Fenland Tour 2001 Page 24

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Tour 2001

Fenland Tour Summer 2001

24 - St Neots to Ely - River Great Ouse, Old West River and Ely Ouse.

Saturday 21st July 2001

Peter got up around 06.00, so Neil pre empted this, threw some clothes on and shoved off. There was a fair bit of rain in the night, but river level did not seem up. No rain all day, but very overcast with threatening clouds. Good progress was made until Godmanchester.
The lock was against us and Neil wanted to do the “Chinese Bridge” thing - picture of boat under this attractive lattice foot bridge. This is up the weir stream and required a rather serious wind in the current to enable Earnest to reverse up under the bridge, for the piccies / video. By the time we got back to the corner (angled turn against current to get into short lock cut) another cruiser was coming down, so Neil went up stream, told them to go straight in, then winded gently on a bend and trickled downstream into the waiting lock. The cruiser was hiding in the wide bay to the side of the lock chamber.
Mucho cruisers / narrowboats all day, with much time wasting at the locks. The electric guillotines are notoriously slow. A fair bit of co-ordination was needed when mooring up on waiting lay-bys, due to their sometimes haphazard positioning and flow on river. We saw a few other narrowboats make a pigs ear of stopping.
Eventually we got to Brownshill Lock and the semi-tidal section at 13.00 - no way we were going to get through the keepered Hermitage Lock before he went to lunch (13.00 - 14.00). As it happened much there was much buggering about at Brownshill, which meant that with a slow trickle down the tidal section (it was still very high as the tide had ponded up all the fresh coming down), we arrived at Hermitage Lock at 14.05 and the lock keeper called us over to pontoon.
We had to go in first as there is a road over the centre of the chamber. If we fitted, the shadowing large cruiser could go in tight behind us, with its canopy up, then it would clear once the 6ft drop in the lock enabled him to come out under the bridge.
Eventually we got away from Hermitage Lock at 14.20. Next followed a reasonably fast plod down the Old West River, to Popes Corner, but we were still overtaken by a couple of cruisers. Soon we were out into the deep and wide Ely Ouse. We started down to Ely at 16.45.
There was a crew change this evening, family + Julian Edgington replaced Peter Wright. This lot plus parrot and two dogs, made it somewhat cosy for the next week. Neil foned John Chapman, he was in Ely and he said that the moorings are filling up fast. If we can't find anywhere, we could use the Frogmoore mooring pontoon! Also talked about with JC, was the stuck on the sands in the Wash narrowboat drama.......caused by JC luring James Griffin to his doom!

Copy of posting below:

.....HOT NEWS!!!.....just been talking to the venerable Wash narrowboating John Chapman and he has most of the story. The NB was James Griffin's (guvnor of Hireboat base Wyvern Shipping Co) new forward steering / rear steering private super duper NB – “Ocean Princess”. John met him in Ely and told him of the wonders of the Welland / Glen. He also said that the Kings Lynn channel has just changed course and that he has all the new waypoints. James decided to go from Denver - Kings Lynn - Wash - Welland yesterday morning with a local “pilot”. He ran aground at around 11.00. The New Hunstanton Hover-lifeboat was on trials and decided to trail Ocean Princess. After having gone aground again a few more times (on rising tide they eventually made Tabs Head). The Pilot then totally lost the plot and John Chapman guided Ocean Princess to the EA Stone barge (where we spent a pleasant night), by mobile Fone!!! He should have got in at Fulney Lock - non tidal River Welland today.

Frogmoore was too tightly moored in the rather full Ely moorings, there was much breasting up, even of cruisers. We were clocked by the master of the “Fenland River Cruises” Victorian inspection launch nb, who had been reading the trip reports. The only spot fee was the pump-out / water point. So after an hours worth of the same, we did the crew swap, Peter Wright leaving in the Arlidge Passat. John Chapman was about, so he arranged for us to breast up alongside nb Kingfisher. We went out yet again to the “Spice City” Indian

Offord Lock. River Great Ouse.