We awoke to find a very dull morning, with a distinct chill in the air. More layers were need today!
Warmington was our first lock of the day - another manual one so plenty of exercise straight away! It was also unusual to have a large amount of foam below, quite a bit blows back into the lock chamber. Not sure why here so distinctively but it may just be the proximity of a strong weir.
Elton Road is one of the very infrequent river crossings for vehicles. Its design is more reminiscent of canals than other older bridges on this river.
Yarwell Lock is built alongside a splendid former mill building. Judging by its size it must have been at one time a very thriving business.
On our rather aging guide book to the river, this site is simply marked as Ship End Pits (Stone Quarry) Isolated from other developments, the arc of New England style properties looks somewhat out of place. Planning permission was originally granted in 2002 and the first houses were on sale in 2006 but we found some suggestion that others were as recent as 2015. It has been given the new name of Wansford Marina but it certainly does not welcome passing trade! It looks as if the ater and pontoon moorings is more for looking at than actually using.
Three bridges in Wansford itself. The first, with a date stone of 1795, is the old, multi-arch bridge which is followed by the first attempt to take the A1 away from the village centre. Its very brutal late 1930's style incorporates the name of Huntingdon County Council, long since disappeared in one of the many local authority reorganisations. Finally a further bridge from the late 1950's adds a dual carriageway to the by pass.
All morning was had not seen anywhere at all to stop, even for a short break so we were rather thankful that there was at least enough of the 48 hour EA pontoon at Wansford Station for us to tie up. A long narrowboat was already occupying the rest.
Wansford Station is now the headquarters of the Nene Valley Railway, a preserved steam train line that links from here into Peterborough. The large signal box stands guard at the level crossing and in the main station building, as well as a traditional 'hole in the wall' ticket office there is a substantial Turntable Cafe, and outside is the original turntable. There is a significant collection of old rolling stock, some in use and some 'awaiting restoration'.
Shortly before we left, the service from Peterborough arrived, bringing another load of day trippers.
At the approach to Water Newton lock, the local parish church stands very close to the river. It seems to be almost bereft of any surrounding houses!
Except, that is, for the former mill which has been converted into several separate properties.
Today we saw for the first time this year some yellow irises growing at the water's edge. They are just in flower so not too easy to spot.
After lunch, our usual cup of tea was thwarted when the gas bottle gave out. When Mike came to switch over to the second bottle, he was not confident that we had a full one - there was some confusion a little while back about whether we had continued with the right one when returning to the boat. There are not many facilities on the river for obtaining a replacement but Christine rang a caravan base at Ferry Meadows Country Park and discovered that had just one bottle of the correct size and type. With that news we made as good progress as we could so that we would get there before they closed.
The elegant Milton Ferry Bridge signalled that we were now only about ten minutes away from the entry into the country park. When we came to the entrance channel we crept along as carefully as we could, noit knowing whether full size narrow boats are supposed to come this way, although was had read of other people's experiences!
In fact, there is a 24 hour pontoon mooring - all empty when we arrived but three others came along later. Whilst Mike secured the boat to a mooring and extracted the empty bottle, Christine went in search of the caravan base. At least they had a good trolley that she could use to bring the bottle back to the boat - and to return the empty afterwards.
Later, Christine took a wander to look at the various features of the country park.
16.5 Miles - 6 Locks
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