Narrowboat Quaintrelle: Trains, Drains and Automobiles

Lovely mooring at Ferry Meadows

We enjoyed a quiet evening at Wansford and set off next morning for Ferry Meadows – a country park with lakes, one of which had some pontoon moorings in it.

Mooring at Wansford Station

Signal Box at Wansford

Lots of trains and a bus at Wansford

It was really windy and had we been on narrow canals lined with moored boats, we probably wouldn’t have moved, but we’d barely seen any other boats, moored or otherwise, for the last week. As we reached the first lock of the day, another boat appeared behind us, so we were able to share. Like us, they were less than impressed with the Nene, also noticing the lack of suitable moorings. Onto the next lock where there was a plastic cruiser heading towards us from the other direction, so we waited as the lock was set for him. If we were feeling the wind, this wee thing was zigzagging its way to the entrance, not helped by having to squeeze past some bouys marking a ‘shoal’ that had to be avoided. A few hours later we arrived at Ferry Meadows, making an incredibly sharp right turn almost back on ourselves to get in the entrance. If it was windy on the river it was ten times worse on the open expanse of lake, but it was lovely and we managed to get onto the pontoon mooring.

Ferry Meadows mooring - we'd have stayed another night here but we'd run out of food :(

Nice Duck Sculpture in Wood

The Ferry Meadows are lovely, well worth a visit with a few lakes, play areas, café and well kept walking and cycling paths. We were very impressed. I enjoyed a run round the lake – twice, to get in my mileage and we had a quiet evening once the wind had quietened down. The next morning we had a wee wander round and then set off for Peterborough. We moored at the Embankment at Peterborough which was nice and very handy for the shops. We found our way to the Waitrose (eventually, we are so crap at navigating off the cut!!), and familiarised ourselves with the town centre as we decided to spend a couple of days there. On Sunday we were up sharpish, had breakfast and headed off for a trip on a steam train on the Nene Valley Railway, which would follow some of our route over the past couple of days!

Arriving in Peterborough under the East Coast Mainline

Our transport for the afternoon

One of the many exhibits at the museum back at Wansford

The turntable at Wansford

Lots of trains

And the home of Thomas the Tank Engine - who is being refurbished

More trains - for those of you who haven't had enough yet...

Our transport home

In the evening, making use of being in civilisation, we cycled to the cinema and saw Eye in the Sky. It was excellent, and I’d highly recommend it.

As it was a bank holiday the next day, we had a lazy day, catching up on our shopping at Asda and topping up our wine at Majestic.

On Tuesday we left Peterborough and headed for the Standground Lock which would take us down onto the Middle Levels – the drains……. Basically these are ditches that were dug out to drain the water from the land, enabling the land to be used for agriculture – huge flat expanses of land. At least, we think there was….. As we were travelling mainly in the ditch, all you could see was the sides of the banks…. Thankfully it was a nice day so at least we could enjoy the weather.

The more exciting start to the Middle Levels

Me using the special windlass we had to buy - for two locks!!

The monotony broken briefly by the appearance of a WWII pillbox - and some trees

BIIIIIRRRRRDDDDD!!

Lots of windfarms in this neck of the woods

We moored for the night at the town of March, where we picked up a couple of CDs in the charity shop in case we couldn’t get a tv signal, as we were down an embankment. However, we got lucky and across the embankment there was a gap between two buildings and we managed to get a signal through there! So ‘Black Swan’ will have to wait for another signal-less night…

We were booked into the tidal lock at Salter’s Lode, to take us onto the Great Ouse, on Thursday morning at 8am – no choice of times where tides are concerned – and advised by the lockie to arrive on Wednesday afternoon/evening and moor at the lock for the night. We had been watching another few boats travelling the same direction, and decided we should get ahead, in case the moorings at the lock were limited. So, we were uncharacteristically up and away by ten past nine on Wednesday morning. The boat moored in front of us, Nineveh, were booked for Thursday too, but decided on a cooked breakfast at the local pub before setting off.

Not long into our journey two other boats appeared behind us, one of which was the solo boater we’d followed down the Northampton Arm. Before the tidal lock there is another lock that is manned, but you can just ring ahead, when you’re about 40 minutes away, which we duly did. When we arrived at the lock there was no sign of the lockie but the instructions advised us to ring the bell. If there was no response, you just put yourself through…… A few minutes after ringing the bell, the elderly female lockie appeared and assisted us through. While we were waiting, the other two boats arrived but it was a narrow lock, so we all had to go up one at a time. On the other side of the lock it was incredibly shallow through the towns of Upwell and Outwell and trying to go any faster than tickover just made us go slower as it dug the back of the boat into the mud. It was really, really tedious. However, it finally opened up and deepened a bit and by mid-afternoon we reached the moorings at Salter’s Lode. The lockie’s wife was very welcoming and chatty, it was the lock-keeper’s day off, but he’d be around later, but other than that, they’d just see us at 8am the next morning. We had a wander to look at the lock and then half a mile up the Great Ouse to look at the Denver Sluice – yes, we’d only be on the tidal water for half a mile!!

