.  We had a lovely lunch at Chota’s, she lives in a lovely village in the most gorgeous house – I had a serious case of house envy when we got back……  She poured us back on to the boat around 4pm and we started off for a couple of hours cruising, a section that took us through some of the most gorgeous countryside.  It was a slow start though, as Mr Queenan, having enjoyed a few wines, realised 10 minutes into the journey, he’d left his phone at Chota’s – unheard of as it’s usually glued to his sticky little hands.  We waited at the next lock where Chota could come by car and deliver the offending item.

Lovely countryside around the locks on our evening cruise

We got to our next mooring early evening and were very pleased – another pretty village and very tidy EA moorings.  The wine had started to wear off so we made tea and had an early night.  I didn’t get any pics of this mooring or the old bridge next to it as it was really overcast by the time we got there, so you’ll just have to take my word for it being lovely, or look up Great Barford on google maps…

Yesterday we did the final three hours into Bedford itself, which was a nice cruise but it was overcast with quite a cold wind (spot me in my winter jacket in the photos!).  Sovereign Quay has designated moorings but also hosts the local jakies, and when Mike went for a wander came across a couple of lads smoking spliffs.  There was quite a lot of footfall right next to the moorings so we filled with water but decided to come back out of the town on to a little mooring on the parkside Richard had told us about.  Glad he did otherwise we wouldn’t have spotted it or known it was a designated mooring.  It’s a great wee mooring, really pretty and peaceful.  Bedford has done really well with its riverfront area and I had a great run of 4 miles in 38 minutes last night along well maintained paths.  In the evening, other Cranfield friends, Andrew and his wife Mary came over for dinner.  The last time we saw them was a year ago and Mary had just run the Edinburgh Marathon.  Last night she said, “Never again!”  We had a lovely night with them and will catch up again when we’re passing Milton Keynes later in the year.

Who had them first - Bedford or Cairo??....

Duck!!!  Very low bridge into Bedford town lock

In Bedford lock (in winter jacket!)

Our mooring on the edge of the town - very nice.

Today Mike has been busy servicing the engine whilst I got my legs waxed in town and then caught up with this monster.   It’s a bit warmer today so Mike will no doubt get his shorts on once he’s out of his boiler suit – think I’ll keep my jeans on for now though…..