Godmanchester

Today's Navigation : River Great Ouse

Wot no pix? I hear you say. I took some of the greatest pix ever on a brilliantly sunny day as we continued back down the River Great Ouse - but wait until the end of this blog.

Christine has invited her cousin Judith to spend some time with us on the next part of our journey, perhaps a day or half day from St Neots, where we spent last night. In discussion it was suggested that perhaps Judith's daughter and two small boys might like to come instead - but it turned out that all four would come. 

Just before 9 they were on board and ready to leave. Mike suggested to Judith that she might like to try steering - but he would be on hand just in case. She stuck it out to the first lock, St Neots, only running into the reeds a couple of times - but afterwards let Anna take over!

Anna was a wonderful learner and soon gained how to go left and right - not the easiest step in learning to control a boat. The next reach, to Offord Lock, is much longer, just over four miles and is generally quite wide. However, it is far from straight so plenty of opportunity to practice, especially how to plan two or three bends ahead for best effect. She then added bringing the boat alongside a lock landing to her repertoire.

On the neck reach we finally got to pass another moving boat coming in the opposite direction. That was quite easy but a much harder test followed - three somewhat erratic paddle  boarders. Alas, we missed them all!

At Brampton Lock we were greeted by David, Judith's husband who had walked across the meadow from Godmanchester Lock. The footpath is much shorter than the river! He had even closed the bottom gates for us so we were through much quicker than we would have been.

Finally we arrived at Godmanchester, our potential overnight stop. However, just as we were about to pull onto the short visitor mooring another boat did a U-turn and and beat us to it! That was a shame as this was close to where David had parked the car, ready to take the others back home - via a lunch stop. There is no convenient alternative mooring immediately ahead.

Fortunately a polite enquiry by Christine revealed that the other boat was only staying there to have lunch so we eased back onto the upper lock landing - thankfully no other boat came along, so we did not have to make any excuses. (Actually the signage only says 'No Overnight Mooring' and we were not planning that)

Just as our visitors were preparing to leave, three weed cutting and gathering boats came by, attempting somewhat forlornly to keep the Godmanchester Basin as clear as possible - not for boats so much as the appearance for locals. "That would make a good photo for the blog," thought Mike and reached for his camera in the pocket where it normally lives when on the move. Where is it? Pocket empty. A search of all the other likely places proved fruitless. Mike did his best not to cry in front of the visitors but he was mightily miffed and cannot think what might have happened to it. It was not long since he last used it.

So, that is the devastating story a bout why no pix today. We do have a backup but its battery is not holding charge too well. We will have to try hard to eke out the charge each half day until a better solution can be found.

All that said, it was a great morning and a delight to have three generations of visitors on board even for just half a day. The boys asked lots of interesting and insightful questions which kept us busy answering. If we had a certificate prepared, we would definitely have awarded it to Anna for her steering ability.

9.6 Miles - 3 Locks