Crawling along the bottom through Outwell

The tidal lock at Salter's Lode, with the Denver Sluice in the distance

The other boats arrived and there was plenty of room for us all, and Nineveh tucked herself in behind us, so we had a nice long chat with them and their gorgeous 7 month old collie, Meg. We were up bright and early the next morning, and ready to go by half 7, which was just as well as there was a knock on the boat and the lockie was there, “The tide’s come a bit early and you’re the only ones that seem up, are you ready to go??” We were, and by the time we were in the lock, the rest were out of their beds and watching. The worst thing about it was the height. The lock was taking us up, and there was a stone bridge, pipes and metal crosswork for the lock. We had to wait a minute or two for the water to drop to get through and then it was only clear from our roof by a couple of inches – scary biscuits. The tidal section was a delight after the shallows of the previous day and Quaintrelle sped up to the sluice, through it and onto the non-tidal Great Ouse. The river was wide and deep, but like the middle levels, there was not much to see. Although we could see over the banks, the landscape was flat and characterless, but it was a nice morning and Quaintrelle was enjoying the river. We stopped off after a couple of hours at a water point and filled up, during which time, Augustus, one of the boats behind us overtook.

Coming up the Tidal Great Ouse towards Denver Sluice where another boat has just popped out of.

Denver Sluice ready for us on the left

Coming out on the other side

We then continued on uneventfully heading for Ely, where we would spend the weekend.

First sighting of Ely and its wonderful cathedral

Ely is fantastic! We really, really enjoyed it, helped by the amazing hot, sunny weather and the fact we got moored about 2 yards from the local ice cream van. We wandered around the town to get our bearings and picked up a chip butty for a latish lunch, which proved a fatal move for one of Mike’s elderly crowns. An exclamation from him and I saw him rake through his mouthful of chips, now in his hands, to expose the offending crown. My first thought was that someone else’s tooth was in his chips – euuwwwww…. as I didn’t know he had a crown. But he soon confirmed it was his – he says he wished it had been someone else’s as teeth problems when you’re hundreds of miles from your dentist is a pain. We rang round the dentists we could find in Ely, but they weren’t interested in helping and the emergency one in Cambridge was only able/willing to help if someone was in serious pain. Mike wasn’t quick enough off the mark to start yowling down the phone…… We then phoned our own dentist in Edinburgh and started looking at flights from Stanstead to Edinburgh on Monday. Our dentist’s first response was, “Isn’t there a local dentist, all they’ll do is stick it on again…” I then found another dentist in Ely, a private practice that does cosmetic dentistry and face stuff, so we phoned them and they gave Mike an appointment for 11.30 the next morning – woohooo!!! The only spanner in the works was that we were picking up a hire car in Cambridge around 10 to go to a funeral in Colchester at 2pm! Would the timings work out??

Thankfully they did. Enterprise were sharp picking us up and we were back in Ely by 11am waiting for the dentist, who was done by 11.50 having stuck the crown back on (it is cracked unfortunately so won’t last forever, but should do til we can get a new one back up at Edinburgh). And we arrived for the funeral (with the biggest delay of the journey getting though Colchester itself!) at 1.40pm. The funeral was an old colleague and friend of Mike’s, June, who he lodged with in Knaresborough back in the time when he had hair. I had never met June but still managed to be the person crying the most…. June was 88, so had had a good, long life but I still find it sad when someone’s time is up and sad for the loved ones left behind who will miss them. I think I have overactive empathy glands…….

We headed back for Cambridge just as rush hour was starting and expected long delays, but everyone must have taken a half day on Friday as we got back with no hold ups at all, returning the car and then taking the train back to Ely, as we were too late for them to give us a lift.

It was the back end of a fairly stressful day and as we walked back from Ely station to the boat along the riverfront, we were ready for a pint. So how delighted were we to spot Jim (who fitted out Quaintrelle) and Ali (Jim's partner) enjoying one in the Cutters Inn. They were meeting up with us for the weekend, but got there before us. No second invitation was needed to join their pre-dinner appetiser, then we headed back to the boat to change and go for a curry.

We had a fantastic weekend being tourists in Ely.

Gorgeous big dutch barge heading back to her mooring on the outskirts

The Eel of Ely

Ely Cathedral

Heading up the West Tower of the Cathedral

On top of the world!!!

Looking across to the Octagon Tower - is it just me, or can you actually see the curve of the earth??!

