It was quite dull when we awoke and when we set off there was just a hope of some sunshine as a small patch of blue started to break through at the edge of a weather system.
However, by the time we arrived at Fish and Duck Marina, Popes Corner, just over half an hour later, the sky had cleared and it was very much hotter. :perhaps some sun block would be needed after all!
We wanted an even more thorough service check than usual as a gas bottle had run out a few days ago. We fill;ed with diesel as we were down to half full and then topped up the water tank and emptied the elsan. Unusually, they charged for the water but not the elsan!
We now turned down the River Cam - rather than continuing past the marina which is where we went a coupe of weeks ago. Although the Cam is more like the Great Ouse between Popes Corner and Ely, (and very different from the West River, the next part of the Great Ouse) it still has its own character. Initially this is helped by the flood banks being st well back from the water's edge sot hat there is a really open feeling. After a while we were overtaken by an EA maintenance and enforcement boat. No doubt they can outrun any attempt at evasion! Its name, Ouse II Know, rather amused us.
There were just a few pumping stations along this stretch but this one must have been felt worth defending with its WW2 pill box.
What are these bananas doing here?
As we continued there was quite a mixture of boats moored either at marinas or on individual private moorings.
Bottisham Lock appeared and what is that in the lock? Oh, it is the EA boat about to leave - the staff on board have been making a small repair to the chains in the lock before going back downstream for a bit of enforcement work
We were now on water controlled by the Cam Conservators who, since we were here before, have started to levy their own charges rather than divvy up a part of the Gold Licence with EA. Perhaps we should have checked more closely online but the two EA staff indicated that we should buy our visitor licence from their offices about a mile down stream. However, when we called there the only member of staff no told us that we had to it on line - but he was quite relaxed about how long it took us to work how to do it!
We stopped for a lunch break at the new GOBA moorings between Bottisham and Baits Bite Locks - this gave us a chance to stump up the fee for our visit.
As we arrived at Baits Bite Lock we could see a work boat right across the top of the lock. It turned out to be a weed cutter and by the time we were ready to exit the lock they had moved out of our way.
We were now rapidly encroaching on the outskirts of Cambridge - for a short section we had to navigate on the left rather than the conventional right. We could not see any particular reason for this but no doubt it is part of the history of this area.
Of course, Cambridge is noted for its rowing but it seems that not all craft live together as happily as might be! Rowers please keep your oars off our paintwork.
As we completed the final mile up to Jesus Lock an increasing number of rowing boat houses lined the bank.
There appeared to be quite a bit of mooring space available although the signage concentrated more on telling boaters where they could not moor rather than where they could. We approached Jesus Lock (powered boats cannot proceed much beyond here except in the winter, as it is full of punts!) with some trepidation, but knowing we could return only a short distance to find somewhere. However, our luck continued and there was just a single narrowboat space vacant on the 48 hour moorings below the lock. As it happened, our neighbours were nb Knot on Call that we had met at Prickwillow, although they were not on board.
After mooring we locked up and walked into the city centre to orientate ourselves. After walking across Jesus Green and along a narrow residential street we Schedar the busy parts by the Round Church. This unusual building is now a tourist attraction and not the hoped for infomation centre, they were at least able to point Christine in the direction she wanted and also sold here a guide map which kept us pretty much on track for the rest of the afternoon.
One thing that we were keen to find we found remarkable readily - a Bluetooth headphone set. Some people think that the boat is seriously under-equipped with not having such a device. The staff of this music shop were most helpful in ensuring that we could try out the one that they recommended - the particular member of staff uses it herself! And just to make sure that it was what we wanted they pointed out that it had been reduced from £100 to £30.
The river was very busy with punts - some of the 'punters' were expert but others had to retrieve lost poles with some hilarity. We were approached several times by the punt hire companies to see if we wanted to hire one.
We could, however, have taken a chauffeured punt. . .
We eventually found the Tourist Information Centre and picked up a number of leaflets and useful information. In particular we learnt about the range of open air Shakespeare productions performed in the grounds of various colleges.
The rest of the afternoon was taken up by meandering around the city centre and finding our return to the boat along the Backs.
Part of the way was along the narrow streets between different colleges.
13.6 Miles - 2 Locks
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