Getting ready to leave our lovely mooring

Great Riverside moorings at Ely maintined by the council

Our 48 hours on the visitor moorings at Ely were up on Sunday morning and as we were having breakfast out on deck, the Ely Council parking warden came over and reminded us. We said we’d be on the move shortly and he carried on down checking the line of boats. Jim and Ali arrived shortly after and as the warden was hanging around, as if waiting to watch us go, we went for a wee jolly down to the water point to fill up and empty our rubbish. Jim and Ali then headed off and we did a quick shop at Sainsbury’s then headed off. We had tickets for the Stained Glass Museum to use that day, so hoped to get a mooring on the outskirts of town that are not policed by the council, but the EA, but they were full. A chap was painting the roof of his boat, so we called out and asked if we could pull up alongside for a couple of hours. He was happy for us to do so, even though it turned out that these were no longer EA moorings (despite the signs!), but had been taken over by the Bridge Boatyard on 1^st May, and were now private moorings. The new signage is being made apparently….. Anyway, the man was very nice and happy for us to stay for a couple of hours, so we went to see the stained glass, which was really good.

We then left Ely heading for the next mooring, which would just be a riverside one, when Mike noticed that the Stretham Pumping Station was open today and we had talked about visiting. We turned right at Pope’s Corner onto the Old River Nene and moored up an hour or so later at the Pumping Station. This pumping station was built in 1831 to take over the pumping of the water from the land from the windmills. It was steam driven originally then went to diesel but was finally closed down when electronic pumps were installed throughout the fens. The boilers don’t work anymore and are too expensive to repair, but they can run the pump to let you see how it worked, which was really interesting. It was interesting to see the same machinery we saw at Crofton Pumping Station on the Kennett and Avon in 2014 but being used for a different purpose. This one was to pump water off the land, the Crofton one pumped water back up to the summit to keep the canal in water.

Stretham Pumping Station

We turned around and headed back to a lovely rural mooring we’d passed on the way. There were still a couple of boats there, but otherwise it was silent, just us and the birds. As the evening came in we could hear a cuckoo, which I get really excited about as we don’t have them in Scotland.

The next day, our fourth in a row in glorious sunshine and shorts, we set off back to Pope’s Corner and turned right to continue on the way to Cambridge. It was really hot and a great day to be out boating, especially as everyone else was at work!! We came to another junction and took a left on to one of the lodes – drainage channels – used to let water run off the Great Ouse when the levels get too high. We came through the sluice gates (which you just leave as they reset themselves automatically after 15 minutes – nice), and moored up at the water point there, where there was a long line of leased moorings (which were full) and a spread of flat land for miles. We knew it would be quiet here so decided to wash the boat as she was absolutely filthy. Going through windy, flat, agricultural land for the past week meant she had a thick layer of dust all over her and she was not wanting to arrive in Cambridge in such a state. We gave her a good wash, filled our tank and headed down the Upware Lode and at the junction half a mile on took a right onto Reach Lode. It got narrower and shallower as we went and the mooring at the end was laughable, but we got tied on and had a look round the little village, which was very pretty but didn’t have much else going on. The pub was shut due to a kitchen fire. We had lunch back on board, then began the laborious task of turning in a very tight, shallow spot whilst avoiding the moorhen sitting on her nest of eggs!! We did it, using poles at both ends rather than the engine to pivot her round, but we were glad to get back along this lode and onto slightly deeper water again.

First signets of the year at Reach

The bus stop at Reach - no, I have no idea why Mike wanted a picture of this. It was quite cute though, they had a pile of magazines for you to read while you wait!

Almost moored up, just a bit of a jump to the bank, at Reach. In Roman times, this was a busy port!!

Back along Reach Lode

The next lode was down to Burwell and although it was quite a boring cruise, the sun was out and the mooring at Burwell was really pretty, almost like mooring in someone’s garden! We wandered into the town, picking up some herb plants from a house selling them (that makes it sound like we didn’t pay, but we did) and then up to the Coop for some shopping. I was due to do a run, but the lure of a pint in the pub in the evening sun was too much and as I’d done my 10,000 steps, according to my FitBit, I didn’t feel so bad about skiving off.

Lovely EA Mooring at Burwell

Mike tucking into the first Bar-b-que of the year

We had our first bar-b-que of the year, and just as we cleared our plates the rain started. Okay, so it was inevitable; we’d washed the boat AND had a bar-b-que…..

This morning our shorts were put away again and waterproofs brought out, coal scuttle filled…… We left Burwell and headed back up to the final lode off this stretch where there was a nice mooring at the end. We intended to moor up then cycle down the Wicken Lode as it’s very narrow and shallow and we didn’t want to get stuck. However, it was so wet and the ground rough so we decided to walk. As we walked in the rain we could hear a couple of cuckoos, sounding as if they were making fun of us. Excited as I had been to hear them the other night, we’ve now heard them everday and the novelty has worn off….. We got soaked so were very relieved to reach the National Trust café at the end of the lode and have a cup of tea and a scone. From there we went on to the Wicken Mill. There are a few mills left in the area, some were pumping mills and others, like this one, were for making flour. It has been restored over time and producing flour for around 10 years now. It is really, really cute. I have never been in a windmill before and loved it. The restoration work that has been done and continues to be done is fantastic and if you are in the area, you should visit. Thankfully the rain held off for the walk back to the boat, so my bag of spelt flour survived the journey. I’ll let you know next time how the bread turns out, as I haven’t used spelt flour before…..